Earlier in January (1.17-19.2020), Eric treated me to a mystery weekend getaway. We do this from time to time, where one of us will book a mystery weekend getaway for the other–it’s so fun to see what we each come up with!
The only information given to me ahead of time was to “pack winter appropriate clothes.” Which, naturally, made me feel like we were going downhill skiing. Though he’s done a downhill skiing type of mystery weekend in the past–so what could it be instead? He wouldn’t repeat the same idea, would he? It’s fine if he does, but that would be out of character.
Eric is the type of trip planner who doesn’t like to plan. He usually has a general outline, with a flexible day to day. (I’m very opposite, but working on it.) He booked us at two different locations (I love it!) in the same area, so we could experience everything, but wouldn’t tell me what activities were planned or what type of lodging we had booked.
We heard a few days prior that the weather was about to be snow-pocolypse 2020, so we planned to leave early on Friday, around 12pmish. We are truly blessed to have full-time jobs that allow us to work from the road (or cabin, or hotel, or campsite, or wherever has WiFi). We couldn’t check-in to our first accommodation until 4pm, but we figured we would walk around the area (wherever that was) in the meantime.
Friday, January 17th, 2020
We set off and left our home in the Twin Cities around 12:30pm, and around 12:45pm it started snowing. Just ever so lightly. But as we kept driving northward, the snow got heavier and the fog and ice started making themselves known. Around 2ish hours into the drive, it was hard to see:
Eventually, after another hour or so of white-knuckle driving, we rolled into the cute little town of Crosby. We were greeted by this sign with a serpent, which I’m guessing was designated after their lake–Serpent Lake. Due to the weather and the requirement to drive slow (to, you know, stay alive), we arrived in Crosby at around 3:45pm, just 15 minutes before we could check-in!
At this point, I still had no idea where we were staying. We usually stay at Minnesota State Parks, so my brain was swarming trying to figure out which park was near here. Mille Lacs? No, we passed that. Crow Wing? No, passed that too.
Then I saw the sign: Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area (with an arrow pointing in the direction to turn to go there). Then we drove past it. Whaaaat? I realized we weren’t staying at a State Park this time–so strange! So after only a few more minutes of driving, we arrived at our cabin for the night: True North Base Camp. Yay! I had read about True North Base Camp just recently, so I was excited to experience it in person! Easy access, not only easy to drive to, but easy to enter (they have keypads!). We stayed at the first cabin:
They. Are. So cool!
The cabins are heated, but not until you arrive and turn the heater on manually. With that, we turned the heaters on and opted to go back into town to grab some food. First stop: Iron Range Eatery. I had the best vegan tacos, and Eric had the “real tasty” Big Cuyuna Burger. For bevs, I went in for the beautiful and dark Third Street Sugar Shack Maple Stout, and Eric had the Big Axe Brewing Axe Kicker Double IPA. So good.
We then learned there was a brewery nearby. Knowing we would be stuck inside the rest of the night due to the snow, we headed over across the street to Cuyuna Brewing Company. To my surprise, their Flying Finn Russian Imperial Stout does not have lactose in it–win! I ordered that, and Eric ordered the Hazy Hopricot IPA. They were both delicious. Once we had our drinks, we grabbed a table and one of the many games on their game shelf! After playing an hour or so of Trivial Pursuit, we decided we were done losing at the game and wanted to head back to the cabin. Before heading out, we purchased a growler of Cuyuna Brewing’s Mosaic Blueberry Ale.
Back at the cabin, we continued to play some of our favorite two player games. We started with Welcome to Your Perfect Home, moved on to Ganz Schon Clever, and ended with Sagrada. We’ve been sort of binge-playing these games for the past few weeks. Knowing we had plans to be outside for a reservation of sort the next day, we played games until 10pm or so and went to bed.
To be honest, we didn’t sleep well at all. The cabins are beautiful, but due to the heating unit (which was either ON or OFF), we woke up sweating at about 3am, but the floor was still freezing. We shut the heat off at 3am (again, because we could only use on or off), and woke up cold again around 7:30am. So we turned the heat back on. We finally warmed up a little and got out of bed at 8:30am. Due to the weird heat, and the flooring only being a concrete slab (there are two mats to stand on), unfortunately the floor had sweat due to the humidity and got everything that was on the floor wet. If we were to stay again in the winter, we would put things up off the ground at night.
Saturday, January 18th, 2020
Once we got out of bed, we had a quick breakfast, and Eric decided to bundle up and hit the cross-country ski trails. It had snowed for what seemed like two feet overnight, so there was a lot of fluffy stuff to slide around on. Knowing we wouldn’t be back before the 12pm cabin check-out, I stayed at the cabin and packed most of our belongings. The snow was a blessing and curse on this trip. Eric unfortunately wasn’t able to find the cross-country skiing trail and came back to the cabin after about 30-45 minutes. We were happy he was able to scoot around on the skis for a little bit at least though.
After he rested for a few minutes, we bundled back up, and were off! I still didn’t know what we were doing at this point. But we ended up at Cycle Path & Paddle (permanently closed as of 2021), where we rented fat tire bikes! We picked up the bikes and headed toward Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area. I had only been dreaming of trying fat tire bikes for years, and now my chance is finally here! Thanks, Eric! The best husband.
We were so excited, we threw on our helmets and hopped on the bikes to ride! We hit the trail and almost immediately quit moving. What. I thought fat tire bikes were made for the snow? Oh, the snow needs to be groomed? Oh. Well then. A couple and their beautiful large dog greeted us a little while later and politely informed us that they had also just learned you can’t go on the trails until they are groomed, which is typically 24-36 hours after snowfall. Bummer. Our bikes were due back at Cycle Path & Paddle before we would get a chance to even take them on the trail!
To make the most of our rental time, we decided to head back into town and bike around there. We put a total of 5ish miles on the bikes, and were totally exhausted. Those are hard to ride! We followed one road from Crosby Memorial Park until we hit a dead end, then followed another road until we somehow found our way downtown. At this point in the day we were ready for lunch, so we stopped (don’t judge us) yet again at Iron Range Eatery. I just couldn’t say no to the tacos–they were calling! Eric tried something new, the carne asada rice bowl. Of course, I ordered the vegan tacos again. Except somehow, even though I ordered the same thing just the day before, they were completely different. Much spicier. Equally as yummy. We both had their amazing bloody Mary’s (or two) before setting off to bike around town some more.
We found ourselves back in the area of Crosby Memorial Park, but instead were in the park next door, Franklin Park. Franklin Park is home to this amazing and massive Sea Serpent. The snow was so deep, but Eric just had to trudge out there for a photo op!
We had been riding around for a few hours at this point, and decided it was time for a short break. Coffee, anyone? Our next stop was the Red Raven bicycle cafe. Eric got a really good looking americano, but I like just plain coffee. This was the perfect stop after an active day of riding. We warmed up with our hot beverages, and decided we were done riding for the day. But first, it was time to check into our next accommodation: the Alley Inn AirBnB. This was a cute studio AirBnB connected to a daycare. Red Raven is directly next door to this AirBnB, so our ride would not have been too far; except, we first needed to bike back to our truck over at Crosby Memorial Park! We detoured first for a little ride onto the lake. Serpent Lake appeared to be a great place for ice fishing, as it was peppered with ice fishing houses throughout. A path was cleared for a few hundred feet, so we biked on that and back before stopping back at the truck.
The Alley Inn was cute, and I can see it being really perfect in the summer. It was quaint to have in the winter as well, but we did run into some unfortunate issues. It was cold. There isn’t a thermostat, so you aren’t able to control the heat. Unfortunately we were there a weekend where temperatures dipped well below freezing, and we were so cold. They do provide two (small) and not super powerful space heaters, which did not warm us up. We each took a hot shower to try to warm up, but once you step out of the shower, it’s very cold again. Then we turned the electric fireplace and both space heaters on, which blew a fuse, so you cannot run all three heat sources at once. Since this was our only issue, I would recommend going to this AirBnB, but would not recommend going when it’s cold.
One we settled in, we decided we were in for the night. It was necessary as we were so tired from biking around all day. We have been wanting to try these “just add water” camping dinners for a while, so we decided tonight was that night! We had the vegetarian chilli, which was just enough for one bowl of chilli for each of us. I’m not sure about Eric, but I was falling asleep while eating dinner at this point. Yet somehow, we decided to turn on Netflix and watch a random series until we fell asleep.
Sunday, January 19th, 2020
The next morning, Eric wanted to get up early to get one last bike ride in before we had to return them to the rental shop. We bundled up and drove back to Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area in hopes the trails were groomed so we could spend about an hour on the bikes on their intended trails before returning them. Unfortunately, the trails were not yet done being groomed. Instead of leaving, we decided to switch gears and do some hiking! This means we at least got to spend some time on the Cuyuna trails, even if it wasn’t on a fat tire bike. Hikers are allowed to hike on ungroomed/snowmobile trails during the winter. We followed the snowmobile trail up the hill to overlook Huntington Mine Lake. So pretty with the snow! If it wasn’t so cold, we could have stared out for hours. But our hand warmers were cooling off, so we had to leave. Womp womp.
As we were needing to be back in the Twin Cities earlier in the afternoon, we started heading back home around 11am. This time, it took us longer to get home than it took us to get to Crosby (which we also thought was long)! The roads were pure ice most of the way. We made it home late in the afternoon, but safely.
This was an amazing weekend. A much needed getaway after the holidays! We love getting to explore Minnesota! Our own backyard.
What are your favorite winter activities?
Have you been to the Crosby area?
Where are your favorite winter spots in Minnesota?
Omg, the snow pics are beautiful but since I’m not used to the cold, those indoor temperature issues would have been a problem. Sweet trip idea!
Wow- what a picturesque winter wonderland! I live in the south so our winter activities don’t usually involve snow ha. I love, love your surprise weekend getaway dates! That’s such a great idea!
Haha, I would so love to be in the south right now! I love the winter but it’s nice to break up the cold with some warm for a while haha. And thank you! Surprise getaways are SO fun to plan!!!
Sounds like a great time. Who would expect a dragon out there. Love the fat bikes. Rode one in Alaska last month.
Haha, it was so random to run into that!!!! You rode a far tire bike in Alaska? #goals! I would love to try one there, it was so much fun!
This looks like such a cool trip and I love the idea of surprise dates! Adding Crosby, MN to our bucket list now!
It’s been so fun to do surprise and mystery dates! It’s definitely a cute town with a lot to offer 🙂
Wow!!!!!! What a winter paradise. Makes me wanna have a winter vacation after reading your post.
Relationship goals! Jordan needs to take some pointers from Eric! Lol
Hahaha, I will send a little birdie over!
Sounds like a great spot for a weekend getaway!
Sounds like an amazing trip; and even though it didn’t go exactly as planned you improvised and made lasting memories.