Itasca Recap Part Two

I still have so many pictures to share, I don't know that I can share them all!  But here is part two of our Itasca Recap.
So as I said, Thursday was kind of a bust of a day overall.  But Friday dawned bright and beautiful, so we woke up and headed back into Park Rapids for some more disc golf and picked up some food for another picnic outside.  We decided after Ollie's nap that we'd rent bikes again and ride them up to the Headwaters (start of the Mississippi River).  It almost was going to be another disaster of a day, thanks to the arrival of some noisy neighbors and a very LOUD lawnmower, Ollie's nap was almost non-existent, but we went with it anyway.
The Headwaters trip turned out to be a ton of fun!  The water was freezing, but that didn't stop Ollie from jumping in and giving it a try!  It was actually technically his second time stepping in the Mississippi, the first time I was about 20 weeks pregnant with him and days away from finding out that he was a boy!

After we'd had our fill at the Headwaters we packed up and headed down to a little tourist site called Summerhill Farms, located between Itasca and Park Rapids.  On Fridays in the summer they host a barbeque - we're talking meats smoked in a meat smoker and all the sides you could possibly want. Again, this could have been a disaster - thanks to his lack of nap, Ollie fell asleep in the car on the way there and was a little grumpy when we woke him up, but he perked up when we sat down at a lovely table on a patio and when he got some the yummy food - we had ribs, pulled pork, cornbread, coleslaw and beans and it was all SO good.  We're going to remember that they do this in the summers for the next time we go up!

Saturday they were threatening rain, but when we got up we found out it wasn't slated to start until pretty close to when Ollie would be needing his afternoon nap, so after a nice big breakfast at the Lodge, we jumped in the car and did the 10 mile Wilderness Drive through the park.  We stopped and got out at places like Itasca's Largest White Pine and the Ranger Tower - Nate and Ollie even climbed all the way to the top.  Mom stayed on the ground, I just can't do heights the way I could when I was little!  One of the best parts of the Wilderness Drive was all the Yellow Lady Slippers we saw - so pretty!

We finished the drive just in time for the rain to start.  Ollie took a nap, but when he woke up was quite unhappy for some reason.  We had talked about going into downtown Bemidji again so we could visit Bemidji Brewing's taproom, so we decided to take a chance and go.  It worked out so well, they were family friendly and Ollie did just fine once we got in the car and drove out there.  Nate and I split a flight and Ollie enjoyed some water and crackers.

While we could have ordered food in at the taproom, we decided we wanted to go somewhere for dinner, so we asked one of the bartenders what he'd recommend.  He gave us a few bar/grill suggestions and then told us about an Italian place that we'd actually seen a few times but had never been to because it looked kind of fancy.  He said not to worry about that, you could walk in as you were and that it would be a fine place to bring a child.  So we headed to Tutto Bene for dinner and well, I think they were a little off-put by how we were dressed, but we got seated in the bar area near some very nice old grandmotherly ladies who were smitten with Ollie, so it worked out just fine. And it was some of the BEST Italian food I have ever had - everything is made fresh there, including the pasta.  It was definitely a splurge, but so very worth it.  We ended up getting back to the cabin a little on the late side, but Ollie crashed right away and so did we, I think that night I slept the hardest!
Sunday was our last full day and we made the most of it.  It was another sunny one, so we chose to go on one last bike ride and picnic.  

We had dinner at a place called Foxy's Bar and Grill that really had great hamburgers, but pretty terrible service unfortunately.  We didn't let it sour the day, but I was mildly disappointed in the experience.  The day was over all too fast and we found ourselves back to Monday and packing up to go home!  
Overall it was really a great week, I would do it again in a heartbeat, I am pretty sure we'll be up there every couple of years as Ollie grows up, so while I know he won't truly remember this week, I know he'll make memories there in the years to come too!
Now onward to the rest of summer!!

Itasca Recap Part One

So as to not to have the world's longest and annoying blog post ever, I decided to split the trip recap into a couple of posts.  This is part one of our trip recap.  Tomorrow I'll be posting Thrift Style Thursday so the second trip recap will go up on Friday.  And then next week I'll be into a whole host of new topics and thoughts to share as I've just got so much up in my brain right now!
We took off for Itasca on a Monday.  I liked doing this, it gave me an entire weekend to pack and gather everything together we'd need and in the end it led to far less stress overall.  We had a loose goal of being out of the house by 9:30am and we were pretty darn close to that, so I'm proud of us! The drive is about three and a half hours long, so we wanted to make sure we had lots of time for any stopping.  Oliver did great on the drive though.  He started to get a little cranky for lunch a little sooner than we anticipated so we stopped a little earlier than planned for that, but then he took a nice nap after that! He pretty much woke up right when we hit the park entrance.

Yes, we turned his car seat.  Yes I know he is not two yet.   He's a good sized boy and it's a choice we made, please do not judge me.
Ollie was pretty happy to be out of the car when we finally let him get out.  He ran around the parking lot and just wanted to check out all the cars and trucks (latest obsession.)

Below here is our little home for the week - cabin 72 on the left.  It's such a cute little spot, there's a screened in porch where we ate all of our meals and played cards and such.  Inside has a kitchen, living area and bathroom and then a nice sized bedroom with two beds and a little alcove that fit Ollie's pack and play perfectly.

After we settled in we did some exploring and took Ollie down by the lake.  It's pretty much a tradition for us to walk down by the lake almost right as soon as we get to the park!  We took a family selfie to mark the occasion.

The rest of Monday was pretty boring, it involved a quick run back to the nearest town for groceries and dinner at one of our favorite places up there called the West Forty.  I was worried about how Ollie would go down for bed, but he did great pretty much right away!
Tuesday we got up and decided to explore a bit more, found a nice little playground for Ollie behind the Lodge.  We waited for the Gift Shop to open up and spent a little time in there.  Then we headed back to the room for some breakfast cooked by chef Nate.  After we played some more with Ollie he took a nap, then we got him up and spent some time at the Visitor Center, they have some exhibits that explain more about the park.  It was cool and a little drizzly, so this was a good way to spend the day.

Then we headed to town again to have dinner at one of my favorite pizza places of all time - Rocky's Pizza Place.  It's nothing special and I'm sure it's something about the fact that you're having it on vacation, but I have always loved this pizza and I was so excited for Ollie to try it.

And judging by the picture below, I don't think he liked it all.  Nope.  Not a little bit.  I kid of course.

We stopped back by the playground again on our way back to the cabin and then Ollie went to bed. We were pretty lucky in that he went down pretty nicely for us each night and Nate and I had a good couple of hours to play cards and chat.  We also kept up a silly tradition from past visits, since we don't have a fire ring at this particular cabin and can't build a bonfire, we make Sterno Can S'mores instead!

Wednesday was a beautiful morning.  We headed into town and found a disc golf course that Nate had looked up information on before we left home.  It was a fantastic course!  It was only nine holes which was perfect and it had one of the best playgrounds I've ever seen - lots of equipment for all ages of children and a really great toddler play area.  Of course, Ollie was pretty much just obsessed with the "swings."  

When we finished our disc golf, we stopped by the grocery store and got ourselves fried chicken, potato salad and rolls and then went back up to Itasca for a picnic.  We were able to attach Ollie's booster chair right to the picnic table and it worked great!

After Ollie's nap on Wednesday, we decided to rent bikes and go on a little ride.  Nate hasn't done much bike riding in quite some time, but found he really enjoyed it.  Ollie loved riding along in this little trailer called a Burley.  We'll be looking into seeing if we can get a used one now that we're home, I'd love to be able to ride around town with him in it!  We loved biking so much we did it two more times throughout the week too!
Thursday it was cloudy and threatening rain, so we decided to go north into Bemidji for a bit.  We decided to stop at an animal park that advertised itself well, but let me tell you, I never want to speak of that place again.  I felt dirty for being there and like I sold my soul to the devil just a little.  But Ollie had a good time feeding some deer, so we'll just choose to remember that part of it!

After that the day looked like it was going to be a bust, we drove into downtown Bemidji where there is a famous statue of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox.  We wanted to take some pictures and let Ollie run around the park there - but they had it all torn up and were doing a ton of work.  We were bummed, so decided to just walk around town instead.  Ollie more or less led us right into this place called the Headwaters Science Center - kind of a low key version of the Science Museum and since we have membership at the one in St. Paul, we got in for free!  We managed to kill a good 45 minutes there which was great!  After that we ate at a little pub in town we like called Keg and Cork.  Took Ollie back to the cabin for his nap and then headed on disaster number two of the day - a boat trip. Ollie pretty much hated his life jacket and wanted to get "out" the whole time.  

His few calm moments on the boat.  Hoping a different life vest will help next time!
After the boat trip I may have nursed my wounds by stopping by the gift shop and picking up this cute bag for myself.  Remember, shopping ban hadn't started yet on vacation!  And even if it had, vacation is one of the exceptions I'd make for myself!

So, Thursday wasn't exactly my favorite day, but it could have been worse!  The next couple of days more than made up for it, but I'm going to stop my recap here and we'll talk about the other days in my next post!  Stay tuned for more!

Relaxified

So I have to start by telling the story of "relaxify" - a friend of ours was at a gas station once when a guy cut in front of him and took the pump he intended to drive up to.  My friend called the guy out on it and the guy was like "whoa, dude, you need to relaxify yosef'" (yes he said "yosef, not yourself).  Ever since then it's been a bit of a joke with us!

Anyway, we relaxified ourselves this weekend.  We had a great weekend at the cabin.  It was a nice lazy, relaxing weekend.  So much so,that I barely took any pictures.  I had intended to - I even had my wonderful photographer friend give me a lesson on Thursday on how better to use Nate's nice camera, I brought it with me and everything and in the end we did so much just kind of sitting around and vegging, there wasn't much opportunity for good pictures.  We didn't even get Oliver on the boat sadly.  Instead, we just enjoyed some time with our family and friends, played a lot of cards, sat in the hot tub after Ollie went to bed and again, just relaxed.

Ollie has this "relaxing thing" down pretty well

We did check out a couple of flea markets too while we were up there, but sadly did not find anything worth buying.  Well ok, I did find some stuff I wanted for me, but darn shopping ban, I had will power and walked away.  It was still fun to check them out!

There is nothing wrong with a low key weekend like that.  Sometimes we're just so go, go, go, it's good to slow down and "relaxify". I do look forward to going up north with Oliver next year - I think he'll appreciate it much more when he's up and running around and can play and explore!

Did you have a good weekend?