A Quick Trip WAY North with the Boys

Last month, the boys and I took off EARLY on a Friday morning for a few nights in Big Bog State Park. I shared a treadmill interval workout that I did in mid-Feb, but I failed to note that I did that workout AT 3 IN THE MORNING. Then I finished loading the car, grabbed the boys from their beds, tucked them into their car seats, and we hit the road around 4:30 a.m. When it finally started to get light out, we were off the freeway up past Duluth, and the backseat looked like this:

Up near Grand Rapids




Using some WiFi in my new car to get some homework done.


When we got to Big Bog's vistor's center, we had to recreate this photo from 4.5 years ago!


The 2024 version!


Again, a 2019 pic...


... and a 2024 re-creation.


Our cabin had a gas fireplace for heat!

I didn't try to, but I ended up booking the SAME camper cabin that we stayed in 4.5 years ago, but back then, it had a big electric heater in that corner (notice the darker wood on the floor in that last pic). This was only our 2nd stay in a cabin that was heated by a gas fireplace. You just set the temp, and the fireplace kicks on and off as needed.

We unloaded stuff early in our cabin (check-in wasn't until 3, but the park ranger said it was already free at 10 a.m. when we got there), and then we drove another 40 miles north to Baudette on the US/Canada border:

The boys and a big walleye.


Bright selfie!


Canada bound!




About to cross the border...


... welcome to Canada!


We stopped at this little bakery...


... and walked out with 4 delicious things.


Never seen long johns like this - they are SANDWICH-like (cut in 2 with cream in the middle)!


A Canadian beaver.


Also a re-creation from 4.5 years ago.




Big ole' train. (And lots of pigeon poop.)

Then we followed a map north of town to try to find our way to the shores of Lake of the Woods. And it was pretty much a bust. We tried a few different areas, and never really found anything appropriate:

Not-very-travelled back roads.


WAY more animal tracks than car tracks.


Finally, out on the ice of Lake of the Woods for a few minutes!




Welcome home.

We stopped at a bowling alley back in Baudette (MN, USA) for some fun. We ended up bowling 3 games as we had the place to ourselves:

Textbook form from Henry.




A Lenten cheese pizza (and sodas).




A surprise spare!


Leaving Baudette.


40 mins back to Big Bog.


Resuming the nap in our camper cabin.




Heading out to the frozen Tamarac River to play.


Running around on the ice before bed.


Direct link: youtube.com/shorts/U49clAbwbOI

Our bowling scores (for fun): Charlie bowled a 55, 52, and 79 (with 2 spares that last game!). Henry bowled a 70, 57, and 96 (he had a spare and a strike back-to-back, and would have broke 100 with a spare in the 10th!). And I bowled 156, 147, and 117 (for all the weight lifting I do, my arms get tired and I tend to do worse the longer I bowl - couldn't get strikes or spares in that last game).

I slept better than I ever had in a camper cabin because I'd been up since 3 a.m. Sometimes we'd hear the fireplace "poof" on or off, but otherwise we were all very comfortable. The next morning, Charlie "helped" with the breakfast fire:

Charlie was SUPER excited to try his new small pan that he got for Christmas...


... so we fried his egg in bacon grease.


Toasted bagel breakfast sandwiches!


The inside of a basic MN State Park camper cabin. From the door...


... and from between the bunks.




We headed out to play on the frozen river again. It was about a 1/4 mile walk from our cabin.

Notice Henry has my hatchet in that last photo. The boys were picking at cracks in the ice (the ice was a foot thick, so it wasn't DANGEROUS cranks) with their pocket knives, but they wanted to make more progress. Henry longingly said "If only we could use something like your hatchet..." to which I replied "You know, you could ask to use my hatchet. I'd probably say yes!" They were thrilled and loved chipping away at the ice!

Making faster progress!


Henry's butt is in his hole.


Action shot of ice flying up!


They chose to pose like this, with Henry's butt in the 8" deep hole.


They finally hit water! The hole instantly filled up. They were so proud.


Direct link: youtube.com/shorts/dC4_zuX0Tvs


Direct link: youtube.com/shorts/Sm-WpD-f9Mw
Henry was pushed by the wind to go farther here!


Mid-afternoon warm-up with Catan. (Henry smoked us with a coast-to-coast road!)


The park ranger opened the fire tower for us so we could climb it!


Upper Red Lake had THOUSANDS of ice houses on it!


Extreme close-up from just one tiny part of that last image.


We drove up the road to the biggest bog in the US (outside of Alaska).


We only saw 1 family near our car on the way back.




The BEST batch of burgers that I ever made over the fire!
All 6 burgers and 6 buns were perfect!


Finishing up some burgers while toasting some buns.


And some mini hot cocoas too.

The boys ended up breaking throught the ice in 3 spots earlier that afternoon, so we decided to shower back at the park office and then check on their ice holes (to see if they'd frozen over yet). We walked out onto the ice in the pitch black night that was only lit by a half-moon. I snapped this photo of the boys standing by one of their holes with Orion in the background:

The boys liked how that looked, so they wanted pics of themselves with trees and stars:

Charlie.


Henry.






Trees, stars, ice, and some wispy clouds.

We had another decent night in the cabin. Morning was uneventful: we had oatmeal for breakfast, loaded up, and hit the road. The middle of the ride looked like this:

We stopped for tacos in Grand Rapids, and then grabbed some donuts at Tobie's which was about an hour from home (so almost 4 hours into our drive back home). The boys were overall more helpful than they were during our Afton State Park trip back in December - I got home frustrated with them after that trip. This one was more smiles and better memories!