The Biggest Maple Tree in Minnesota

On the night before St Patricks Day, Meadow made a leprechaun trap.

Maybe next year Meadow.

Meadow was having a rough morning and needed a hug.

She wanted to play Zelda all day long. The rest of us wanted to go on a hike.

We spend so much time getting these kids to get outside and once they are outside they don't want to come back in.

Scott chose this weeks hike based off his current love of old growth forests.

Wolsfeld Woods SNA just west of the cities in Medina. It's home to the tallest sugar maple in the state.

I bet this place is beautiful in the fall.

Theo once again was a great hiking mate.

Besides the one map near the entrance you were basically left to go wherever you wanted.

We followed the trails, but the understory is wide open and you could just walk anywhere.

I think we need to come back here in the summer to let the kids play in the creek.

Suddenly hiking was fun.

I love hiking with my favorite goofs.

Here was the homestead the park is named after. I tried to find evidence of where the home was.

Just an old light post?

And an old tractor.

Meadow wanted to see the manmade eagles nest in the distance.

This park also has ski trails and judging by how unknown and not busy the park was we'll also have to come back in winter too.

I love some good moss and I guess Meadow does too.

Some of the unmarked trails would lead us to someone's house.

The lakes around the metro are still somewhat frozen, but I wouldn't go out on them.

Scott was not thrilled about having to cross the natural bridge.

I made Brooke carry my camera and lenses over the bridge. It wasn't bad once I got halfway across.

I love big old-growth trees anytime of the year.

Theo wanted to show me how he could climb over this downed tree.

After reading Our Living Ancestors, I'm really into all the signs of a healthy old growth forests. Tip-ups are a must as well as debris and duff (decaying leaves).

These guys love to play on the downed trees.

We ended up spending 2 hours here and didn't even touch one side of the park.

See you again Wolsfeld Woods.

Teaching them young.

Our car was in desperate need for a bath. We still had mud on our tire from when Scott drove in a ditch back in November.

Since we were in the area we stopped at Minnetonka Drive In for lunch.

I went here years ago with my dad. I didn't remember it being great, but I guess it's gotten better or my memory didn't serve me right.

We were going to stop at the neighboring Back Channel Brewing but it was packed. We also tried Steel Toe Brewing and they were also packed. Instead we went home and played video games while I worked on more photo books.

Comments

How Many Cottage Visits This Summer? Well, This Time We Went to the Vilas County Fair

You probably thought: "You guys can't be going to to the cottage again? And you already went to a fair!" Well, you'd be wrong. After a delayed return from Utah, we headed back to Three Lakes. After missing the turn to get on 35W north we found ourselves on 94 East and decided to keep going that way. Since we'd be on 29, you know we had to stop at Marieke Gouda again. This time we could browse around. We got some cheese for up north and the kids and I got ice cream cones, again. The water levels had really dropped. Much of the Upper Midwest was in deep drought to end the summer. Even the pond was dry. Well, at least the lake was mostly full. Straight to the water with these kids. Theo and I were at the farmers market earlier this week and Theo said he wanted corn on the cob. I told my dad to pick some up at the farm stand on the way up to have for dinner. What a goof. This view never gets old. With swimming lessons now completed, Theo has been become quite the...

Willow River, Ben Comes to Visit and a Quick Work Trip to the Wasatch Valley

Saturday The kids and I stopped at the Uptown Farmers Market the other day. And much to our surprise was a bakery selling Japanese Milk Bread. Of course I had to make our favorite breakfast. For this weeks farmers market run, the kids and I tried out the St Paul Farmers Market. After hearing about it for years we finally made the trek. Getting here and finding parking was an adventure in itself. Well, that's because it's not located in a car sewer. Love all the pretty colors. Popcorn for these kiddos. I'm not sure how you all aren't sick of popcorn. We also got okra, cucumbers, cauliflower, spread cheese, green beans and potatoes. Then we stopped at a Hyvee to get food for a picnic lunch, camp meals for our upcoming trip to Ontario, and school snacks. Then to take advantage of our new Wisconsin State Park pass, we went to the uber popular Willow River State Park . All the picnic tables were in use so the ground it is. The only other time we have been ...

Backcountry Camping with Kids in Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Day 1 Back in May I stumbled upon Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I had no idea there was a National Park in North Dakota and that it was the northern end of the Badlands. Usually our summer vacations coincide with Scott's work trips. Since he didn't have any this summer I thought we should take advantage of actually taking a vacation. What, my workcations are always classics? I suppose a second real vacation this year wouldn't hurt. We definitely have more time than normal. As long as we took Covid-19 precautions and avoided people. We finally settled on a time to go. Blake joined us so we borrowed our dad's van so we could ride together. Scott had just driven from Michigan the day before. Blake had met my parents in Wisconsin to get the van and then drove from Duluth to pick us up. I offered to drive since I literally only drive twice a month. I was still pretty tired from a long drive home. Since we were near Fergus Falls we had to stop by the abandoned state ho...

Search This Blog