Our First Family Vacation

Yes indeed, we had our first family vacation! We hadn't take a vacation since our honeymoon almost four years ago. Usually when we head out and go on trips it is to visit family in either MN, NJ, or FL. So this was our first official vacation! It was short, but sweet. We left Thursday morning and headed to Park Rapids, MN. We arrived at our home away from home, The Vacationaire Lodge. We checked in, settled in and went to the lodge to eat. Since the weather was less than desirable, we explored the small town shops in downtown Park Rapids. This was just a cute little strip down main street that included antique shops, souvenir stores, restaurants, and a couple of old-fashioned candy stores and fudge shops!

Throughout our weekend we had to make up for the crummy weather. It was rainy, cold and windy. Just perfect for the MIDDLE OF JULY!!!! So instead of swimming in the lake or fishing off the dock we enjoyed the simple things like: eating out, family naps, watching the Penguins of Madagscar, and swimming in the Lodge's indoor swimming pool. On Friday there was enough dry weather for us to head to Christmas World and play some mini-golf, which I won! That night we had a nice little venture to the "restaurant capital of the world" in Dorset, MN. This town has a population of 22. I'm pretty sure that they have more places to eat in this town then residents. But they do have a number of real tasty places to eat and do pretty decent business up there surrounded by so many lakes, campgrounds, and resorts. Oh, and they even have a Lutheran Church there so we are hoping we do not get sent to Dorset come Call Day 2010! Can you imagine?

On Saturday we headed up to Itasca State Park to see the Mississippi headwaters. Thankfully it was a nicer day and rain free. So we enjoyed walking through the "mighty" Mississippi River and walking around Minnesota's oldest state park. We walked the Park museum and a few other short trails. We even walked through some old Indian burial mounds. If only we could have stayed on Sunday it would have been a perfect day to rent a boat or bikes to see more of the park. But when the sun finally came out late Saturday afternoon, it was time for us to get ready to head home. We headed back south into Park Rapids one last time to eat a bar that claimed to have possibly the best burgers and fries in Northern, MN. Big time disappointment. Steve is always looking for a good, small-town, hole-in-the-wall bar that serves awesome handmade, heart attack-inducing, big and juicy burgers. This was definitely not the place but kudos to them on their effective, yet misleading advertising! (However, Billy's Bar & Grill in Vergas, MN is the place according to him!) Anyways, we stopped at an old fashioned "Minne-soda" fountain to get some ice-cream for the drive home.

Here is the slide show of our vacation: