Steve and I packed the car, strapped in the kid and loaded the dog and booked it out of town on Sunday.  We couldn’t go anywhere for a long weekend away so instead we took a day trip to Franconia Sculpture Garden & Taylors Falls, MN.      http://www.franconia.org/

I was really looking forward to this adventure.  Any adventure for that matter.  I have been oozing with creativity and hunting for inspiration. I wasn’t expecting the feeling I would have after being surrounded by all the wonder of this sculpture park.

Needless to say the adventure didn’t start out as well as I hoped.  Olive was crabby during breakfast, through a fit in the middle of the diner which in turn set the stage of my husband’s grumpy attitude the rest of the day.  Our hour drive was delighted with the screams of my 19 month old hating the car ride.  With great sarcasm I say it was wonderful!

When we finally arrived at Franconia Sculpture Park I was blown away.  I did not do any research so I could be a little surprised and I was overwhelmed with amazement.  It was wonderful, an open area to run, play and get inspired. I am not going to go into detail about the park, I want everyone to visit it for themselves. You won’t be sorry and it’s defiantly worth the drive, no matter how far.

After our inspiring walk we headed into Taylors Falls.  I have heard about this quaint little town and the amazing hiking trails so I was pretty excited to see what it was all about.  We were hungary and I knew Steve wouldn’t go for another restaurant so the delight in my eyes when I saw the amazing Drive-In Restaurant on Bench Street.  Opened in 1956 the nostalgia hasn’t changed.  The young man taking orders was so pleasant but yet direct.  There are only so many places to “drive in” so he was directing cars all over the place.  They do offer picnic areas that have waitress’ in poodle skirts!
http://www.taylorsfalls.com/food.html
The food! The food was wonderful.  Better than I was expecting.  We had a cheeseburger basket, fried pickles, Raspberry Malt and a Butterscotch Malt.  The cheeseburger was cooked to perfection with what tasted like a homemade bun.  The perfect bun, chewy with a good density but sturdy enough to hold the beef juices, ketchup and mustard without any sogginess. I was so hungry I didn’t take that delicious cheeseburger’s photograph but let me tell you, it’s another thing that’s worth the drive! By the time we were done eating Olive’s eyes were quite heavy and we didn’t want to risk a toddler meltdown, 3 miles from the car on a hiking trail, so we decided the hike would wait for fall.  I hear there is an apple orchard close by.  Fall bucket list item!

We took the scenic drive home along the St. Croix River into Stillwater.  It was a beautiful drive on a perfect Minnesota summer day.  It was nice to get out of town and not have to come home to 10 loads of laundry!  We hope everyone enjoyed their long Labor Day weekend and I hope all the kiddos had a great first day back to school.