Summer Trip to Wisconsin and Minnesota (vacation??)

Back in June, my entourage and I took a trip to Northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. Some people would call that a vacation, but when you are doing a roadtrip to visit relatives, it's more like a trip. A vacation is when you fly or cruise somewhere warm and have beverages with little umbrellas in them.

Well we did a bunch of stuff and I took a bunch of pics. I will try to get some sort of order.

My mother-in-law took me to a place called the Yellow Barn.  It was a barn full of stuff for sale.  What was unusual about the place was that it was a combination thrift store/golf driving range/ and bar for old men.

Outside of the Yellow Barn

Old men enjoying themselves at the bar.

Somewhere in some small town in Wisconsin

At a park across the street from our hotel.  Did not use El Stinko's facilities but I don't think they will ever be sued for false advertising. 

While in Minneapolis - I saw this and yelled PRINCE!!!! ooooh oooooooh!

Jacob sporting a .25 Twins (TC is for Twin Cities) hat - purchased the day before at a thrift store. There were some pretty good thrift stores in Wisconsin and I found some good buys including a vintage blue portable typewriter that is destined for ebay.    That is one advantage over flying, you can haul back as much junk as your car can hold. 

My mother in law's friend's antique store.  When visiting the metropolis known as Siren, Wisconsin, I highly recommend that you visit The Grey Parrot Antique Store and if you see the owner - a lovely lady named Peeta, tell her the yardsalequeen says hi. 

The Grey Parrot - a small cute shop with a ton of stuff crammed in. 

Including a grey parrot, of course.

We stayed at two different hotels while in Wisconsin - The Lodge at Crooked Lake was one of them.

The had a huge pool, but the temp was sorta chilly.  I asked one of the front desk clerks if they ever raised the temperature up a notch or so. Her response was, and I quote "We don't like to dick around much with the temperature". 

Lots of dead animals as decor.

This is as close to camping as I will get. 

One day we went to a cheese festival at Burnett Dairy .  My kinda place!  At the festival, they had lots of free samples, bands, contests, and lots of cheese etc.  They even had samples of the cheese that they make that is $49.99 a pound.  I guess I am not much of a cheese connoisseur because I would take some fried cheese curds over $49.99 cheese anyday.  

Best part of the dairy festival was ....drum roll ... they had a yard sale!  Well sorta like a yardsale at least.  The dairy place also owns a hardware store and they all sorts of stuff for sale at 75% off.  Yes, even at a hardware yard sale, I can find stuff that I needed to buy and come home with me.

And in Wisconsin, I hit a few yardsales. 

From the looks at that warped table, I'm guessing it wasn't their first yardsale. 

Stuff in the barn was for sale too.

And even did a little bit of retail shopping. The small town had a Ben Franklin.  The owner explained it had gone out of business years ago but someone new purchased the trademark name and opened some stores back up.

Unfortunately I missed the Thrift Store Party that was being advertised in the newspaper. 

Nearby small town of Minong Wisconsin is home to the Jack Links jerky company.  We found the store that sells all the factory seconds and overruns.  Nothing but second best for my husband!

Carts o' jerky. 

Also went to a Muskie (fish) festival.  Apparently it's a fish you don't eat.  So it wasn't like they were selling Muskie fish fries or anything.  It was in the town of Hayward, Wisconsin.  That was a cool little town. 

Time to make the candy in Hayward.

Thrift and antiqes store in Hinckley, Minnesota.  I think I bought a small Christmas troll there for my collection.

Brat Sale

I hope you enjoy this picture.  We probably got undiagnosed Lyme disease traipsing thru the weeds for this photo shoot.

Day trip to Duluth Minnesota.  Lift Bridge is in the background. 

Pool at the second hotel we stayed at St. Croix Casino.   Because a family trip isn't complete unless we stay at least a  few nights at a casino. 

Chillin in the Leinie Lounger. 

St. Croix Casino in Danbury, Wisconsin.  Not St. Croix in St. Croix.  boo hoo.

On the way home.  My Chicagoland contesting friend Susan hooked us up on the VIP floor at the hotel near her house thru a contest she had won.  











here's a little video I took while standing underneath the Lift Bridge in Duluth while it was lowering.




 By January, I hope to post about our trip we took in August.