Great Lakes - Day 10 - Monday

Today was a long driving day. We were up for an early start and on the road by 7. The rains we had yesterday had drawn LOTS of mosquitos. We had the screens open last night and they were swarming and hungry to get in. We couldn't go out to walk the dog or go to the bathroom without bringing one in with us and we all went to bed hearing one occasionally fly by. Mosquitos don't really bother me but Scott has sort of a phobia of them. He can't tolerate the itching and pretty much rushes in and out the door. His fear has rubbed off on the kids some and they have a mosquito paranoia. I later found out that he slept in his parents camper in Indiana and woke up looking like he had chicken pox (300 bites is the number he gave) because his dad left the windows open and the kids didn't know it. I just laugh at all of them because the mosquitos don't seem to want my Coumadin pinioned blood. That being said, we killed 5 in the camper in the first hours drive towards Voyageurs National Park in International Falls next to the Canadian border and some of those had a good snack on one of us before their death.

The drive to Voyageurs from Grand Portage was a lonely, wood lined 2 lane highway. We heard that you might see a moose from the road if you were lucky. We were not. In fact, Scott and I turned to each other at every lake and pond and said "I didn't see a moose" and "me neither".  Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes and we passed at least 50 of them before we stopped for gas in Ely.  The kids entertained themselves with Pokemon on their Nintendos because cell service is terrible in this area of Minnesota. We did pass plenty of snowmobile trail signs and I think it would be interesting to spend some time there in the winter just to go snowmobiling.

We arrived in International Falls and hit the Rainy Lake visitor center just in time to grab junior ranger books and check in for our boat tour. It was a very nice boat and we had seats on the outside at the bow. The temps had warmed up to jeans and tshirts but once we were rolling, we all appreciated the sweatshirts we brought. The boat tour was good except for the fact that we are pretty much over lakes. There are only so many mile of tree and rock strewn shorelines that you can look at. We stopped at Little American Island for a look at the Quartz and gold mine. Who knew Minnesota had a gold rush, eh???

These waters were different than the Great Lakes in color, darker and more murky, in addition to being warmer.  They were also quite shallow and these lakes freeze over enough that it becomes an ice road.

The more interesting part of the ride was the conversation we had with Jeff from Pennsylvania and his two sons. Their family also RVs and they have been to many of the same parks that we have been to. We compared notes, discussed adventures and it was much more interesting than the lake to make a connection. I hope wherever Jeff and his family are they have safe travels and they enjoy Isle Royale on Wednesday.

We did not make campground reservations and after checking out the sketchy looking spot in International Falls where we though we might stay, we made the decision to get part of tomorrow's drive out of the way and are now camped for the night near Duluth. Tomorrow we hit St Croix River which is flooded so no kayak trip :( then we head to St Paul and then a Mississippi River site.