Northern Minnesota paradise

After 5 months of slogging it out in Rochester with 4 kids, we decided we'd had enough and it was time to let out some steam. We have not really taken a real family vacation in what seems like ages. We had a good referral from our friends and booked a cabin on Bay Lake at a resort called Ruttger's. The clencher - buffet meals included in the package. This meant no cooking and no cleaning up kitchen mess. We had 2.5 glorious days of this. The tradeoff was that we practically ran ourselves ragged with activities. On the drive up (about 5 hrs with traffic) we discovered a lake that was almost comparable to Bear Lake in size (and was rather breathtaking) named Mille Lacs lake. It is an Indian name as it is on a reservation. After arriving at our resort, we went swimming, canoeing and kayaking. We got an unseasonably warm day on Saturday so even swam in the chilly lake for a few hours. We got to stay in a beautiful, new wood cabin and got to see a lot of fall colors. This was honestly the most fun we have had in years (other than seeing family of course). The kids could not get enough. The highlights were the barbeque pork ribs, calm still lake framed in fall colored trees, the continual smell of campfire in the air, cabin with a lakeview, indoor pool and hot tub and wood-framed bunk beds in the cabin.

We finished the trip off with a wild goose hunt for the Aitkin, Minnesota Branch of the church. We wanted to go to church on Sunday so drove a few miles out of our way. We had to ask for directions at a gas station. Luckily, the cashier knew right where the Mormon church was. We drove to this address only to find it was a new church building under construction. We then got new directions out of a local phone book and ended up at a senior citizen home. One of the caregivers came out and gave us our final clue - the branch actually meets in the high school. The missionaries had stopped by just the week before so this was fresh on her mind. We drove to the high school, but sadly found the lot empty. Apparently our meeting time was wrong. Well, we didn't find the church but we got to see a lot of Aitkin, MN and had a good adventure trying.