UpNorth Frozen Get Away

Steve and I had a fun mini vacation. We traveled not far, to Hinkley where we had two free nights at the hotel. We are not big gamblers but we did a little. Hinkley's machines, we like video poker, didn't pay out much at all. Plus, the games were harder to make any money since rules changed.
Our whole plan was to just take advantage of the free rooms and go do other things that didn't include gambling away our money.

We did get comped $20 for dinner at the casino so we split a prime rib dinner. More then enough food and we are always glad we share. Before we drove up to Hinkley, we stopped in Pine City. We had a brewery in our Pub brew book to check off. We each tried a beer and split a flight.

 We had 33+F weather on Monday. I wanted to go cross country skiing up there but the snow was all ice. We didn't get fresh show till Monday night and the next day, temperatures dropped and the wind picked up. Far too chilly to ski even with fresh 4" of snow!

We drove an hour and went to Duluth for the day. Stopped at Cannel Park and took in all the frozen waves that created this ice hole. 

 We also went across the Duluth bridge and went to the beach.

After, doing all the outdoor sightseeing we checked off another brewery on our wanted to stop at, but never had a chance in the summer. Bent Paddle Brewery in Duluth and we also stopped at Hoops brewery in town. 

On our drive home from Duluth, we stopped at Doc's in Moose Lake for diner and what do you know! I finally got to play some BINGO! I've always thought it would be fun to do some bingo, but of course never was able to. We jumped in on two bingo games and called it good enough. 

A few more photos of frozen Duluth Cannel park, along the water's edge. 

 It was super icy walking out, so we didn't go too far.

 Driving over the Duluth lift bridge

 Town made a mini ice castle.

We did stop for Breakfast at Black Bear Casino. Steve did a little more gambling and won back everything he spent at Hinkley. He hit 4 of a kind, 5 times! I just did my $20 and cashed out at $15. I figured my hour of gambling for $5 was entertainment. I was happy to play 5cent games and keep playing the entire time without losing much. I also got 4 of a kind, 4-kings. Much better time at Black Bear then at Hinkley! 

The day we had to leave, Tuesday. We ate breakfast at the Hinkley Casino, and drove to the ST. Croix State Park. I purchased a year park pass for $35 which we will use this summer when we go back up north to do some camping in the summer. We checked out the empty park and their camping area. Huge with over 200 spaces! We could have cross country skied, but the trails weren't groomed and it was COLD. We just walked a little down some stairs to get closer to the water but everything was still icy under the fresh snow and there wasn't much to see. We drove home through 

Wisconsin and stopped in Hudson at another brewery, Hop and Barrel. Had a drink, played cribbage and drove to pick up Zoey. 

Why do vacations have to go by so fast! While we didn't travel far. It was just nice to go to different places and see new sights.