Failed Camping Trip

A week ago, the boys and I headed north for a stop a Moose Lake State Park and an overnight stay in a camper cabin at Jay Cooke State Park outside of Duluth. We were going to leave around 2-3 pm, but then the forecast showed some snow, so we left early at 11 am. But as soon as we got outside of the 694 loop, the roads turned to crap. I didn't feel safe changing lanes. And everyone was going 40-50 mph. So I pulled off a ways north of the Cities and made the call that we weren't going.

A selfie while parked in a lot just off the freeway to tell Mama we
were coming back home. Charlie's hiding his face because he's bummed.
Henry understood the situation and was happy we were turning around.


A jack-knifed semi a few miles back towards home.


Just no need to be risking anything in this.

Charlie finally was happy with the call to cancel the trip when we got home and I showed him a map. It showed that it took us an hour to get 33 miles home, and I showed him how much farther Jay Cooke was:

A hour to do the mapped portion, with Jay Cooke as the red dot at the top.

That would have been a "white knuckle" 4 hour drive (if we even made it) instead of 2 hours. The good news is that I called to let them know we weren't coming, and she transferred our stay to a later date. So the boys and I will try again in a few weeks! We love Jay Cooke, but have yet to see it in the winter.