Final 2 Weeks MN

Lasts, Goodbyes, and Movers . . .

We are so thankful for our two years in small town Minnesota.  This is an amazing town and community - we'll miss it!

Our last few weeks we did our best to revisit our favorite spots, get together with friends, and soak up as much as possible - in the midst of business travel, housework, and four days with a moving crew . . . It was a whirlwind two weeks. 

date nights

last day of work (Hendrick)

final dance classes

Goose Gang Toys (Christmas Shopping!)

Willow Book Store 

Papacitos

Nest Coffee

PACC

Ultima Gaming

Seussical Musical (Community Theater)

Lakes Cafe

boy scout meeting and rank advancement

swimming

Cross Country Banquet

Brew

early morning workouts

Brave Like Gabe path

high school gym

St. Henry's Church

Zorbaz Pizza

Cactus Bowling party

I was thankful to have a moving crew pack us up for the move to Ohio so we could spend our final days enjoying life in this special town.  This has been a great home to our family - it's hard to leave. 

Last Night MN - bowling

Our final night in Minnesota, we hosted a party at our local bowling alley for the kids and their friends.  It's hard to say goodbye and difficult to leave a place we've loved, but we're thankful for these friendships and grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this great community for two years.  We'll miss it. 

We kept 6 lanes busy, and the pizza didn't last nearly long enough to feed the crew of 50+, but we were so pleased to see so many friends at the bowling alley. 

I hope our kids will always remember this fun final night in Minnesota. 

Voyageurs National Park, Day 2

Our second day in International Falls was more fitting for the "Icebox of the Nation": overnight the temperatures dropped, giving us a day with a high temperature below freezing. 

Wanting to get out and explore a bit more of the area, while limiting our time outside, we opted for a quick easy walk along the new Tilson Creek Bog Walk boardwalk (1.5 mi round trip).  The wide boardwalk floats on top of the peat moss bog and enabled us to experience the beauty and unique vegetation of the bog, including the conifer-look-alike, deciduous Tamarack trees.  Thankfully the walk was easy to move quickly along - it was cold! 

It was great to get out an explore a bit of Minnesota . . . we have many more items on our Minnesota bucket list - we might have to make a return trip after our move to Ohio to cross off some more :)

International Falls, Voyageurs National Park

With our time in Minnesota quickly coming to an end (it's sneaking up on us!), we've been trying to make the most of our "lasts" and experience a few "firsts."  One of our Minnesota Bucket List destinations was a visit to International Falls and Voyageurs National Park - a "first" for us and only a few hours north (with a half-way stop to see Paul Bunyan and Babe in Bemidji). We spotted 8 Bald Eagles on this weekend trip. 

International Falls is nicknamed "Icebox of the Nation" with an average of 109+ days/ year with the high temperature below freezing.  It's a cute town of 6,000 and sits across the Rainy River from Fort Frances, Ontario, Canada - with a view of the paper mill (Dabney's only-view-of-Canada-is-a-giant-paper-mill comment : "Canada is ugly" - guess we'll need to give our kids better exposure to Canada soon!). 

Our trip was later in the year than ideal for a visit to Voyageurs National Park - the headquarters is just outside International Falls.  We had to delay our get-away a few weeks due to an early snowfall and so missed the regular visitors season.  All park offices closed mid-October.  

Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota is to the west of Boundary Waters Area Wilderness.  The park's name commemorates the voyageurs, the French-Canadian fur traders who used these northern waterways to travel through the area.  Most of the park is accessible only by boat - our late  visit meant we were only able to experience the small portion of the park on the mainland (and no open visitor centers).  We reread a great book to prepare for our visit about a young boy signing a three-year voyageur contract and embarking on his first expedition, "With Pipe Paddle and Song" by Yates.

Our first day we hiked the Tilson Bay Trail (2.5 mi) - located near the park's Rainy Lake area.  The hike had a great mix of deep forest, muddy crossings, wildlife, overlooks, and rock climbs - it was gorgeous!  And, the weather was perfect for first day at Voyageurs (50 degrees in late October!).