Mini-soda & AC

I just came across some fantastic pictures of our Minnesota trip, and came to the realization that I only posted a teensy bit about that.

And since the fall colors are coming (so pretty!) but it's all rainy here in NJ, I'm already getting a bit nostalgic about summer, so let's do a little catching up, alrighty?

Paul was in Minnesota for quite a while (5 weeks round trip!), so I got to fly out and meet him there. I still love flying as much as I did on my first flight just 5 years ago.

Minneapolis is home to the largest Mall! The Mall of America!

It has roller coasters inside and everything.

Minnesota is also home to one of Paul's favorite fast food places that I'd never heard of - Culver's.

Welcome to delicious is right!

We rented a Prius and drove from Minneapolis up to Karl's (Paul's advisor at Rutgers) cabin in some town that I can't remember but which I just googled mapped and I believe it was Furgus Falls.

This happened to be the weekend that Minnesota's government shut down, which was fine for us except that all the Rest Areas were closed and we actually needed them.

 When we got to Karl's lake house, I spotted this nice mailbox and knew my family would appreciate it.

It rained on us right when we got there, but then it settled down and we went out for a ride on the Lake in the pontoon boat, which was fun!

  

When we came back inside, I realized the rain and humidity had done a number on my hair - most especially the bald spot hairs from this incident that are growing in so nicely but are extra susceptible to curly/frizziness.

Then we went rented some bikes (except for Paul because of course he brought his) in Alexandria, which is apparently the birthplace of America thanks to some Vikings. 

 

And we caught some fish! Northern Pike and a Crappie.

 

Maybe that hat looks foolish on me but I didn't want to get skin cancer, alright? Plus, Paul looked so nice in his, I thought I could maybe look as good, but that didn't work out. 

And since we were only about a half hour away, we drove to North Dakota!

To get some ice cream. 

And here we are, Paul is in Minnesota and I'm in North Dakota. Right on the border!

Then we came back to the lake house for a firework show!

I was so excited to capture this picture! What luck!

Paul and I decided we'd like to see Lake Superior, so we took off in our little Prius and drove to Duluth!

HAY!

 And we stopped for lunch at Dairy Queen.

And then we spotted the lake ahead, and we were excited about that.

Duluth was really nice, and had a nice park right on the waterfront.

 And maybe you've seen some of these pictures in this post, but we are reviewing for chronological orders sake!

This bridge was really neat! It would go up and down to let the boats pass through. 

 

So we walked across it!

 Then we drove up to Two Harbors and took some more pictures that you may have already seen.

And there are the Two Harbors that the two gets it's name from!

Crystal clear water that was freeeeeeezing.

The next day was July 4th! We decided to go on this alpine roller coaster and it was blast and a half!

 Then we drove back to Minneapolis through the land of 10,000 lakes (did you know there are actually more than 10,000 lake in Minnesota!?) I loved it because I love lakes!

And we couldn't resist a picture with the World's Largest Walleye?

Minnesota has all sorts of these hokie "worlds largest whatevers" we even tried to find the statues of Paul Bunyan but we got lost and it didn't end well. 

So we went back to Ralph (the professor Paul was working with in Minnesota) and Yolanda's (his wife, who is Dutch and hilarious) house and enjoyed their beautiful backyard! They had the neatest house, I loved it. 

And while I was traveling through lost photos on my computer, I came upon these nice guys from AC! Also known as Atlantic City, the Vegas of the East where we went for our 3rd anniversary. Little known fact - this is where the Monopoly streets come from. See! Park Place....

They also have one of the largest boardwalks

AND this is where Salt Water Taffy started! And those Salt Water Taffy's were delicious!

Three years!

(want to look back and see two years and one year (he was in Mongolia!) and the very day?)

 We also went to the AC aquarium, and the beach (which was free there! did you know most NJ beaches cost money!? Lame!) But I'm not finding those pictures and I'm hoping Paul has them somewhere.

Sorry for being 4 months late on these pictures but at least they made it up here eventually!