Alexandria Recommendations

We've been to the Alexandria area twice now. Our first time was for our 9th Anniversary for a weekend (recap here) in which we stayed at Arrow

Here are our recommendations for the Alexandria area during our stays in late September 2015 and late July 2016.

What we Recommend

Noonan Park

Oh my goodness did we spend a TON of time here! We went back four times, and bought more loaves of bread than we would eat in a month to feed those geese and ducks. My kids LOVED it, but truthfully, it was so beautiful that I would've loved spending an evening here even without the kids. It's absolutely gorgeous, and it's so neat to see all the wildlife. That being said, you have to keep your eyes open for the hoards of people playing Pokemon GO there, because they're walking all over the place staring at their phones.

Alexandria City Park

We enjoyed having a picnic here and exploring a little bit. The playground itself wasn't really that much to write home about, but it kept the kids occupied for a little while anyways. The beach front there was gorgeous, we just wish we had brought a change of clothes and a towel for the kiddos.

Art Bar 39

They offer open studio hours for kids on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and my kids had a blast painting their thin canvases there. It was a fun "something else" to do for sure! It's $10 per kid, and you can come and go as you please. They provide paints, easel, thin canvas and little aprons for the kids. It was a great diversion from the usual with kids on vacation, AND if you have a little older kids, you could drop them off there and then go shop, as it's right there in the mall.

Arrowwood Resort

We stayed here for our anniversary trip in late September 2015 and decided to return with the kids for an evening in late July 2016 to do a little mini golfing and check out the zip line. They also have a little playground there, and it was fun to watch all the geese swarm the mini golf course haha For $5 an adult (and they let the kids "golf" free), it was a cheap $10 entertainment for sure!

The zipline was really fun too, and my boys spent more time doing this than we did at some of the other "attractions" we spent a lot more time and money and energy going to.

Fishing

We fished all the time at the place we stayed at, so I'm not sure which spots are the best in Alexandria, but do some research and then do it! Our boys had such a blast catching sunnies at the place we stayed at, and it was just so peaceful and calming. The lakes up in this part of the country are just beautiful! The caveat: You have to be willing to both bait hooks and then take the fish off the hook for this to be a good idea. I would never go fishing without my hubby to bait the hooks and remove the fish haha

Mt. Lookout Park Scenic Overlook

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you'd be WAY better off to drive here to see this overlook for 20 minutes than to drive up to Inspiration Peak. It's stunning, AND you don't have to put on any bug spray and hike through the woods for 10 minutes to get there. We have stopped here on our way home twice now, and I'll stop every time. The views are breathtaking! The pictures do not do it justice. And did I mention: You won't likely be eaten by mosquitoes?

Dining at...

Tennessee Roadhouse

We ate here both on our anniversary weekend as well as with the kiddos on our vacation, and both times did not disappoint. I especially loved the mustard sauce they had. Finger-licking good for SURE! I would say a tinge pricier than I would have expected, but nothing too ridiculous.

Doolittles Woodfire Grill

GREAT atmosphere, service and food. We ate here on our anniversary weekend and thoroughly enjoyed our meal! I would highly recommend this place! It was a medium price range - not too spendy - about like an Applebees or a Grizzly's.

Northwoods Cafe

We had breakfast here for our anniversary. I'd recommend the place, although it wasn't any better than a normal Saturday breakfast back home. The service was quick and friendly and the atmosphere was like you would expect at a locals cafe.

Papa John's

I know it's a big chain, but it's always good, and we LOVE it!

Pizza Ranch

When has Pizza Ranch ever disappointed us? We eat there too often back home, but it's a guaranteed easy meal with toddlers in tow, and they LOVE it there!

You Won't be Missing Much...

Big Ole Park and Statue

I wouldn't plan a whole day here or anything, but we enjoyed having a little picnic near the statue with the boys, and they were fascinated by it for about 5 minutes. If you didn't catch it on your trip, I wouldn't say you were missing anything, but it would be a fun photo op. Granted, while we were there, they were re-painting it, so the photo op wasn't so great. If it weren't right in town there, it wouldn't be worth much of a drive, honestly.

Runestone Park

This place had GREAT reviews, but it was just kinda boring if you ask us. They're restoring this old house on the property, and when that's finished, it might be a little more interesting, but overall, it's just really boring. It looks like it might be a great place for a small wedding reception or something, but just going there to explore, there isn't really much to see. I think there might have been some longer trails around somewhere, but we spent more time driving out there than we spent actually being there, and that includes the kids swinging. We didn't check out the museum, but maybe that would have been more exciting?

Inspiration Peak

I'll first note that Inspiration Point and Inspiration Peak are two very different things, so make sure you put "Peak" into your GPS instead of "Point". It's about 30 miles from Alexandria, and although it's kinda neat and the view is cool if you're kinda bored and looking for something to do, we only spent about 30 minutes there total (including hiking up there and back), so I figure if you spend less time at a place than it takes to get there, it's not worth it.

Dining at...

Zorba's

I hate to put it in my "you wouldn't miss it" category, but the food we got from there just wasn't really anything to write home about. We got the spaghetti for the kids, a burrito for myself and some enchiladas for Mark, and none of it gave me that WOW factor. The atmosphere seemed kinda fun, and I can imagine kids from teenagers through their mid-40s enjoying kicking back with some beers and pizza on a weekend night, but it just didn't do it for me. And it *might* be across from the lake, but it's also across the street from the lake, so it's not really on the lake like we thought. I'd pass up an offer to go there again.

Accommodations Review: 2 Bedroom VRBO Bungalow in Farwell, Minnesota

We booked this quaint 2 bedroom bungalow on vrbo.com, which turned out to be a great choice for us!

I'll get right into the pros and cons of the place to keep it short and sweet.

Pros

• We LOVED Lake Blackwell. Their little system of docks was really perfect for our family. We spent most of our mornings out letting the kids fish while we sat back and relaxed. It was so serene! The lake is really quiet most of the time, and the views are outstanding!
  
• The grounds were very well maintained, and extremely tranquil. I mean, we had 3 kids under the age of 5, so nothing is ever very tranquil (keeping it real), but aside from the mosquitoes that come with having this kind of wooded area near a lake in the northern half of Minnesota, we could have spent hours out there, not even on the lake. I cannot say enough about how gorgeous the gardens around the house were! It was like a little piece of heaven, honestly! It is the thing dreams are made of :) Fantastic, fantastic job on the grounds, Glenaris and Barry!!
  
  
• The hot tub :) Oh boy was that nice after a busy day chasing kiddos around and keeping them out of trouble. After putting the kids to bed (but before they fell asleep), we sat in there every night. It was really nice to have that feature!
• The amenities at the lake: Kayaks (for adults AND kids), fishing boat, canoe, little beach for the kids, fishing gear, and all the great seating down there. Aside from some needed deck repairs (which really ought to be addressed), this was a major favorite from the trip. We spent a lot of family time down on the docks. The kids had a BLAST fishing off the dock, and every time they stuck their rods in, they pulled up a sunny (they each caught a tiny walleye, and our oldest caught a small perch once too). Nothing big off the dock, but perfect for an almost-3 year old and a 4 year old. They woke up wanting to fish and went to bed wanting to fish. GREAT memories for them!
  
• The gnomes all over the property gave us a fun little diversion during one of the mornings, going on a gnome hunt with the kids. They were entertained for a little while anyway.
  
• The teepee was really cool, even if it didn't keep the kids' interest for long. We had a little musical interlude after our gnome hunt with the drums and rattles one morning. Some of the guests stay overnight in there, I guess, although It doesn't look like it'd be very comfortable. It was very well put together, though, and on a deck, so I doubt there'd be a huge bug problem. However, you're smack dab in the woods, so getting there you might get a little bit up.
  
• The little sandbox area was FANTASTIC for my busy little guys who love to play in the sand. They spent hours out there. Make sure to lather them up with bug spray, though! It was so quiet and just gorgeous to sit out on the deck watching them play.
  
• They had a/c in the master bedroom. Very necessary on a warmer night to sleep comfortably.

Cons

• As we expected, the kitchen was really small. I'll expand on this in the full review below.
• The internet was extremely sporadic. It would blip very 10 minutes or so at times (then at other times it would be fine for half an hour). I wouldn't think it would be an issue in general for anyone who DOESN'T have 3 kids under the age of 5, since, you know, it's so gorgeous that you shouldn't need to rely on Bob the Builder or Justin Time to entertain kids, but just getting 5 people out of PJs, fed breakfast and ready for the day, there's a little downtime there. It was really frustrating having to re-establish the connection on the Roku every 10 minutes (or more often).
• The beds were extremely uncomfortable. I'll expand on this below.
• To get to the lake, you have to go down this steep driveway and cross a dirt road. I'll expand on this below as well.
• They made it extremely clear that the stairs leading up to the bungalow were ones you'd have to really be paying attention on, and they were right. We got used to having to pay close attention, so it wasn't something that would have deterred us from booking the place by any means, but anyone with a wobbly toddler who isn't good on their feet might want to think twice, or else be prepared to carry them down the stairs all the time.
  
• I hate to even list this as a "con", because it wasn't really that big a deal or inconvenience, but there was just a single window air-conditioner unit in the bungalow. I doubt you'd even have to use it most of the year, but we're spoiled, and we keep our house at 74, and we felt like we were running the thing constantly, and it was in the master bedroom, and it was LOUD at night. We adjusted, and like I said - I would hardly complain about it, but it might seriously bug you if you don't like the noise. And the second bedroom was quite a bit warmer than the rest of the place, so we felt bad for our kiddos who had to sleep in there.

Bungalow and Grounds Review

This place felt really homey, honestly. We loved the cozy little bungalow, and it was well-furnished. During the day, we felt like it fit our family pretty good, but it would have been a tinge small if we were talking about 4 grown adults versus 2 adults and 3 little kids.

The view from the living room was beautiful, and if you peek through the trees, you could see the lake out there.

The "master" bedroom was a nice size, and it had a big closet and empty drawers. If they added a nice thick memory foam thing on top of the bed, I would have no complaints. I really don't think I'm an extremely picky person as far as beds are concerned. But after one horrible night of sleep (in which I was honestly tempted to run to Walmart in the middle of the night, my back was so sore), we picked up a queen size memory foam mattress pad to make the rest of vacation bearable. It helped tremendously! I was still sore each night, but not to the point where I was out of my mind and couldn't sleep. I know I'm getting to be an old lady at 34, and I'm sure a part of it has to do with having had 3 kids in the past 5 years, but that bed was HARD. And we have a very firm bed at home.

For the second room...the "bed" was a futon mattress, so you can imagine how uncomfortable that was. It didn't help that my poor kiddos had to share the bed, and our middle guy is a huge thrasher. I'm shocked they were as well-behaved as they were considering how poorly they slept while there.

Our kids weren't overly fond of it either and kept climbing into our bed, and I know we're spoiled at home, but we don't even like that when we're dealing with our extremely comfy (albeit firm) king size bed. So an uncomfortable queen size bed made for rough sleeping for all of us. The room was really small, so we only used it when it was bedtime or nap time. It would be a huge improvement to just throw a queen size (or even just a double) bed in there. I'm not sure what the point of a futon in the room is. It's not like anyone would just go hang out in there by any means. It'd be significantly nicer sleeping too!

The bathroom was probably the worst part of the bungalow, although I DID love the sink. The owner told me they had plans to renovate it at some point, but it was definitely in rough shape overall, and they are aware of that. With a little kid who isn't fond at ALL of showers, a tub would've been a huge plus, especially when being in the lake daily required a shower each night, but I'm not sure how they would fit that in.

The kitchen was really small. Like...If you had people sitting around the table to eat, you couldn't open the fridge small. It worked for us for a week, however, and it was well-stocked (although we brought our skillet and waffle maker for breakfasts). They have a Keurig out, which was a great touch! They also had a traditional coffee maker in the cabinet, and a decent supply of spices. You don't want to run the coffee maker, a skillet, a baby monitor and the microwave at the same time, however, or you might blow a fuse ;)

The outside areas were wonderful here! We didn't make enough use of them, honestly. Sometimes with little kids in tow, you feel like keeping them contained is more important haha But I'm kicking myself that we didn't dine outside, as this was really a great area!

The hot tub was a NICE touch! It was easy to use, which we did every night to keep the bungalow quiet while the big boys drifted off to sleep for about 20 minutes.

Down by the Water

As I mentioned in the "cons" section, you have to go down the steep driveway and across a gravel road to get to the lake. It was fine, really, but it was hard to tell that just from looking at the pictures of the place on the vrbo site. We were made aware of this before booking, but it would've been nice to just let the kids run out to the dock and fish while watching them in the morning, but it was nerve-wrecking when they would wake up and want to start running down the driveway in their pjs to fish before we had even gotten a chance to go to the bathroom.

I felt like we did a lot of yelling at the kids in the mornings, as man - I would be hardly awake, and they'd be out the door heading down the driveway. As you can see here, Cashel at least was trying to instruct Kendrick to stop at the bottom to help me out haha

Glenaris and Barry really did a great job with this spot! You really wouldn't need to bring much of anything, although we wished we had remembered our own life jackets, as Mark needed one a bit bigger. However, I do have to say that some of the boards could use some replacing, and a couple of the docks should probably be secured better. Considering they have full-time jobs beyond this place, it seems like they've certainly got their hands full, but they do at least seem aware of what needs to be done. They were extremely friendly and helpful whenever we needed anything.

The guys took the fishing boat out a couple times and LOVED it!

Alexandria, Minnesota

We decided a few months ago to book a rental home on Lake Blackwell just southwest of Alexandria, Minnesota for a week. I'm super excited for our trip, coming up at the end of this month!

This will be our second time traveling with all three kiddos, our first time being to the Wisconsin Dells at the end of May. We had a great time in the Dells, but there were also all sorts of activities we could do there, so I decided we might want to plan a few fun activities (beyond the beach, teepee, and possibly kayaking) to do as a family while we're there.

It will also be our second trip to Alexandria, as Mark and I went there on our 9 year anniversary weekend this past September. We had such a great time, even if I was battling morning sickness

We've been doing vacation rental homes for the past few years, ever since bringing kids along, and we wouldn't do it any other way! It's so nice to be able to spread out a bit, have a fully-functional kitchen, and let the kids have their own rooms as well.

We had fewer options than usual this time, considering we're looking to book so late in the season, but were thrilled to find this adorable 2-bedroom bungalow was still available, and we locked it in right away for the week our daycare provider would be gone on vacation.

Of course, being on a cabin right by a lake will provide a lot of entertainment all by itself, especially with all the fun amenities this place offers.

As far as extra activities we're thinking about doing, we're thinking we might try to find a kid-friendly movie at the local theatre, possibly hitting up Casey's Amusement Park (the verdict is still out), and possibly taking the boys bowling for the first time. We'll also probably eat out a time or two and hit some of the gorgeous local trails. I highly doubt we'll do much as far as shopping, although they have a little mall there as well. Otherwise, I guess we'll just have to see what happens! We're really excited to take the boys and just have some downtime with no expectations. We've had a jam-packed year so far, and we're excited to just not be busy for a week!

Alexandria, MN

We finally decided on our summer vacation this year, and I'm excited!

We're planning to be gone a week just a few hours north of here to beautiful Alexandria, Minnesota! And let me just say that with our last vacation having been over a YEAR ago, I'm excited to get started planning!

We've decided to rent a cabin on Lake Andrew for a week, which gives us lakefront property (including a dock for our jet ski!), a nice yard, and a nice cabin (with bedrooms for the kids and a master for us) to spread out in for the week. We're still in the process of getting that reserved, but we're excited and REALLY hoping that it's still available like it says on vrbo.com :)

This will be the first time for us in Alexandria, and I've heard it's just beautiful! (Judging by the picture below, I'd have to say, I agree!)

Photo courtesy city-data.com

I'm looking forward to a lot of rest and relaxation, enjoying a beautiful view of Lake Andrew, exploring with our boys and taking lots of nice, long walks together :) I mostly am looking forward to having NO agenda while we're there. Oh, and the following nearby treats that we seldom get to enjoy while living in Windom: Papa John's, Caribou and Target lol