Minnesota North Shore 2008 with family

I love Minnesota's North Shore. It is my happy place. It is like mini mountains, northwoods, and an ocean cost rolled all into one. Beautiful pines, aspens, wildflowers, along with spectacular waterfalls at every turn - oh, and let's not forget that BIG lake. I could sit and watch the lake for hours.

In the summer of 2009, my youngest was barely two years old, and we had the pleasure of having my nephew Shane and his wife come visit us from Nevada. Being that he is living where I grew up, it is desert and a billion degrees and very NOT green, we wanted to take them up north and show them our little treasure of state parks. 

Minnesota has wonderful state park systems - if you would like more info click here <"http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/index.html"> 

I learned one thing on this trip : two year olds are squirmy for pictures. I learned about candid ohotos later on......

We went to Gooseberry State park first. It is the most visited, because it is the closed to Minneapolis / St. Paul, and thus many people travel north and stop there, not going any further north. It has beautiful waterfalls, but can get very busy on weekends - we like to go on weekdays. 

The waterfalls were really full, being early in the year ( June) and having a heavy Snow that winter.

Next up the shore is Split Rock Lighthouse State Park , which is well known for the lighthouse but also has a beautiful park attached to it that many people miss. Beautiful trees , aspens, and rocky shoreline. Lots of rocks. Did I mention little boys like rocks ? We saw a guy painting on the trail. I paint, but nothing like this.

Part of the trail has a lot of steps. A LOT. Fun for older kids but gets tiring for a two year old. He ended up on my husbabd's or my nephew's shoulders most of the time. 

The next state parks are Tettagouche , Temperance River, and Cascade River. All with waterfalls. Lots and lots of waterfalls. 

Did I mention I love waterfalls ? 

Temperance river is one of my favorite state parks. Deep gorges cut out by the river and swirling water. 

I love the north shore. When I leave there I want to go back. I hope you get the joy of visiting there someday. Or not. Maybe I want to keep it to myself........

Great Lakes Adventures of 2005

    In the fall of 2005 we decided to take a little trip up north in Minnesota, where we live, and take our 3 year old to one of my favorite places : Lake Superior.

     For those of you who have never been to Lake Superior, it is somewhat of a magical place to me, I don't know if it is because of it's sheer size, or if it is the beauty around it, but I always get a happy feeling when I am there. 

     We started out on the " south shore" near Bayfield Wisconsin, and took a boat tour around the Apostle Islands. They are part of the national park service, and are a series of islands in the lake that are all uninhibited but one, Madeline island. There are lighthouses on some of the islands, and camping on the islands for those who can access them by boat - the NPS will drop off campers as well - Ihave camped on them in the past and it is quite an adventure ! 

     The islands are also well known for their sea caves , which are very beautiful and sought after by sea kayakers. 

     The boat tour was about three hours which for some kids can get long but my L.A. ( my 3 year old ) loved watching water, birds, and anything inbetween. And we brought color books. 

After the tour we took the ferry boat with our car to Madeline island, the one island with houses, an inn, and a restaurant. My kids like water. No matter how cold. So my 3 year old dove into the icy water of Lake Superior, fully dressed, and the next ferry didn't leave back for two hours. We drove around the island with a naked 3 year old ( asleep) in the back seat for the next hour, hanging his clothes out the window, they got dry, and all was well.

    Next we discovered a little gem called Amnicon State Park in Wisconsin, with beautiful waterfalls, bridges, and rock formations. 

       Then on up to the Minnesota side, the " North Shore". One of my favorite places of earth. You will see many pictures of this in future posts. What I am going to share this time is Lutsen Mountains. It is our only real " mountains " in Minnesota, and in the fall, the trees turn colors that when you look over the hills it looks like fruity pebbles cereal ;)

     There is a great gondola ride year round to take you to to top op the mountain and back for some breathtaking views , and a nice little restaraunt/ snack bar at the top.

      Now for what I DON'T reccomend : they have an alpine slide. I have done alpine slides in the past, and they were fun. All ages , they say. My son rode on my husband's lap, my very overly cautious husband, who wasn't going very fast. And they flipped. They skidded down the cement on my son's face, and had to be taken by 4 wheeler down the mountain, then we had to drive 30 minutes to the small area hospital.

      No teeth were lost, and all the skin grew back. But we won't be going down an alpine slide agin.

Where it all started.....

This is new to me. I have been looking for a platform to share my love of the outdoors and my family's travels with the world. 

     I am fortunate to have married a pilot  because although standby is a pain, and sometimes it takes you two or three extra legs to travel from point a to point b, it has allowed us to travel much more than we would have otherwise due to money and time restrictions. 

     I am also fortunate to have married someone who shares my love for forests, national parks, the outdoors, and travel in general - he is always up for a good road trip. 

     Our kids re great travelers, whether it is getting through airport security and living out of a carry on for a week, or long car trips, or living in a tent for a week - they are troopers. And we started them out early so they don't know any other way :)

This is where it all started for me : 

Zion National park. Growing up in the desert of southern Nevada, I was so excited when my parents would drive north with me to see pine trees and rivers and wow ! Sometimes snow ! Those are my greatest memories of childhood. It was even better when we HAD to drive through Zion to get to my grandma's house 😊 They took me to Bryce Canyon, Cedar Breaks, the Grand Canyon , and all of these left something in me that I wanted to pass on to my children. 

I have also been interested in wilderness medicine thanks to my best friend from nursing school, and at a conference I had the opportunity to hear Jim Whittaker speak, the founder of REI and the first american to climb Mount Everest. This man, in his 70's, still towers tall over most people, and has an undying love for the outdoors. It was from him I heard a phrase that I use today : he was talking about our education system, and the " no child left inside" programs. He the. Showed us statistics about kids with low performance and issues such as adhd, and when exposed to nature, green grass, trees, or some kind of natural environment for at least 30 minutes a day, their test scores improved and their behavior improved. He said their should not be a no child left behind program, but a " no child left inside" program. 

I couldn't agree more. 

That is why I want to share my experiences. In hopes that you can get outdoors and have some too. Even if you don't have kids. Everyone should get outdoors ! There is so much this earth has to offer... Sometimes in your own backyard ! 

Happy Travels, 

Jen