A Trip to the Brainerd Area

Our anniversary brought us to the Brainerd, Minnesota area for a quick getaway. Brrrr .. it is cold in winter here. Of course, we were hoping that we would have springlike weather but that didn’t occur so … it is what it is.

We arrived at a resort called Kavanaugh’s which is about a 2.5 hour drive from the Minneapolis area. My son had bought us a 4 day/3 night stay for Christmas at this resort through LivingSocial.

Kavanaugh's Office Sign
Kavanaugh’s Office Sign
Kavanaugh's, Brainerd, MN
Kavanaugh’s, Brainerd, MN

We were greeted warmly by the office staff, given our key then we proceeded to check out our room which is considered a “pool suite.” The room has one bedroom with two double beds and a living room. It can sleep up to 6 people — four in the bedroom and two on the sleeper sofa in the living room.

Livingroom
Livingroom
Bedroom
Bedroom
Kitchen Area
Kitchen Area

After settling in, we headed out to see where the indoor swimming pool was. We went around this building where the laundromat is to enter through an unlocked door to get inside.

Laundromat & Indoor Pool
Laundromat & Indoor Pool
Swimming Pool
Swimming Pool

For those who can’t miss a day without working out, there is a separate fitness/exercise room right off the swimming pool area.

Exercise Room
Exercise Room

There is also an arcade room where you can play pool (at a small cost, of course) and other games. I’m sure this room is full in the summer time when there are lots of children around.

Arcade Room
Arcade Room

The outdoor pool was full of snow. We wouldn’t have used it anyway with the blustery type winds that were blowing and the cold temperatures.

Outdoor Pool
Outdoor Pool

Then it was dinner time so we went to one of the restaurants that was recommended by the staff called Jake’s City Grille.

Jake’s City Grille, Nissma, MN

When we arrived there were four snowmobiles in the parking lot. In this area we saw many people using snowmobiles to get around.

The inside of the restaurant has a bar to the left and the dining room to the right which is where we were seated. It’s very spacious and I’ll bet it’s full in the summer time.

Jake's City Grille, Nissma, MN
Jake’s City Grille, Nissma, MN

Since we came here on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th, we weren’t surprised that their special was Corned Beef, Cabbage, Potatoes and Vegetables. My husband decided to have their special. He said it tasted pretty good.

Corned Beef, Cabbage, Potato
Corned Beef, Cabbage, Potato

I’m beginning to wonder if 1) I am a picky eater or 2) I’m being tested with patience. I say this because I ordered the Herbed Chicken with Garlic Mashed Potatoes that also came with vegetables and I was disappointed.

Herbed Chicken with Mashed Potatoes
Herbed Chicken with Mashed Potatoes

The chicken was dry and the mashed potatoes were hard (if  only they had added a wee bit of water to them).  Well, at least the vegetables were good.

The following day we slept in knowing that we wouldn’t be able to get out early because it had snowed the night before. Some roads were closed although not the ones around us.

The staff cleared the snow from the front area of our door and around our car. Once that was done we headed out to explore the small town of Nisswa, Minnesota.

Nisswa (prounounced “niss” as in the word “miss”) is a town of approximately 2000 people. Downtown Nisswa is small but quaint.

Downtown Nisswa, Minnesota
Downtown Nisswa, Minnesota
Downtown Nisswa, Minnesota
Downtown Nisswa, Minnesota

We headed into the local bookstore called Turtle Town Books & Gifts which had quite a collection of books and children’s toys/gifts.

Turtle Town Books & Gifts
Turtle Town Books & Gifts

Afterwards we ducked into the local coffeeshop, Adirondack Coffee, for coffee, hot chocolate, tomato soup and an almond croissant. The croissant was hard as a rock so we asked the staff to warm it up for us. It was okay but definitely not fresh. The tomato soup, on the other hand, was delicious!

Adirondack Coffee
Adirondack Coffee

Afterwards we drove home in quite blustery weather with snow blowing onto the road. I was glad that my husband was at the wheel and not me.

Nisswa, Minnesota area
Nisswa, Minnesota Area

After breakfast the next day, we headed to Brainerd where we went “antiquing.” Although there are a few antique stores in the area, some of them were closed and not many people were out as it was still a down-to-the-bone type of cold so we didn’t spend too much time outdoors.

Our afternoon was nice and lazy … reading and watching television.

Dinner our second night was at a restaurant on Gull Lake called Ernie’s.

Ernie's on Gull Lake
Ernie’s on Gull Lake

I found the sign below quite interesting but, no, I don’t think I want to drive across this road to get to the other side, although a few snowmobilers drove up to Ernie’s for dinner.

Winter Road Sign, Gull Lake
Winter Road Sign, Gull Lake
Snowmobilers on Gull Lake
Snowmobilers on Gull Lake

The restaurant was not crowded although there were a few people at the bar which is separate from the dining room.

Service was great! Our waitress was attentive but not annoyingly so. My husband ordered the steak which he said was very good.

Steak at Ernie's
Steak at Ernie’s on Gull Lake

I tried the fish and chips with an order of onion rings. Unfortunately, I only ate two of the battered fish as they were too greasy for me. My body is not used to so much grease now that I’m eating a paleo diet.

Fish and Chips, Ernies
Fish and Chips, Ernies on Gull Lake

Looking out the restaurant window, there was a huge icicle hanging outside. (The picture was taken through the glass window.)

Gull Lake, Minnesota in Winter
Gull Lake, Minnesota in Winter

Gull Lake is one of the largest lakes in the Brainerd, Minnesota area. It is also one of the most popular from what I hear. Kavanaugh’s (the resort where we stayed at) is one of approximately 19 resorts that are on Gull Lake and there are approximately 27.8 homes for each shoreline mile. I can only imagine how busy it is in the summer time.

This really is a pretty area and we need to return sometime when it’s warmer.

Here are some pictures of the drive back home.

Northern Minnesota
Northern Minnesota
Northern Minnesota
Northern Minnesota
Northern Minnesota
Northern Minnesota

No doubt about it — there is beauty in Minnesota in winter.

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6 thoughts on “A Trip to the Brainerd Area”

  1. (Sorry if this posted twice, my computer was screwing up, wanted to make sure it went through)

    Hi Norma,

    This is very random, but I wanted to reach out to you.

    I suffered lingual nerve damage roughly a year ago during a wisdom tooth extraction. I primarily have an issue with the right side of my tongue. You know the deal; burning/tingling. Some days it’s barely noticeable, others it’s terrible.

    Anyways, I was researching Cold Laser Therapy as a treatment and found several posts from people speaking about how successful it was for them. Your blog post from October was one of those. You basically said that you were seeing improvement in your tongue from the treatments … exactly what I’m looking for, as you and I seem to have suffered the same type of damage.

    Long story short, I have my first treatment with the laser therapy scheduled for Monday, and I’m cautiously optimistic from what I’ve read.

    I was curious, since your post was from several months ago, how much success did the treatment have for you? I’ve read from a lot of people who said it was immensely successful, and you seemed to be leaning in that route but I couldn’t come across anything you wrote that followed up on it.

    Did the treatment help the problem? Did it cure the problem? Is there anything I should expect?

    Obviously I hope it went well for you!

    Just a fellow Lingual Nerve Damage victim looking for a bit of advice!

    Thanks!

    – Ken

    1. Hi Ken,

      I should have updated my post on my lingual nerve damage. Sorry about that. The problem was resolved by the beginning of 2013 with the laser treatment. My chiropractor had also referred me to a dentist he knew to help by making a night guard for me because he thought the lingual nerve was being affected by TMJ which I had minor problems with but that was after the fact.

      However, when I became sick with bronchitis in February, the lingual nerve started acting up again. I will be heading back to the chiropractor next week.

      The chiropractor had also explained that inflammation in the body can prevent the lingual nerve from healing so I should be careful what I ate and he recommended removing sugar (except for occasional honey and pure maple syrup), gluten and dairy from my diet. Thus I started on a paleolithic diet.

      I believe that the lingual nerve is better because of it, i.e. it’s not as bad during this recurrence as it was initially when it first started.

      So I’m hoping that this is a minor setback for me as it took almost four weeks for me to recuperate from the bronchitis which is a big inflammation causer.

      Best wishes to you as you start on your journey to recovery.

      1. Hi Norma,

        Thank you very much for the reply, that is very exciting to hear. It’s also very funny that you mentioned both TMJ and inflammation.

        I also have TMJ, but never connected the two. I’ll have to mention that when I go in on Monday.

        In regards to the inflammation, this past week I’ve had the flu and I’ve found that my tongue has been a bit more annoying this week than it had previously. If inflammation can cause a flare up, that could explain why it’s been a bit rougher on me this week.

        So you credit the laser treatment with getting you on the right path? How many treatments did it take for you to reach 100%?

        I’m remaining cautiously optimistic, as I don’t want to build myself up for a potential let down, but seeing that there is nothing but negative information online about this issue … it’s nice to finally hear something positive for once!

        – Ken

        1. Hi Ken,

          I don’t believe lingual nerve damage is much understood (not that I’m an expert). The dentist I go to now doesn’t believe I could have had nerve damage from the injection I received but everything I read says the opposite and my chiropractor understands it, so I’m glad the dentist is not the one treating me for it. He did tell me he was getting one of the laser machines … I wonder why?

          How many visits did it take? Well, I started going twice a week for about 6 weeks and noticed a considerable improvement at that time — almost 100%. Then I went once a week for a couple weeks and since it was going so well, I pared it down to once every couple of weeks til the end of the year 2012. So about 15-17 visits total — approximately. I didn’t pull out my receipts to check. lol

          The chiropractor said it was best to start more aggressive so that’s why we did twice a week to start. He had never used this treatment on the lingual nerve before but had used it on nerve injuries for people who had problems with their feet because of diabetes, back, etc.

          Sure beats surgery! Take care and keep me posted if you don’t mind. I’d be interested to know if you find relief also.

          Norma

          1. Mine was definitely trauma from the wisdom tooth extraction. My root of my tooth was close to the nerve, and every practicioner I spoke to is convinced that’s the cause of it. I tend to agree with them.

            I start on Monday and will be doing 2 treatments a week for a 4 week period to start. The person administering the treatment to me also has never used it for the lingual nerve, but seems very confident in the effectiveness of the treatment overall.

            I’ll definitely keep you updated!

            Have a great weekend!

            – Ken

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