Thursday was the day that we had planned for hiking. I say that and Matthew Jr may be offended. Stacy and I decided that it was time for Julia and Joanna to start pulling their own weight. No more carrying. It is time for the two babies to do it for themselves. The consequence of this was that we had to choose a shorter trail than some would like and we absolutely had to take it very slowly.
We decided on the Blind Ash Bay Trail, a 3 mile trail that starts at the Ash River Visitor Center and takes a loop through the forest and provides spectacular views of Lake Kabetogama. Julia and Joanna did a great job. At first, we were going to let Joanna take a backpack one last time, but when she saw that Julia was going hiking, she decided that she was big enough too. So both got to take their first unassisted trek through the woods. On the other hand, Matthew & Elisabeth soon realized that these speeds were for the birds and flew off never to be seen again. Well until the end where they took joy in complaining about how long they had to wait for us.
The trail was gentle, with some hills to keep things fun. We saw a snake cross the path at one point. But by far, the prettiest point was at the end of the trail where we were up a large hill that dropped nearly straight down into the lake. The view of the lake was gorgeous and we stopped to take several pictures.
When we finished with the trail, we went into town to find our usual ice cream. We stopped first at the local gas station, but there was no ice cream despite a promise on the sign out front. We also stopped at a cute gift shop so Stacy could do some browsing. Then it was off to Rainer to get the only true ice cream shop in the entire area. Upon arrival we discovered that it didn't open until Memorial Day weekend (i.e. tomorrow). On top of that, since it was (usually) right next to Lake Rainer, the water level was about 1 foot tall at the entrance. Finally in desperation we found a Dairy Queen, and while it isn't especially interesting, it serves its purpose quite well.
That evening we packed up everything, because we would be leaving early in the morning for another 12 hour drive to St. Louis. Friday morning, we said goodbye to Voyageurs National Park and made the long drive through all of Minnesota and Iowa before making our way to nice cozy house in Saint Charles. It was smaller than we had anticipated which meant that Matthew and Joanna got to share a room, but it served our needs and served as the perfect base for our upcoming weekend in St. Louis to see the newest (and inappropriately named) National Park: The Saint Louis Gateway Arch.
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