Boundary Waters Pt1

I was able to tell the story about my van problems easily. It was just relaying events with my usual flavor sprinkled in. But the trip to the boundary waters itself, the reason it happened, I needed to take more time to digest it.

My wife's family was from the Minneapolis area, and about half of them still live in the region. The first stop was in Eagan on account of the new baby. We would have arrived early on Saturday and had the day to enjoy, but unforseen issues knocked that back to a midnight arrival. Midnight central, so my body was telling me it was 1am. (And after the mediocre rest I had previously, I crashed pretty hard)

Sunday my wife's entire family was together again. We gathered at the big aquarium in the mall of america. My kids got a kick out of the tunnel where the sea life swam above us, but I couldn't get over the jellyfish. Sure they're translucent, but the tanks had different colored lights, so it just them look so much cooler. (I swear they're not from Earth)

We reconvened at the house (where we could finally see each other's faces, stupid masks) for many a group photo (which my kids hate), after which the bulk of us headed for Bear Lake Wisconsin.

This arm of the family lives right on the lake. He's a park ranger at a scout camp, and they live right on the camp. I couldn't think of a better place to keep my kids occupied during our trek.

Monday was spent, oddly, with many of them sorting through their parents storage locker before buying the food for our trip. Not complaining, but it did mean that we came home with more stuff than I anticipated. What it did mean was that the food prep lasted long into the night.

Tuesday we headed out. All of us (kids included), met up in Duluth with those that stayed in MN, then out to Gooseberry Falls. The kids just jumped in the water. As a native New Yorker, I was startled by the complete lack of fencing and other barriers stopping people from doing anything fun in the water. The sheer drop-offs were a bit unsettling, knowing full well that my kids go running full bore not watching which way they're going, but everyone came out of it alive and chilly. From there, the kids went back to Bear Lake. The rest of us went on to Grand Marais.