The Road to Missoula #2

When we arrived in Iowa City a local fair was happening and the area was lively, almost as if the city was welcoming us.  We bypassed the fair but had the opportunity to try Big Grove Brewing.  Besides good beer, the pizza and salads were delicious.  I have come to realize that my favorite part of traveling is trying new food and beverages in each place we visit.  Only one problem - it gets expensive!  After I tallied our expenditures food accounted for almost half of the total, even more than lodging!

            My favorites to try are usually pizza places and breweries.  With two children pizza is an obvious choice but the breweries often have homemade root beer, which my girls love, and a kid’s menu.  I’ve asked Sofiah to create a blog about the ‘Best Macaroni and Cheese’, because she orders it almost everywhere we go and she even created a rating system.  We will see if the blog materializes.

The next state we visited, Minnesota, was a pleasant surprise.  We had no expectations and our time there was again a ‘scenic’ route and unplanned.  First, to appease out daughters, we stopped at the Mall of American in Minneapolis.  For some reason, I let slip about the largest mall being in Minneapolis where we would be passing through and of course they wanted to go.

Amazingly we were there maybe 2-3 hours at most.  Parking wasn’t difficult, and the crowd either.  Sofiah immediately wanted to go to a bookstore.  I love that girl!  And Kaia, she was hoping to find a toy store with Beanie Boos.  They had no interest in the large amusement park or the American Girl Store.  “I am raising them so well,” I thought to myself.

On to Duluth, a city we really enjoyed, and I became ecstatic when I learned it was the home of Bob Dylan. Somewhere I had heard it before, but it was a fact forgotten or hidden deep in my mind.  For the next two days we drove up Northshore Drive (Highway 61) playing Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited.  We visited his childhood home, not a museum but inhabited by some unknown family who probably gets random people stopping all the time. 

Lake Superior is akin to driving up the coast of an ocean; huge waves and the other side cannot be seen.  The cliffs and rocks are reminiscent of HWY 1 in California, not quite as steep and jagged, but nevertheless impressive and beautiful.   A two-hour drive turned in to at least double the time because the girls wanted to stop often and put their feet in the water.  Too cold to swim, but wading gave them just as much joy.  If we can promise water during a trip, especially a hike, then the girls are appeased. 

So close to the Canadian border, we had to make a visit…