Minnesota/Midwest ladies - vacation ideas?

[stephogirl]

DS doesn't have school on October 16 & 17, so I thought it would be fun to take a mini vacation somewhere. My problem is coming up with the "where". 

If you had four days in October with two adults and two boys (9 & 4), where would you want to go?

[cinderbella]

The Dells!

Otherwise Duluth or Mt. Rushmore?

[kath16]

The Dells or a Great Wolf Lodge?

[schitzengiggles]

I'd do The Dells or Duluth. Toss up - The Dells would be super fun, but I also lived in Duluth for 10 years and always like the opportunity to go back and visit.

[bbaggins]

Camper cabins at state parks are always fun. Otherwise you can't go wrong at the Dells

[eaky77]

I was coming to vote for the Dells too. Or maybe Mall of America. I live an hour from the Dells, there is always something going on!

[nahoku]

We are camping! Unless the weather is really shitty. But we got the last site at a state park I've been wanting to visit so at least we won't be the only crazies?

I'd vote for Duluth bc it's closer and I love it - but maybe you'd find better deals in the dells than mn. I feel like prices get jacked up over mea weekend in mn. One of the resorts in lutsen could be fun too.

[zoomzoom]

St. Louis? There's tons to do there.

[pbutter]

Bayfield and the Apostle Islands are awesome!

[gault]

Door County!

[mellymel]

Stay here: www.larsmontcottages.com/north-shore/state-parks/
Visit Split Rock Lighthouse
Hike Gooseberry Falls
Explore the area

Just beautiful

[gummy]

The Dells and Duluth are NUTS over MEA just a heads up. A year or two ago they had a story on the news about how MEA in MN is one of the most profitable weekends for the Dells!

[lizzard]

We did Mt Rushmore last year over MEA and it was great. The drive was longish, but the hotels were very reasonably priced (since I think it was the off-season). I think we left Wednesday night and drove to Mitchell, SD. Then the next day we drove to Rapid City - stopping in the Badlands on the way.

It was a bit cold. We brought our winter jackets with, and we needed them. Somethings were closed or had "reduced" hours since it was the off-season. It didn't affect us. We did Mount Rushmore, Bear Country (one of daughters BEGGED to do it), and Custer State Park (amazing! so much wildlife that just came up to our car while we drove around the park loop). We also did "gold mining" (our other daughter insisted because she planned on striking it rich) and a cave tour. We made it to Crazy Horse, too, and the girls loved the gift shop. We bought them a CD of a popular local band & listened to it (at their insistence) for the rest of the trip. The kids also spent plenty of quality time at the hotel pool and we drove home (all in one day) on Sunday.

The kids loved the trip. I think we spent maybe $500 on the vacation, total. And we weren't trying to be "cheap." We ate at typical "family" restaurants (Ruby Tuesday, Olive Garden, Chili's), but still it was somehow an affordable family vacation. I highly recommend it

The bagels & cream cheese at Black Hills Bagels are something I still crave. Armadillo's Ice Cream Shoppe was fun, too

[rachelgreen]

Dells or Door County. The Sister Bay Fall Fest is that weekend in Door County. It's extremely popular so if you want to book anything there, I would get on that asap.