Last days of Summer: My trip to Grand Rapids, MN and Fort Frances, Canada

August 17-20, 2010
I had so much fun on this trip!! Mama and I drove to Grand Rapids, MN. On our way there we saw 5 deer young and old crossing the road together in front of our car!! When we got to Grand Rapids, we went and saw the Judy Garland Museum and her birth home. I got to see alot of memorabilia from her movies and concerts. My favorite stuff was from the "Wizard of Oz" and "Meet Me In St. Louis". They had the original carriage that was used in the scenes from the Emerald City in the "Wizard of Oz"! But did you know that that carriage has more history. It was commisioned for and used by Presindent Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War!!!
They also had a children's museum next door. From there I got to go see and stand on the yellow brick road, complete with corn field. We stayed in a really nice hotel and ate at the Country Kitchen. The next morning we set off for Canada via the Chippewa National Forest. The trees were real tall and the forest was real quiet.


We stopped to have lunch at International Falls and see Smokey Bear Park.

From there we crossed the border into Fort Frances. I had fun touring the downtown and seeing the Fort Frances Museum. My favorite part was stopping at McDonalds to eat!!!! They have different food in Canada. I had vinegar on my french fries (which I liked!) I tried a peanut butter cup, but the chocolate and peanut butter tasted different then in the USA. (I did not like that.) Mama said the pop tasted different too. After dinner we got to go swimming at the hotel. The room was huge with a HUGE TV and they gave us free cookies and dog treats to take home to my dog, Abby. ( By the way, she did try a couple but agreed with me that some foods just do not taste the same from another country.) The next morning they gave us a waffle breakfast!! (Which I loved!).
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We crossed the border back into the USA and headed back to Grand Rapids, MN to tour more of the town. On the way thru the national forest we stopped at a ranger station to learn about the forest and the real Smokey the Bear. I took lots of pictures with my camera
Once back in Grand Rapids, I learned that a famous picture of an older man praying at his table came out of this county. It is called "Grace" and is the state photograph. It is very pretty. Mama now has an 8x10 copy of it. She says it was in her house growing up as well as alot of other peoples homes. I then got to do more shopping at Judy Garland's house and spend my money!! Then we went back to the hotel to swim. The next day we headed home. Mama went a different way so I could see more fun stuff. We stopped at a place called, Garrison. Did you know that Garrison is the world's smallest city to have a McDonald's restaurant??
There I got to see the big walleye fish, Paul Bunyon caught on Mille Lacs Lake. Mille Lacs lake is also home to the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. Since we are suppose to have Indian blood on my mama's side she wanted to stop, so I said ok. The Mille Lacs Indian Museum offers exhibits dedicated to telling the story of the Band. We did not have time to stop there but we did go next door and checked out the 100-year old Trading Post. I really liked it in there and they had a big buffalo mounted on the wall! That was my favorite part!
I had so much fun on this road trip that mama promised me we could do it again and just go for a weekend somewhere. I get to go in October to St Peter and Mankato, MN. SO STAY TUNED........