July 15
I never really know how to count "days" on a trip when the first day isn't really a full day. So I guess for "Day 0.5", Mike and I went to work for a full day, packed up the car, kissed our fur children, and we were up and out!
The night before my grandma went to the hospital. Things seemed to be fine but we stopped in since it was on our way North anyway to check in with her. Photo below is of a piece of art at the hospital. We also stopped at my family's home to grab my tents. In Black River Falls, Mike had Taco Johns and I had Burger King. We tried the new Philly Wrap. Better than expected but I wouldn't get it again. We arrived in Rice Lake around 11pm. Mike and I were both exhausted so it is making me wonder how we are going to combat future road trips.
July 16
We had stayed the night at the Holiday Inn Express and we had a wonderful breakfast the next morning. The continental breakfast included biscuits and gravy, breakfast potatoes, and western omelets. We feasted. On the way out of Rice Lake we stopped at Cabin Coffee Co.
We left Rice Lake and made it to Pattison State Park around 11am. We visited Big Manitou Falls and then headed over to Little Manitou Falls. There were people swimming around the bottom of Little Manitou Falls. We had a great time just sitting on a bench watching the water fall off the rocks.
We drove into Superior and since we had a little time, we stopped at Collector's Connection and picked up a few comics of interest. I was excited to find some without covers for 25 cents, mainly a few old Archie comics.
At 1pm we had an appointment at the World of Accordions. We started off with a tour from Robin. She was very knowledgeable about all things accordion. The tour was a very special way to learn more in depth about the history if accordions. After and extensive deep dive into the history of accordions and various uses, we looked around at their collection.
Robin then led us upstairs to see the concertina hall. It was gorgeous! It was built for acoustics. Robin showed us the harpsicord and chimes accordion. I have cousins who play the accordion but I ended up on the musically lost side of the family. Mike played saxophone for a while and is very into music but hasn't played in quite some time. By the end of the tour Mike went from "accordions are just for polka" to "I want to learn how to play!".
We talked to Dr. Helmi Harrington who talked to us about lessons and how to start playing. This was a very very special visit and we can't thank this team enough for having us.
After our amazing visit to World of Accordions, we went to another comic book store and thrift store down the road. We drove to Barker's Island to visit Seaman of the Great Lakes.
Afterwards, we drove over the border to Duluth. We were caught off guard by how very different Duluth was. Duluth felt much more like a city and we were in wilderness mode. We decided to come back another time to dedicate time to Duluth. I did do a quick stop at the Leif Erickson statue.
Back in Superior, we ate dinner at the Anchor Bar & Grill which was featured on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives-my current binge. The burgers are definitely worth coming in for. I had the sour cream and mushroom and Mike had the olive and cream cheese burger.
We did a quick stop at Walmart for grocery supplies and then it was back on the road! We set up camp at Amnicon Falls. Over the fire, we had hot dogs, fruit pies, and, of course, s'mores.
Happy Trails!
~The Tacky Tourist
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