July 3rd. Boys' Day at the Cabin Ladies' Day Out!

Patti and I set Tuesday as our shopping day.  Groceries and water were of course on the list, but visiting quilt stores and fun shops were more the priority.  There is an amazing house, gift, everything shop called Red Willow in Grand Rapids, MN.  It is 3 floors of amazing decor, kitchen gadgets, furniture, novelty clothing, you name it!

So about 10 minutes from the cabin we started seeing why we had lost power the night before.  Quite frankly we couldn't believe we had it back after our trip into town.

This house is in Deer River, MN, the small town between the cabin and Grand Rapids.  From what we could tell nothing in town had power.  The quilt store visit I had planned was not going to happen here.  I hated to be "that tourist" and take this shot, but we knew the men wouldn't believe the destruction if I didn't take the photo.  I only took 1 and Patti kept driving so we didn't appear to stare too long.  There is a giant hole in their roof.  I'm guessing most of the 2nd floor was water damaged.

Once we reached Grand Rapids there was still a lot of damage, but not as disastrous as what we had seen in Deer River.  We went to the local coffee shop and heard some interesting stories, the quilt shop on the square, and some other fun shops in that area then headed off to another shop I had seen on the way into town.  The 2nd quilt shop was closed due to no power.
Red Willow was open and tons of fun yet I managed to walk out without spending a dime.  Our last fun stop was Lake Country Furniture where I had to buy this picture.  Look like me?

A stop at Target and Ogel's got us the rest of what we needed.  The trip back to the cabin was less eventful as they had done an amazing job of clearing the highway.  We had good stories to tell over our pork taco dinner.  Did I mention that we ate VERY well while we were "roughing it"?