Here it is springtime in MN with 50 - 60 degree weather and the snow has fully melted and April showers have already begun. However, just a little over 2 weeks ago in the northern mountains of MN, Camp Clark got to savor a 4-day getway to Lutsen and we picked the absolute best weekend for it (and probably the last of good ski conditions). We drove up Thursday afternoon after school conferences and hit a snow storm just outside Duluth; complete white out conditions and we were forced to drive 20 mph. Needless to say, when we arrived at our destination, we were SO thankful we made it safely. But best of all, it was AWESOME snow for the next day, our first day on the "mountains".
LTD were ecstatic and could hardly wait to hit the slopes at 9am. They did SO GREAT! No major wipeouts or issues, other than when Dad jokingly went down the bunny hill and accidentally took out a "character gate". He lost control and the children in the area laughed at "that silly man". Very comical! He also took out a fence on another slope but we won't talk about that one :)
The sun was out the entire 3 days of skiing with 25 degrees the first day, and 45 degrees the last two days. Our condo was located right in the main Lutsen village and was a ski-in, ski-out condo. Perfect for eating breakfast at our condo in the mornings and taking a break and grabbing lunch mid-day. It was such spectacular weather and the snow was pretty good except the last afternoon (Sunday); it started to get a bit slushy towards the bottom. At the end of a long day of skiing, we thoroughly enjoyed the indoor/outdoor pool and whirlpool which was very relaxing.
Dave and I had to laugh because we pretty much skied all 3 mountains and spent 3 full days on the slopes with the munchkins. The kiddos mastered the blue runs pretty well and we moved on to some black diamonds which were challenging for them but very rewarding and they kept asking, "let's do it again". Bottom line, we skied it all including the Terrain Park (this included jumps that LTD had to try, of course) and enjoyed taking in all the different chair lifts and the gondola to the top. Dylan really enjoyed taking the chair by himself so he could buddy up with strangers and chat their ears off. One nice man came up to me after we unloaded at the top and asked if Dylan was our son. He laughed and said, "he sure is a friendly little fellow - I really enjoyed talking with him!"
The views were absolutely spectacular, as you can see from our photos. Lutsen overlooks Lake Superior and the views are simply incredible. Please feel free to check out our Kodak Gallery link in the right-hand column of this blog for lots more photos of the area and Camp Clark in action.
We look forward to going back again next year. A fun time was had by all and it was one of those vacations that will remain in our memories for MANY years to come. On the drive home, we even got to witness "triplet" deer standing in the road just taking their time as if they owned the road. The kiddos got a big kick out of that! Nature at its' finest :)
