A weekend away.

It's the summer or a little more pre-planning (in order to get the deals!)

 And enjoying a cold one (if that's your thing)

And it's all of our things.

Even if sometimes we are feeling a little bit....

Moody.

Lakes. Minnesota. Summer. 

Good combination.

Makes one feel demure.

Or ca-razy.

There's that beer again.

And Dad looking in the water (I told you this is a thing)

A little shopping and posing with....I'm not sure what it is. A bull fish?

In Cross Lake, MN

We spent a couple nights at Manhattan Beach Lodge, just north of Cross Lake.

Water is the thing up there, so we rented a canoe. 

A fun filled, not yelling at each other spin around the lake.

Yeah, right!!!

We did see a real loon super up close (those red eyes!) and this one, in someone's yard.

We had a little bonfire accident with a picnic table.

No, not really. Well SOMEONE did.

Apparently the wedding party that was staying the previous weekend made some bad choices. Wonder if alcohol was involved??

The kids were excited to go fishing. The last morning we spent some time fishing off the dock and they each got 5 or 6 fish. Itty bitty ones, but you wouldn't know it by the excitement level.

Got to enjoy a nice sunset.

Despite the thumbs down, it was thumbs up.

Zoe likes to photo bomb.

Thumbs up.

This should be Mikes Facebook profile pic

Posing.

or lounging.

I don't know why I forget that if we go into a store it's whine fest.

Broke down and they got to pick a little item.

Another stuffed animal?

Are you kidding me?

no.

Gave Zoe the camera for a bit.

Ah.

Then a lovely dinner on the patio

with this view.

We stopped at the Mille Lac Indian Museum (MN Historical Society stop!)

Which included a stop in the 4 seasons room, which was pretty interesting.

Miigwech.

Native son, alternate name for 'Terminal 1' @ MSP and misguided figure....Charles A Lindbergh State Park

A tree stump carved into a turtle. Fitting. We have a turtle thing going for us.

Across from the state park was a visitor center and the Lindbergh home. We visited both. 

Not only do we have a state parks pass we also now have the Minnesota Historical Society Family pass that we're going to make full use of (thankyouverymuch).

No, I wouldn't have wanted to drive this vehicle to California (and back), but Lindbergh and family did.

This is a park just outside of the town my mom grew up in and she visited this park many times in her youth. By the time we got there we had time for the house tour and a quick visit through the museum. Long enough probably, although we didn't get a chance to meander any of the paths in the park.  Next time.

But we did get to see Minnesota's state flower in bloom.

Ladyslipper! Outside the Lindbergh home.

BTW, highly recommended book:

One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson. Fascinating.

Where's Dad?

Normally he'd be looking in the water.

But this time we were at Mille Lacs Kathio State Park

Looking up. Waiting for Dad to wave at us from atop...

The fire tower!

Actually he WAS looking at water. He could see Lake Mille Lacs from the top.

I made it up about 2 flights of stairs and Zoe and Roman about 1...and then panic struck. So, from the ground we watched. And swatted bugs. Bugs make for shorter walks in the woods.

Willow River State Park (WI)

BIG cottonwood at Willow River.

At the start of our trek..

bright green bugs on the trail, and on a tree (spotted by Roman).

The park is nice enough. There are some falls (falls!) that we were headed toward. I anticipated we'd be getting our feet wet, so I recommended Crocs. Zoe found this to be bad advice. No socks, no protection from sand and rocks and whatever pops up from the trail. Then, a good 30 minutes out Roman started complaining that his waist hurt. This isn't a good sign. Tummy troubles. And the whining, and the 'I REALLY gotta go!" I'd hoped by the time we got to the falls there would be a bathroom of some sort, any sort. 

Nope.

So we did make it to the falls, but we spent about 1 minute looking and then had to turn around and take the quickest (looking) path to a toilet. 

Shortest, not necessarily flattest.

BIG hill.

But we made it. We found our destination.

Relief. Then back to the car.

In the pines.

at this point, kiddos weren't too keen on any of it.

smile!

Next time: better bathroom planning.

And a change of clothes in the backpack.