Minnesota's Kolacky Capital, Picking Some Apples and We Bought A New Car

Today's adventure would take us to the Kolacky Capital of the World for apple picking and pastries.

Now Theo's a pro at making his own breakfast.

They watch too many cooking shows. But tbh I'm more likely to leave a pan on the stove than the kids.

On our way to Montgomery the kids drew together. It's just so sweet when they get along.

While in Montgomery we had to stop at Franke's Bakery for kolackies.

We both got these confused with Paczki. Not at all the same. Kolackies are Czech not Polish.

These were kind of like a stuffed hot cross bun and pretty small. So, we got a day old pack of donuts too.

None the less, the bakery was adorable.

The kolackies were delicious just not packzis. Well worth a little road trip from the Twin Cities. It is the Kolacky Capital of the World after all.

I usually try to find apple orchards that aren't big fall festivals. We don't really care for the hay rides and whatnot. Though these kids do love a corn pit. I found Montgomery Orchard which was just a smallish orchard with no fuss.

I like the petting farms and games. Hayrides, nah. But wherever Brooke takes us sounds fine to me.

I love that you drive an hour to pick apples that takes 5 minutes.

There's got to be a middle ground between apple picking and blueberry picking. I guess that's just strawberry picking.

Somehow I didn't take any pictures of pizza. I''m confused too.

Me either, did you really not take any photos the rest of the day?

IDK. Can't find it on any old memory cards either.

Well, this orchard also had a winery and brick oven pizza truck on site. We shared a flight of wine and ciders and pizza.

The day was still young. I saw there were a lot of geocaches at the nearby Richter Woods Park.

Apparently I didn't hide as well as some of these geocaches.

This one was one of the most unique ones we've found.

After the park I thought it would make sense to get some loan paperwork done for a new car. I must be slow because I didn't realize we were actually just closing on our new plug-in hybrid. Say hello to our 2021 Ford Escape PHEV.

The last couple of weeks we had been looking into getting a new car. We were first interested in a Honda Clarity plug in hybrid. It didn't have a hatch back so I wasn't sure I could commit to it. None of the other Honda's available fit our preferences. One night Scott said the Ford Escape hybrid might fit our needs. After testing driving it I still wasn't sure, but thinking ahead it did seem like the right fit for our family lifestyle. I thought we'd be Honda people for life but here we are.

Kitty always walks on the cat walk above our attic stairs. Now she's getting even braver.

We ended our night with more Little House on the Prairie.

Comments

Brooke Turns 40, We Return to the Riverside Cabin at Voyageur Canoe Outfitters

This year is my 40th birthday. We originally thought we'd go to Mackinac Island and also played with the idea of going to Montreal. With a spring break trip coming up we settled on a cabin on the Gunflint Trail. The Gunflint Trail is one of our favorite spots in Minnesota. So, why not? We'd also decided to go on another campervan/RV relocation adventure at the end of the month. So don't act like I don't treat my honey. On our drive up we stopped at Tobie's to get cinnamon bread for french toast. Just like a few years back we stopped at Hungry Hippie Tacos in Duluth. I feel like we have to document whenever these kids get along as it's a rarity these days. We got the frybread tacos, but the kids stuck with the corn tortilla options. We brought along our projector and stopped at Blake's house to steal his internet to download videos. Once we got to Voyageur Canoe Outfitters and unloaded our stuff, we crossed the river to explore the trails briefly. Our feet ...

A 39th Birthday Cottage Visit and Ice Skating "The Glide" in Boulder Junction

Back at the cottage for my (early) birthday weekend. Where else would I go for my birthday? I'm a simple man. Grandpa cleared a rink and a little loop for us. Theo just wanted dig in the snow. Meanwhile Meadow and I went cross country skiing on the Anvil Ski Trail. Meadow said she would only go with me if we did a trail with hills. We hiked this a few years ago and it was quite hilly. She was an old pro on the hills while I wiped out. We didn't make it too far as Meadow complained her boots were too tight. I made her check the fit a few weeks ago and she claimed they were fine... Was a beautiful trail in the Nicolet National Forest.

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