Welcome to the World of Orthodontia

Yesterday Kelsey got a palatal expander. It's an orthodontic appliance that is glued to the teeth with a wide, metal band across the roof of the mouth. Each evening, you use a key to turn the expander so that it will spread the teeth farther apart so as to correct alignment and bite.

About a month ago, the orthodontist took impressions of her teeth and explained everything to her. She was fine, asking lots of questions and generally being her happy, inquisitive self.

But yesterday she was nervous. Kayleigh had told her horror stories of her own expander, which added to the apprehension. Kelsey wrapped her little body around mine and whimpered until the time came to get it done. She dragged me to the exam room. The assistant was very patient and kind. She got me a chair so I could sit where Kelsey could see me. Kelsey asked tons of questions about every tool and squirt of goop on the tray. The assistant answered every one, which was very decent of her. Lots of medical types give you the quick, pointless answer ("That's what I'm going to use to put your expander in") and then tell you to open up so you'll stop asking questions.



Well, it went off without any difficulties. It didn't hurt, the glue didn't make her gag. Once it was in, she rinsed her mouth, and I hugged her. She said it wasn't bad at all, and by evening, she was back to her bouncy self.

But she was talking funny, shlooping spit, and today, finding it hard to chew. They put that thick plastic over your chewing teeth, so it's pretty slippery, and your tongue can't reach your food very well, which makes chewing even harder, and swallowing quite a task. She picked at it with her finger nails and said she didn't want it in her mouth.

Can hardly blame her.

St. Paul

So, we set off in the morning for St. Paul, fortified by The World's Best Doughnuts (and possibly the worst coffee--it tasted like beef).

The ride was relatively fast, the kids stayed happy, no one needed to pee until lunchtime, and I passed the time reading more Elizabeth Berg and counting dead foxes (4).

We pulled over at a gas station with the world's biggest parking lot for food from the cooler. There was a family standing around their van, up on jacks, while a rather plump man crawled underneath, climbed out, wandered around, and wrung his greasy hands on a filthy towel. We stood there watching, eating our granola bars, trail mix, cheese, chocolate chip cookies, and milk. I felt like I should offer them some food, but there was a pizza hole and a sandwich pit at the gas station, which presumably sold packaged food, as well. They didn't exactly look starving, either. Still....

We switched drivers and finished the drive to St. Paul. The Google directions seemed to take us a rather silly way to our hotel, but we followed them. We stayed at the Best Western Bandana Square. What a hilarious name. It's part of an old train repair yard, so the conference rooms are named after lines, and there's a huge train out front. The original beams show, and so do some tracks in the floor. Supposedly there is a lot more trainy stuff there, but I wasn't really in the mood to go exploring.

After our cheap stays in the north country, staying in St. Paul was a bit of a knife twist. Our room was quite nice--spacious, nicely decorated, clean, bright. Then we pulled out the computer, both of us desperate to get back online. I mean, it had been a couple of days! It didn't work. At all. Eric called the desk, who gave him a number to call. They sent out a repair guy--on the weekend--just for us. That's dedication to your customers. Geekboy fiddled and wandered in and out of our room. Turns out the wireless worked fine--until you stepped into our room. You could sit in the hall and it worked fine. You could sit by the pool and it worked fine. But you couldn't sit on our bed, which is where I do my best work. Ahem.

They offered us a different room, but we were settled. I didn't think it was *that* important. In the evening, I took the laptop and sat by the pool while Eric and Kelsey went in the water. Which brought up another issue. Eric got out of the FREEZING water after half an hour or so. His swimming trunks were white with a couple of swirls of light blue. Kelsey's precious itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini was white, no polka dots. What the flock? She was in tears.

Lack of internet was dealable. Cold water--well, a minor complaint. But bleaching our suits? The final nail. Can you imagine what that was doing to their skin? And their hair! Eric's chest is still like a Brillo pad. Kelsey's hair is still straw. It's vile! Eric discussed it with the manager, who didn't give us all our money back, but over half. Talk to my pocket book, baby. Mama likes.

But, anyway--

Eric's dad, John, lives a quick drive from the hotel. We had a nice afternoon visit and then picked up his special friend, Diane, at her house, where we covetously looked at her yard. Dinner was at The Good Earth. I had the Mediterranean Greek Salad, which I thought was a stupid name for a salad, but it tasted good. We all had dessert, the last fling of our vacation, or so we thought.

We had a brief goodbye at John's. He seemed pretty worn out. He's doing pretty well for someone who's 91.

I loved his apartment. He lives in a retirement complex, but not assisted living. He does have someone come and clean and cook a bit. His bathroom was fabulous--nice and spacious with a walk-in shower. That would help my mom a lot.

Next day we visited some more. He gave me a copy of some stories he's been writing about his boyhood, gave the girls some books they were admiring, and gave Eric a painting that someone in the family painted a very long time ago. John didn't know much about the painter, just that he was related on his dad's side and lived in the Bahamas, which John called Bahaymas.

We left around lunch, and stopped just down the street at a cafe whose name I've forgotten already. It's a family joint with huge servings and tempting desserts. We ate too much and all had dessert again, then set off for home under a darkening sky.

I didn't floss my teeth even once the whole trip. Now that's a vacation.

John's B-day and more of Grand Marais

We visited my mom yesterday afternoon. I cleaned the poop off the floors and toilet seats. I left the curious pink dollop alone; I just didn't have the stomach to deal with it yesterday. Maybe later today.

She didn't get out of her chair the entire time we were there. She just kept saying she hadn't felt well all week and kept her hand on her nitro patch. She said her chest had been aching and it scared her.

I never know what to say.



Continuing the trip:

We had a voyageur canoe trip reserved on the Poplar River at 8:30 a.m. It was a chilly morning after a cold night. The sky was a beautiful blue and the sun made everything look alive and cheerful. We arrived at Sawtooth Mountain, filled out our paperwork, tightened our life jackets, then set off on a walk to the river. It was a pleasant walk through the woods. Our guide chatted with us about the bear he came across the night before.



The river was very shallow and had almost no current. We didn't see much wildlife: a heron who didn't like us being there, and a pair of mergansers who were equally displeased. There was a beaver house. I was surprised at the lack of turtles. Wisconsin has lots of turtles.

The paddling made us all tired, but it was not a long trip. It was an easy way to introduce the kids to canoeing. Having other people there made them less whiny, I think.

We had to carry our oars with us, and Eric used his as a walking stick. It really helped him a lot, and he decided that a walking stick would be a great thing to have on these many walks we were taking. So he got one in his head--light metal, retractable, with a rubber foot and a camera mount so he could use it as a monopod. Yup, he dreamed up quite a tool, and actually found one at a store in Grand Marais. Then sticker shock sank in and he decided he could just make do. Or, better yet, make his own.

Today was our pie day, which I blogged about previously. I will say that our server looked and sounded an awful lot like a young Matthew Broderick.

We didn't have any firm plans for the rest of the day, so we just started driving north and figured we'd stop when something looked fun. Laurie had recommended a walk along the Kadunce River, so we stopped there.

















We ended up looking at rocks on the beach mostly. The river looked nice to walk down, but the kids were sick of walks. So we sat on the hot rocks trying to stay warm and trying to leave a few on the beach.








After a bit, we went down to Judge Magney State Park. There was almost no one there. The walk was short, so the kids were appeased. Then we got down the path a little more, and the sign said the walk was strenuous with many changes in elevation and a long set of stairs. Hmm... well, we were here now, the kids can just shut it.

It was a fun walk. I wouldn't call it strenuous, but it was a lot of up and down. There were 176 steps on the stairs in one spot.



















We counted. And if you count the rather long boardwalk, it was 179 steps. Still, the payoff was great. There were two falls beside each other.





One went down a huge circular hole, the bottom of which has never been found. It's called Devil's Kettle. The other was just a falls with a deep bottom, and people had shown up to swim and dive there. It looked very fun and scary. We went around behind the falls and stood at the top of them. It was a fun spot. Kayleigh fell on one of the rocks right at the head of the falls. I about died. I kept my composure when she looked at me and simply asked if she had hurt herself. She was OK.

We headed back to town for more pie, and I overheard one of the waiters telling some people about a little overlook with no walking if you didn't want any. That sounded just right for my tired children. Off we went after our pie. Eric was delighted with it. It's along the Gunflint Trail and overlooks Grand Marais and the Sawtooth Mountains.

















We briefly wandered downtown again, then headed back to our motel for some rest before we set off the next day for St. Paul to see Eric's dad.

Today is Eric's dad's birthday, by the way. Happy day, John!

Up the Shore

After a good night's sleep, we packed up and headed up Minnesota's North Shore. There are scads of state parks along Lake Superior. I read about them and other spots before we set out, but with the day upon us, it was time to choose. We stopped at Gooseberry Falls first.












Gooseberry Falls had a visitor center with wonderfully large and clean toilets, an education center, and, naturally, a gift shop where you could buy stuffed animals of Minnesota's wildlife that were made in China. The walks were easy; not a lot of stairs, not long, wide. There were not a lot of people there when we showed up in the morning, but by lunch time, the parking lot was absolutely jammed.

















We started off on a path toward the falls. We ended up on a large bridge that overlooked them and the people playing in the water. The bridge took you across the river and had another bridge below the road to take you across the highway. No one else was going this way, which was good reason to us to continue. We wandered and pointed and played and scrambled around on rocks and in water and over falls and next to falls and below falls. It was fun. Eric was worried about his balance and hurting himself or someone else if he fell on them and damaging the camera. We let him trail behind. His sore belly and lack of happy drugs were keeping him down a little. Kelsey was happy to play, but Kayleigh definitely wanted to be moving along more quickly.





We found a necklace in the water and turned it in to the lost and found. It didn't have any dirt on it at all. It must have been very recently lost. It was a silvery metal, in the shape of a shark tooth, with the name Devon on it.


















I caught a minnow in a shallow part of the river. Kelsey seemed impressed. Kayleigh asked how I did it. Such miracles mothers are capable of.

We went down to the beach for some lunch and a dip in the cold Superior water. The beach was called Agate Beach. Apparently agate hunting is quite a past-time. It was a lovely view. Kayleigh wouldn't so much as dip a toe in the water, of course, so she sat on the beach asking when we were going to go.

There was a little pebbly dune where the river washed into the lake. You had to get in the water about two feet to get across to it, so Kelsey and I did. She didn't stay long, but I wanted to wander. It hurt. The rocks were hot, and some were sharp. It was not a very pleasant walk, but at least I had bragging rights.

Kelsey managed to attract about two dozen leeches while she was in the water. She was about as freaked out as she ever gets. I didn't find any on me. We called it Leech Beach after that little episode. She was not amused.

















We managed to spend the entire day there. We hadn't intended to. But by the time we left, we were tired. Kelsey had a case of leechy heebie-jeebies and a slight sunburn. We decided to go find our motel in Grand Marais and get some dinner. So off we went.

We stayed at the Grand Marais Inn. It was one of the cheaper places around. The photos on the Web didn't impress me much, but it had a fridge and a microwave, two beds and a toilet. Unless the place was an absolute hole, it would be worth it.

It was not a hole. It turned out to be just fine. Our nonsmoking room had a cigarette burn in the carpet, but it didn't smell and it was clean. The proprietor was from Wales. He's been here a while, making his accent most peculiar.

My editor recommended pizza at Sven & Ole's. It sounded like a good idea. The kids will eat it, and it would probably be cheaper than anywhere else. It was good pizza. It had very fluffy, soft crust. The kids did, in fact, like it, but it was not cheap. At least we got a free bumper sticker. No, we're not putting it on our car.

Next came the Ben Franklin that Laurie had recommended. It was her favorite store in the world, she said. Well, who can miss that? It was about 30 feet from Sven & Ole's and open for another 20 minutes. It was good it wasn't open longer than that, or the kids would have bought out the store. They have anything you need and quite a lot you don't need but might want anyway. A wool Norwegian sweater? Yours for $325. Whoopie Cushion? Lay down your dollar. Bazooka Joe gum? Fillet knife? Scrapbook paper? Swimming pool? Plastic poop? Hairbrush? Ski pants? Moccasins? Water shoes? Rain boots? Snow boots? Cowboy boots? Fake Crocs? Flip-flops? No problem. They even have your size. Believe me. This store was absolutely jam-packed full of stuff. Not exactly barrier-free for all the narrow aisles and assorted merchandise falling off the capacity shelves. It was a scream. I'd've lived there when I was a kid. As I say, thank goodness they were closing in 20 minutes. We had to drag the kids out as it was. Kayleigh bought three airplanes; two balsa wood planes and one foam one which she later said was "really crappy." She and Kelsey had fun playing with them in the nearly empty parking lot of our motel.

After Ben Franklin, we wandered across the street to the little harbor in town. It was another rocky beach with some young gulls squawking and peeping. And was it cold. Ugh. UGH! It was cold. Bleh--it was cold. Very conveniently, a coffee shop was open on the corner, where we ordered three decaf mochas and a hot chocolate. There was a slight misunderstanding, and Kelsey ended up with a full-caffeine mocha. We figured it out before she got past her whipped cream, thankfully, and they made her a new one with decaf. Stimulants are one thing that child absolutely does not need. We walked around downtown Grand Marais--it doesn't take long--and headed back to our WiFi-less motel.

I read "We Are All Welcome Here," by Elizabeth Berg. She writes chick novels. I like them. My favorite of hers is still "Talk Before Sleep," about a woman and some friends caring for their mutual, dying friend. "We Are All Welcome Here" is about a girl at the beginning of the Civil Rights movement and her paralyzed mother who lives in an iron lung. It didn't sound like it would be very good, but it made me cry and made me think and made me wish she'd done a little better with it.