lydamorehouse | Entries tagged with adventure hikes

The weather here has been overcast and rainy. As Shawn told a somewhat uncertain staff person, “It’s gorgeous!” (The staff was concerned that she was being sarcastic. Shawn assured her that she was not.) Our family is very happily indoorsy. So, we spent much of the day inside, by a roaring fire, reading.

However, the weather cleared up on and off, and during one of the ‘on’s, Shawn and I headed out for an early morning canoe. We tend to canoe much like we hike, which is to say, we don’t go all that far, and we glide along at a snail’s pace.

Shawn in canoe (Bearskin 2025)

Image: Shawn in a canoe at Bearskin

I’ve also resumed my quest to walk as many of Bearskin’s ski trails as I feel is reasonable. I tend to enjoy a hike to a destination like Sunday’s accidental trip to Rudy Lake, but not all of the ski trails are set up for vistas. In fact, most of them aren’t. A person can tell, even as hiker, how excellent they are for skiers. So many up and down slopes! We are technically in the Pincushion Mountains here, (though people from the Coasts are allowed to scoff at what we call mountains around here.) However, the elevation changes are real! In fact, it usually takes me a few days to get used to the steep slopes. This time, having just come from Middletown, CT, which I feel like was built entirely at a 45-degree angle (all of it uphill!), I didn’t seem to need as much time.

At any rate, this year, I decided to try and find Ox Cart. FYI, an Ox Cart would not make it around this loop. I mean, I guess oxen are strong? But pulling a cart would be tough! Skiing however? It would be glorious.

Bob, the owner of Bearskin, did want to point out that if I walked Ox Cart, I would see the new boardwalk that they installed.

The boardwalk goes over a very marshy, swampy area. A place that my family would call “very moosey,” as this seems to be the sort of areas that we imagine moose tend to enjoy. This is a highly unscientific “hot take,” however. The one time that we saw moose in the wild, while hiking (at, of all places, “Moose Viewing Trail”) there was a place a little like this, though much more lake-y and slightly less boggy/swampy.

moosey

Moosey view.

I did not see moose here.

I will note, however, that I did see moose tracks and what was very obviously moose scat on my way back out of this trail. So, perhaps our family is not entirely wrong as to what constitutes a moosey place.

Much of my hike was just woods.

wooded path (Bearskin 2025)

Image: wooded path

However, I have been trying to stop and take pictures of wildflowers that I’ve been seeing on my hikes. Here are a few:

pussy foot?

Image: pussy feet? Something like that (looking for id,

pameladean !)

Image: star flower

We are at Bearskin!

Moon over Bearskin

The moon (and traces of Northern Lights) over Bearskin (from Cabin 1)

Yesterday, as usual, we stopped at several sites along Highway 61. We had a late lunch at the “world famous” Betty’s Pie. I do not know if this pie is truly well-known throughout the world, but it was, as they say, damned good pie.

The three of us at Betty's Pies.

As has become typical of us, we stopped to do some agate hunting about a mile north of Two Harbors at Flood Bay. We had to backtrack from Betty’s, but we didn’t care. My family simply cannot be hurried once we’re in vacation mode. Once we’ve made it to Duluth (to-du-loot!) vacation mode has fully activated. “Oh? The thing we wanted to see was back there? Sure, let’s turn around!”

Mason and me agate hunting at Flood Bay

Me and Mason agate hunting at Floor Bay.

I’m not ever sure what an agate looks like when it’s not polished. Not that it matters to any of us. Shawn hands out plastic baggies and we find a nice spot and start hunting. On this trip, it was extra windy. It was already decently cold, maybe mid-50s F/ 10 C. We joked that the windchill made it below freezing! Shawn had to hike back to the car for extra layers.

But, we had a great time just relaxing and sifting through the rocks on the shores of the world’s largest freshwater lake. (And, as Mason loves to point out, a lake so cold that if you’re shipwrecked in it, you don’t rot!)

Mason beach combing

Next was a pitstop at Gooseberry Falls. Sometimes, like a lot of travelers this time of year, we only stop long enough to do our business and then push on. This time, however, Mason and I decided to make the short trek up to see both the high falls and the low falls. Shawn, meanwhile, saved her knee (which is mostly doing well, but technically still in recovery,) for the next beach and hung out in the gift shop looking for, among other things, sweatpants for Mason who—for reasons all his own—decided not to pack any pants for the trip. Only shorts!

Gooseberry Falls, in my opinion, is almost always worth the detour.

Goosberry Falls 2025

Image: Gooseberry Falls

I only remembered after we’d left that I forgot to get my State Park passport stamped! We decided, however, that we would stop in as many State Parks as we could on our route back. Mason and I are also planning a day trip out to Devil’s Kettle, so I have be sure to remember to bring it with me to that hike!

I had advocated for a stop at Iona’s Beach this year but changed my mind after experiencing the wind at Flood Bay. Maybe the weather will be more cooperative on the drive home. Instead, we decided to pull in at Silver Bay to get a gander at "Rocky Taconite."

Image: Rocky Taconite at Silver Bay.

Our last beach of the trip up to the cabin was Cutface Creek Pullout (14 miles north of Lutsen, mile marker 104.) This beach is famous for its thomsonite. Again, I have no idea what thomsonite looks like in the wild (although this might be the year I may have found a piece. I’m going to try polishing it up when we get back home), but this beach generally has cool rocks because it has a ton of mini geodes.
Again, we dawdled. I have no idea how long we spent combing the beaches and listening to the waves. This beach was less windy; it was much more of a natural windbreak/cove.

We managed to miss official check-in at Bearskin (6 pm), which we often do (even leaving the Twin Cities at 9 am), and so followed the instructions to get the cabin key for check-in the next morning. It was still light enough out that Mason and I made the walk up to the Lodge to pick up the aluminum canoe that they on the beach for us out for us. We paddled it to our dock, bungied it up to our private dock for the night, and then settled in for a dinner of brats on the grill.

I fully failed to make a decent fire our first night, but luckily both Shawn and Mason are better skilled at this than I am.

This morning (Sunday) we woke up to rain.

Shawn and I walked down to the Lodge to check in. Because of all of the forest fires that are active in Minnesota right now, the Forest Service has been doing a lot of clearing of what they call “ladder trees,” but also underbrush. The place looks… a little devestated. At least in comparison to what we’re used to. I have been excited to resume my hiking of the ski trails this year and so I wanted to be sure to ask the staff about good trails for less… husbandry, we’ll say. They nicely pointed out where on the map they thought the Forestry Service hadn’t gotten to yet. So, after a quick jog back to Cabin 1 to make sure I had my inhaler, I headed off. I’d intended to slowly get my “sea legs” back, but I missed a turn off and hiked all the way to Rudy Lake.

Rudy Lake 2025

Image: a pristine lake (Rudy Lake) in the middle of nowhere.

Oops.

It is cool, however. Like, this is a lake you simply can not get to without walking to it. There are no roads to get you here.

However, I am a little sore and may have overdone it already on day one. Hopefully, with a bit of rest and Aleve, I’ll be back at it in no time.

Image: trout lily

Somehow our house looks more chaotic and full of half-filled bags and boxes as we prepare for a week long vacation to the northwoods. ONE WEEK! You'd think we were packing to move out!

The thing about the place we're headed is that the closest town with a grocery store is twenty minutes down the Gunflint Trail. I mean, I will drive twenty minutes to a store around here. Maybe because we're surrounded by TREES, twenty minutes away feels so much further when we're up north. Half of what we're bringing is food. Almost none of which will be returning with us.

Despite all this, I'm really looking forwrard to the vacation. There is limited wireless, but I usually get up early and make the hike to the Lodge with my computer and spend an hour or so making sure I'm not missing out on any earth-shattering news. So, I'm still reachable, just... only once a day. I'm going to try to post pictures and such--you know, actually keep up with this blog for once!

Image: whaling ship in the grey, cold rain

Shawn and I have made this trip to Connecticut (and back again) five times. Once to move Mason in, and then four times now to move him out. We have never, ever been able to see anything more off the coast of Connecticut than mist. I was pretty sure that the whole fog-of-nothingness/evil was supposed to be a Stephen King thing for Maine, not Connecticut, but here we are, our fifth trip, and there is clearly NO OCEAN OFF THE COAST. It is all greyness and LIES.

But, we managed a fun sight seeing trip anyway.

We went to Mystic, CT, bringing along with us both Mason and his partner Jas.

Mason and Jas

Mason, our grad, (left) and Jas (right) at the Black Sheep in Nantic, CT.

The Seaport Museum was probably an interesting choice given the foul weather, and, honestly, I would have hoped that pouring rain would mean that we'd have the place to ourselves. No, every school group in the history of school groups were all there, making trying to get into the litttle faux village shops somewhat of a crapshoot. It was a lovely little space, though. Mason and I explored the whaling ship and I got inspired to do a better job explaining how cramped berths on sailing ships (in my case space ships) can be.

I'm going to say, however, that my favorite thing was seeing a family of geese and their three little goslings.

And getting to see Mason hanging out with the person he calls "love."

We did not get any packing done today, but the four of us got very moist and a little cross, so it's back to the AirBnB for us. Clothes are in the dryer and my wet toeies are tucked under the covers. We are giving up for the day, with only dinner out for plans. I wish we'd had better weather, but we had excellent company and that's what it's all about.

Shawn and I have arrived in Connecticut for our son's graduation FROM COLLEGE (I know. I also don't know where the time went.) I will detail the entire trip, but per usual and since it is Wednesday, I will first bore you with my reading.

This week was slower than last, but I finished up what is currently available of Nghi Vo's Singing Hills Cycle: Mammoths at the Gates and The Brides of High Hill. Of the two, I think I enjoyed Brides a little bit more because it flips the classic horror story of the imperiled bride and adds fox spirits. Plus, while Brides has all the magical Chinese-influenced characters and mythos, it has a slightly more Western storyline? The plot is plotty in the ways that Western readers, like myself, are familiar with. I loved all of these novellas, to be clear, but I think the people for whom When The Tiger Came Down the Mountain has been a favorite, this one should also work for them in a similar way.

Then, because I was unable to download one of the murderbot books I hadn't read yet (Exit Strategy) right away, I started on an audio book from 2016 which kind of fits the vibe of the current crop of Hugo nominees,

davidlevine 's Arabella of Mars. It's a Regency SF book in the same way that A Scorceress Comes to Call is a Regency fantasy. It's a shame, in a way. I think that David was ahead of his time. This book (which I'm only 34% of the way into) is to science fiction what romantacy is to fantasy. It's kind of high personal drama, low stakes and I'm super into it.

Okay, so the rest of my life....

We set off on the road on Sunday. Sunday was our big push across country to Valparasio, Indiana. Shawn still has some remaining relatives in Indiana, namely her stepsiter Karen and her husband Don. I was not looking forward to dinner with them because we had been assaulted by dozens of pro-Trump signs as we drove across country and Don is... at BEST a libertairan of the sort who listens to Rush Limbaugh. But, he was mostly on good behavior, I think due to being exhausted from an extended bout of pneumonia. But, we still managed to have one interaction that was typical of him. Don is from the Chicago area originally and Catholic, so thinking this had to be a safe subject, I asked him what he thought of the new pope. He said, "Fine, except he's a Communist." I gave him my best "??" face and then said, "Uh, isn't that the point of Catholicism? What with the feeding of the poor and sharing of loaves and fishes?" Which, did, at least, give him pause.

Monday we drove from Valparaiso to Youngstown, OH. On this trip we did a bit of sightseeing as is our wont. Shawn picked up a brochure that suggested that there were some things to be seeing in Amish country, spectifically Middlebury and Shipshewana, IN. We never actually made it to Shipshewana, as it happened, because we found a lot to explore in Middlebury, specifically this lovely little park called the Krinder Gardens

travellers

Image: Me (left) and Shawn (right) all smiles in the gardens

This little garden was genuinely charming, and I always love getting off road to see something new and/or interesting.

cool bird sculpture in garden

Image: Lovely, weird bird sculpture in the garden

This being spring, we also got a chance to see a ton of lovely flowers in bloom.

Image: these one flowers I love (which I also grow in my own garden), but whose name I have blanked on.

So, that was fun. We saw a lot of horse drawn buggies, of course. My favorite thing about those was watching the horses very expertly knowing which stalls belonged to them in various parking lots. We even saw one buggie go into a... gas station??? (Shawn noted that the driver got out to fill a gas can, so probably fueling a generator or something. Not, as I'd hoped, gassing up the horse.)

We ate a rather boring meal at a place that advertised itself as Amish-inspired. Alas, it was only SLIGHTLY inspired. But, still, it was nice to have a sitdown meal before heading out for more hours of driving.

Yesterday, we drove from Youngstown, OH to Milford, PA. The very Milford where Daimon Knight used to hold his famous worskhop, where we spent the night in an actual MOTEL. The lady behind the counter there was a little bit... "Are you sure you don't want an extra bed?" but I refrained from pointing out that we'd hardly be sinning in that bed since we're quite legally married. But, the motel was actually very charming and I think attracts a lot of queer folks? There were some men on motorcycles who were extra friendly to us in a very 'family' way, if you know what I mean. I'm sure that lady behind the counter has a lot of disapproving to do.

Then, this morning we did the rather short hop between Milford and Middletown, CT, where we will be for the next several days as we pack up Mason's dorm and watch him get his diploma. I shall try to post pictures and such BEFORE next Wednesday, but I guess we'll see how well I manage that.

What about you all? Do anything fun this week? Read anything new, exciting, or good?

Image: Sidewalk art of a loon and their baby

Last night, Shawn and I walked up Wheeler Street to the Capitol Area Watershed District Office for their 25h anniversary open house and block party. As nerdy as that sounds, it was FANTASTIC.

Shawn, of course, had preregistered us and with that came a set (one for each of us) for a free drink and food. The drinks were from a local brewer who also had small batch root beer, which was AMAZE BALLS. The food came from a Thai food truck that had the crispiest eggrolls I've had in a long time and several very yummy rice bowl options, of which Shawn and I shared the chicken (one was plenty for two.) The entertainment was a women's drumming circle (taiko, as performance, but then they actually brought drums for people to try out and did the actual 1990s drumming circle that I have so many memories of, having spent that time in a lot of pagan and women's circles.)

Taiko drummers

Image: Outdoor drumming and people on folding chairs, the height of entertainment

They had a couple of different activity tents for kids (and child-like adults) and a tour of the facilities. Shawn, of course, took the tour while I played with the kids in the mosaic-on-a-stick. We met up afterwards and she gave me an informal highlights reel, to which one other person tagged along, assuming that Shawn was actually an official guide! We ended up befriending this young woman and had a lovely chat with her about our concerns about the drought, moving here from other places (she was most recently from Michigan.)

They also gave away free cupcakes. We admired the grounds while we ate. Despite what it looks like above, the rest of the building (a converted truck garage) is surrounded by natural plantings, water gardens, and rain gardens. The water feature is really amazing and Shawn said that her tour guide had said that they'd even spotted the endangered rusty-patch bumblebee (which is endangered here in MN) in those gardens.

Image: Unidentified native plant at the watershed district office

The whole thing was very... small town?--in a way that Shawn and I absolutely, entirely adored. Shawn even proclaimed when we came home that this was the best date night EVER.

Today, I'm hoping to talk Shawn into checking out the Armenian festival. http://saintsahag.org/armenian-festival/

Image: Clouds reflecting on the lake

A friend from Michigan was supposed to be staying with us for a few days this weekend, but plans changed due to a funeral. I ended up driving him to Blue Earth, Minnesota, where he was going to meet up with family and then make the rest of the trip to the Dakotas. Since I was already all the way down at the butt-end of the state, I decided to see if there was a state park I could check out.

The internet suggested Myre-Big Island.

I didn't have a huge amount of time to explore this park, since I arrived at it around 6 pm (technically the park is open until 10 pm, but I was not equipped for nighttime hiking.) So, I drove out to see the "little island" and then parked at the Big Island for a little tromp in the woods. The first thing I saw was a "fat friend" in the restored prairie near the lot. The muskrat or groundhog was munching on some clover and I paused long enough to try to get a blurry picture of her. (It's on Facebook, but it's really too pixelated to reproduce here.)

The trail was dark and lovely, full of looming trees.

trees on the trail

Image: trail into the woods

I probably only hiked for a half hour, but I got my passport stamped and stretched my legs (which was the real point of this detour.) Plus, I saw some cool, heart-shaped mushrooms.

mushrooms!

I love my friends, I really do. But, apparently, when I explain this project to people I am not terribly clear that what I am looking for in a State Park for Mason and I is not the roads that take a person TO a State Park, but the roads INSIDE the State Park. So, today when I was chatting with my Friday Zoom friends and one of them mentioned Nerstrand Big Woods State Park, my brain went "Ooooo.". Thanks to some of the other recommendations I've gotten and the fact that I've never been there before, I thought: GREAT! That's where we'll go today.

hidden falls in the park

Image: hidden fall in the park.

Don't get me wrong. It's an incredible park.

It's just that when Mason and I switched seats at the entrance? We drove about a half a block straight into the parking lot. There are no other roads. Technically we could have driven around the campgrounds, but it's also a very small loop.

Mason, being an amazingly good sport, rolled with this and went on hike with me.

The park is a tough one because it's being heavily impacted by climate change, but we still had a lovely walk and even encountered a bird-shaped friend! Calling all birders! Squint at the picture below and you'll see a bird in this road. A plover of some kind perhaps? Google (and the list that the DNR has of possible options at this State Park) makes me think American Woodcock or Wilson's Snipe is actual the better guess. But, my bird fu is very, very low. So, if you know with more certanity, please let me know!

a trail bird

Image: trail bird

Despite driving an hour to drive for one second, we had a great time. Mason and I even made a stop on the way back to St. Paul at a Dairy Queen and had a little ice cream treat. A good day, just not one for Mason getting much driving in.

Image: the Kettle River, at a guess

Normally, Mondays are out for State Park driving (unless we stick very close to home) because Shawn goes into work. Shawn has been battling some stomach issues for the past few days and so stayed home sick yesterday. Her bad fortune, however, opened up an opportunity for Mason and me.

I looked down my list of State Parks and decided on St. Croix. Mason and I had been here several years back and greatly enjoyed our hike, though my strongest memory of that particular hike was JUST HOW MANY ticks we shook off out body and then continued to find all the way home. I was reminded of this when I checked the Trip Adviser reviews of St. Croix State Park in the hopes of divining if there was something, in particular, we should set as a quick destination. The consensus (including, if I recall correctly, people here) was to give the fire tower climb a go. As I was reading through the reviews I noticed what seemed to be a funny trend: BUGS. There seemed to be almost a kind f argument raging between the people who posted TOO MANY BUGS and those that replied BUGS ARE PART OF NATURE. Being firmly of that second camp, I packed our extra-strength bug spray, lots of water this time, and we headed north.

I was not prepared for the Biblical proportions of bugs, however.

I am talking A-POC-A-LYP-TIC levels of horse flies and mosquitos. Like, at one point as we were driving towards the Fire Tower, Mason casually says, "Do bees follow cars?" I looked out my passenger side window and, after one landed on our car (which was traveling at least 15-20 miles per hour) we determined these were not nice, fat bumble bees, but HORSE FLIES. Giant-ass horse flies! And they were, seriously, keeping pace with our car in a way that felt ready-made for a Stephen King horror movie.

We did not let this deter us. however.

We stopped first at the Fire Tower. I will confess to you all that I was fine going partway up, but my fear of heights is strange. I'm okay with climbing things if I can't see open ground through slats. The stairs were open and so I tapped out after only the first platform. Mason made it all the way to the top and took some photos of the spectacular view.

My view was mostly from the ground, looking up.

fire tower st. croix

Image: Fire Tower at St. Croix State Park from the safe, sweet ground.

Other than the end-of-the-world level horseflies, it was a great driving time. I think Mason put in a full hour just going around the various roads. He even agreed to drive out past the ranger station where the posted speed was 50. I don't think he cracked 45, but he gave it a go. AND managed to stop in time for an indecisive deer in the middle of the road.

However, we didn't make it home until very late.

Still a good time was had by all.

Image: Baptisia lactea (White Wild Indigo) in Afton State Park

It got warmer today than I was expecting (85 F / 29 C) so we didn't do as much hiking as we might have usually, especially since Afton State Park is largely open prairie. Which is to say that the sun was beating down on us pretty harshly. As we started out we ran into a couple who were clearly park enthusiasts. They overheard me grumbling lightly that I couldn't parse the map very well and they offered to advice. What did I want to see? My answer: honestly, anything interesting! So, they sized us up (Mason = indoorsy, long-haired nerd + me = fat middle-aged lady) and suggested the river with the caveat: "You do go down a long way." Which I immediately understood to mean, "And that will be tough coming back up."

We decided to brave it, anyway.

So, following the directions offered, we headed down the path. The first thing we encounters was this lovely observation deck, which Mason is modeling for you:

Mason perched on a wooden oberservation deck overlooking the St. Croix

Mason perched on a wooden oberservation deck overlooking the St. Croix

Image: Mason overlooking at the overlook.

We followed the path down a very steep set of stairs and met many people in presumed better shaped than I am (their outward shape: more thin and pencil-like, mine being more like a comfy pillow) huffing and wheezing up the stairs. Undaunted, we continued on across a high bridge that overlooked a small stream. Mason's eagle eyes caught sight of a grazing deer. We stopped and watched her for a long time. At least one other set of adventurers came past us and we tried to get their attention, but they seemed decidedly uninterested in the wildlife around them. I fully believe that State Parks are for everyone, even the casual user, or the person who might just be looking for exercise, but I'm still always a little surprised when people blank you or actively say 'no' when you offer the question, "Do you want to see a deer [or other, fill the blank cool natural thing???]"

But after the deer wandered out of sight, we continued onward to the beach.

There were a lot of people picnicking or taking advantage of the warm weather to swim. We saw several boats out on the water, as well.

the st croix at Afton

Image: the St. Croix at Aspen

I had wanted to dip my toes in to cool off, because despite all the things that I had prepared in my hiking backpack the TWO THINGS that I forgot were actually deeply critical: water bottles and THE BUG SPRAY. Afton has warnings on their website about the sheer number of mosquitos that have hatched this year, so I can not believe I was so dumb as to leave the BUG SPRAY IN THE CAR. Second, we had stopped for a lunch before taking off for our hike/drive and neglected to remember to buy a couple of bottles of water for the backpack. I was really starting to feel a bit desperate for relief from the heat. However. I didn't end up putting my toes in because at the point I thought to do it, we had passed the sandy section of the shoreline and were nearer the less groomed, more mucky bits. Alas!

After a bit of a wander there, we headed back. We really missed the bug spray on the way back because when we returned to the bridge, we saw the deer again. She had returned (or possibly never left, being unafraid of unobservant passers-by) and was very near an alternate path we could see below. We decided to try out luck at getting close, but some a$$hole bird cried out in warning as we approached.

Seriously, we were whispering and trying to move stealthily, a bird of some kind made two very clear high-pitched BEEP, BEEPs in warning. She did it again when we had the river in sight. So, that bird was a legit narc.

This close to the little river the mosquitos, which have always found Mason tasty, swarmed. So, we tried to hightail it (not whitetail it, because she was long gone) up back to the regular path.

Which is where I met my old enemy....

STAIRS

Image: STAIRS!!!

These were not Devil's Kettle level stairs, but... oh boy, on a hot day, I had to take my inhaler twice! Plus, my hair is still kind of moist, despite being home and virtually unmoving for several hours now.

However, we were rewarded at the top, near the Interpretive Center, by a park ranger with a telephoto lens pointed at an osprey nest. There was a family (of humans, with with small children) gathered near the lens, so even though I happened to be peeking through just as one of the bird parents returned with prey, I quickly handed it back to the smalls so they could see activity in the nest. So, I never saw the babies, at least not exactly, but I did see that the brave hunter parent brought something furry home for dinner! (Probably just as well that I got murder cam, and the kids got baby cam, as it were, you know??)

Mason also did a bunch of driving, so I would say that the outing was a win.

Image: A red backpack with Minnesota State Park badges and pins on it.

Normally, on Fridays I have a Zoom with some of my writer friends. But, with Mason home for the summer, we're really trying to get as much practice driving in as humanly possible... while also making it fun. As I've said before, my clever plan is to combine the driving with one of our favorite things: State Parks. Today, we're planning on making a longer return trip to yesterday's driving foray, Afton State Park. Afton is one of the closest State Parks to my house (Fort Snelling State Park being the closest, being only just by the airport.) The driving isn't terribly exciting at Afton, although with winding hills, Mason got in a lot of practice regulating his speed through turns and inclinations. We also *ahem* got in some very tiny practice getting one's wheel up out of the ditch when we semi-failed a y-turn on a narrow backroad. All important stuff, mind you!

Today, we're hoping to make more of a day out of it, stopping to do a little hiking and check out the park more thoroughly.

I also wrote down a list of some of the other nearby (nearby meaning within 2 hours of us) parks:

Banning State Park, a place we've hiked at least one, but long ago,
Charles A Lindberg State Park, a place I have never been,
Crow Wing Sate Park, another new one, and just at the very edge of 2 hours to get there,
Father Hennepin State Park, a big giant question mark of a park,
Frontenac State Park, which Shawn and I checked out during fall colors... last year? Year Before? But which might make for good driving practice now,
Interstate State Park, which, I have, and there isn't--at least on the Minnesota side--much actual driving to be done there
Lake Maria State Park, which I have never been to,
Mille Lacs Kathio State Park, another one that is just under 2 hours, but which I've never explored,
Nerstand Big Woods State Park, another complete unknown,
Saint Croix State Park, which we've walked, but never driven,
Wild River State Park, which we recently drove, but could return to to hike, and
William O'Brien State Park, which I also have never fully explored.

So, this could easily keep us busy if we try to hit a new State Park every Friday. I think it would be especially fun to see just how many of these would CAN see, but, looking at the maps some of them would really not net us a whole lot of actual driving experience. We'll see what Mason thinks. My other thought is that, as he advances in his ability, we could always head to one of these more remote ones and try driving on county highways. We'll see. He might also get bored of this exercise way faster than I will. Plus, in the next week or so, he's going to have a friend (Mason's very best friend, actually,) in town, with whom he will then go visit in their hometown. So, maybe I will end up exploring some of these places entirely on my own.

Any of you local folks who spend a lot of time in State Parks who have advice or recommendations about good places either for me or for me and Mason, please drop in a comment!

In addition to continuing to try to fill-in my passport book, I've also started collecting either buttons or patches from the State Parks we visit to add to my hiking backpack. This is the one pictured above. It was Mason's old kindergarten backpack, so it is actually very child-sized small, but it fits a couple of emergency medical kits, sun screen, bug spray, a flashlight, umbrella, State Park guidebook, Kleenex (and a plastic baggies), a bear whistle, and other such sundries. (You might be laughing at the bear whistle, but I wore it religiously up at Bearskin Lodge, so it stays in the pack.)

This weekend Shawn and I are hoping to go to Deutsche Tage at the Germanic American Institute this weekend, here in Saint Paul, because: why NOT? It also looks as though rummage and estate sale season is in full-swing, so perhaps we will also check out some of those. We also have to do some boring mundane things like buy new shoes, but, honestly, I kind of enjoy that kind of shopping with Shawn.

Anything fun planned for your weekend??

When Mason was 15 he got his learner's permit like most of his friends and then.... we utterly failed to learn to drive. I don't know what it was exactly, but it was a bad combination of my nerves, his nerves, and my tendency to be intuitive rather than practical when giving instruction. Whatever the reason we failed the first time, we've decided to give it another go.

Not to jinx anything, but this time it seems to be going swimmingly.

Part of it is that Mason is older and much more confident. Another part is that I am fully letting him set the pace. He recently graduated himself to lonely roads and I had the brilliant idea to drive to a State Park.

St. Croix at Wild River State Park

The St. Croix River from the Wild River State Park

This was a two-fer, as I got to see a State Park and Mason got in some really, really good practice, since we met a bit of on-coming traffic (but of course it was all at 20 mph.) Mason even managed to safely stop in time to see...

deer and fawn

Picture is blurry and taken through the window of the car, but fawn and adult deer in the road.

The fawn was so leggy that it was doing that awkward, could have been new born, WHAT ARE LEGS?? thing and then immediately collapsed in exhaustion once on the other side of the road and safely hidden by trees. Soooooo cute!

We mostly drove, but we checked out the whole park out, and I was surprised by this little gem. There were a number of people innertubing and otherwise enjoying the water, there's a huge section where the park rangers are restoring the prairie (and have been since the 1970s), and I presume some hiking to enjoy, though we never really stopped this time. I'm thinking this might be a fun park to return to, actually.

Today was not a day for putting miles behind us, as it were, but a day to take in some sights. I fell in love with Pennsylvania the first time we drove through it on the way to drop Mason off at college. The stretch we drove along I-80 is full of rolling hills that remind me strongly of the bluffs and coulees of my hometown in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and the surrounding Driftless Zone, as it's called.

As I mentioned before, growing up, my family used to send out Groundhog's Day cards, and so I've always kind of "celebrated" Groundhog's Day in some fashion. So, it seemed only fitting that since we were passing right past Punxsutawney, we should stop.

I found this whole town to be rather delightful.

First of all, there were statues of "Phil" all over town, much like there are statues of Snoopy all over St. Paul. The first one we saw was actually outside a Wendy's.

Even the Wendy's had one..

Image: a statue of a groundhog dressed as Wendy's....

If this horrifies you in any way, Punxsutawney is not for you. The whole town has gone ALL IN on the cheesy goodness of their beloved rodent, Punxsutawney Phil. You can see the actual groundhog at the local library, where he has a den he shares with Punxsutawney Phyllis. Here is a picture of me and the statute right outside of his "burrow."

Me and Phil at the Burrow

Image: Me and Phil outside his library burrow.

I did not get a great picture of the rodent himself, because the glass he was behind had been scratched and smudged by a thousand faces all pressed in to see him. But, you can view him either from outside or from the inside of the library, in the children's section.

Here is the terrible picture of this world famous rodent:

Image: A smudgy view of the furry butt of the world famous weather predicting rodent.

He looks like he's hiding here, but he was actually busy digging up wood chips. They were both every active and adorable to watch. I can see how they'd be a big hit with the kids. We drove around the town a bit, found the official gift shop on Main Street, and then decided to brave having food at a diner called Punxsy Phil's. All I can say about that experience is that the food was very perfectly greasy spoon and the waitress really wanted these two ladies to want separate checks, even though Shawn very pointedly said she was waiting for her wife, while I was off in the bathroom. Le sigh. This, unfortunately, jives with all of the "Trump 2024" bumper stickers and lawn signs we saw as we drove through some of the backroads.

Le sigh.

We then drove around a bit through the Elk Scenic Highway. We did not see any elk, alas. All of the tourism guides say that if you have any real chance of seeing elk, it's in the fall. So, of course, we're here in the spring.

Even so, the scenery was amazing, though I swear to god, every semi truck on the planet was careening down these tiny, winding roads right on the back of my bumper. Insane!

The last sight we really wanted to be sure not to miss was the Kinzua Sky Bridge. This used to be a railway bridge, but a tornado destroyed it and now it's a walk way.

The bidge is very tall.

Image: a very tall bridge.

The Interpretive Center told us that this bridge is taller than the Statue of Liberty. I would believe it. There were hawk soaring BENEATH us at points. The view is spectacular. They also have a glass panel in the floor of the thing where you can look down (or, you know, if you're INSANE, stand on the one inch thick glass.) Shawn, generally, was uncertain.

Crawling seemed safest, really

Image: Crawling seemed safest, honestly.

Then, after enjoying the sky walk and the amazing giftshop, we hit the road. We had not actually booked a hotel anywhere because we wanted to remain flexible in our plans. Shawn started searching for interesting places and stumbled across the Kane Manor Inn. The inn itself was booked solid, but they have an overflow guest house and so we snapped up a room there. It's actually in a house across the street from the manor, but the room is lovely. The manor itself is amazing and we'll be have having breakfast there in the morning.

Image: The breakfast room.

Anyway, today was a wonderful day. The temperatures never crested 70 F/21 C. I think, actually, it stayed in the mid-60s (around 18 C) all day.

Tomorrow may be mostly driving? We'll see if we stumble across anything interesting.

My wife and I have argued long and hard about whether or not there is anything interesting in Indiana.

Apparently, we simply never drove far enough.

If I could recommend you any town in Indiana, my recommendation would be Elkhart. Go to Elkhart. It's got a cool, historic downtown, a Botanical garden, a really pretty amazing Environmental Center, and... The Hall of Heroes.

We ended up in Elkhart, entirely by chance. We had, in fact, not intended to stop anywhere at all today, and, instead, just drive straight through to Youngston, OH. But, at one of the rest stops, I picked up a tourist brochure which had been organized by "stops along I-80." Shawn read to me in the car and when she hit the Hall of Heroes, I was like, "WAIT. There's a comic book and superhero museum and it's only about a minute off the main highway???"

Of course, we had to go.

The only problem was that it didn't open until 11:00 am. We arrived in Elkhart at 10:20 am. We could have just sat outside the shop? But, we would have been staring at this rather unimpressive storefront for a half hour:

boring storefront of coolest place on earth

boring storefront of coolest place on earth

Image: A very boring view of one of the coolest places on EARTH.

So, Shawn flipped through our little tourism guide and discovered that there was a Botanical Garden just down Main Street. We found that, stopped in, but even though it looked like it might be quite nice, we were a bit put off by the sign that said that free admission was only for people who could PROVE residence in Elkhart County. I inquired within to see if we were BARRED or if we just had to pay, and it turns out we could have gotten in for $10 a piece. We decided, instead, to hop back in the car and check out the free Environmental Center further down the road.

What a good choice.

fungus amongus

Image: cool fungus!

We wandered around through a wetland (saw a number of baby ducklings with their mama) and through an open prairie (and watched purple martins flit into their houses.) The trails near the Interpretative Center were very short loops and so perfect for a quick stretch and stroll, while we waited for the superhero museum to open.

A train stopped us for a short time, but we made it back to the Hall of Heroes around 11:30 am. We were the only people in the museum and so the guy behind the counter, John, gave us a personal tour. He asked us if we were fans of the movies or comics, and I was able to tell him that I grew up reading my cousin's father's comic books, which he'd started collecting almost from the moment comics were published, so I'd grown up on Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. Shawn came to comics from a slightly different angle, having loved all the Strange Tales and horror comic books. We collected comics together all through college, and then, of course, became fans of the MCU.

John was THRILLED and so very carefully pointed out all the cool draft sheets and inked pages they had on display, like this early Kirby art:

Jack Kirby!

JACK KIRBY'S ART!!!!!!

Shawn and I spend a good hour at the museum, even pausing to play Deadpool pinball for awhile.

Man, what a find!

That was all we did today, but tomorrow, it's the Pennsylvania Wilds. I should have a lot more to share. And, because I've been listening to books on tape, I'll even have some things to report for "What Are You Reading Wednesday."

Hope you all are having a good week without me!

Image: cherry blossoms at the MN Arboretum

My friend

naomikritzer and I were talking about things we would appropriate from other cultures the other day (mostly, we discussed how much better Jewish people do funerals,) and I brought up the idea of Hanami. What I like about the idea of Hanami is that people in Japan will often take time off work to just go look at flowers (specifically cherry blossoms, but if you read the Wikipedia article, you can see that it really applies to any flower.) We don't have anything like this in the US, possibly because there is no single flower that blooms everywhere in the US, since we're such a massive country. I feel like the closest we have to this kind of thing in the Midwest is leaf peeping in the fall.

But, so Naomi and I decided to have a day of intentional flower viewing. We'd hoped that there would be enough flowering trees of some sort blooming at the Minnesota Arboretum, but, the cherry blossoms, had not entirely popped yet, alas.

However, the tulips were in full bloom.

tulips

Image: so many tulips!

Naomi brought a picnic basket and had made us both a lovely chicken salad and so we wandered around the arboretum for a long time, checking out the tulip display and some of the other things that were in bloom. Yesterday was a very gorgeous day, with lots of sun (although it got quite warm, into the 80s F / 27 C.)

This was my second time out at the MN Arboretum and, if you've never been, I have some advice for how best to appreciate it. My suggestion would be to go into the Welcome/Interpretive Center and get a map from the information desk. However, be warned, the maps and signage are fairly terrible. But, they always have a decent seasonal display very near the welcome center (again, ask for directions, because it's not self-evident how to get there--you need to go through the building, up the stairs/elevator, go to the right to get to the door, and once outside go left.) Near here is also the Japanese garden, which, ironically, had no cherry trees, but does have a koi pond. I would, had I to do this again, wander these nearby gardens for awhile, and then hop back into the car and drive their "three mile road." The drive, which Naomi and I ended up doing at the end, will give you a good sense of what else there is to see in the arboretum. Then, you can decide where you might like to return to and/or hike to. You can drive the loop as often as you like, so you could go around once just to see what there is to see and then drive it again and park at one of the official stops along the way and checkout whatever interests you. Had we done this first, Naomi and I probably would have stopped to admire the sculpture garden more, the Chinese garden, and the Rhododendron garden. As it was, we tried to walk the three mile walk (not difficult terrain and paved, but... it doesn't have great vantage points, and so) and ended up not seeing the Chinese garden from where we were.

Anyway, that's my advice. Take it or leave it. If you are a seasoned hiker/walker the three-mile walk is really quite pleasant. I don't regret walking much of it, but I think if I go back I really want to check out the Bog Walk and some of the other less popular destinations.

Image: pasqueflowers

Image: a river runs through it

On Saturday, we had arranged to meet my parents at the Apache Mall in Rochester (Minnesota, not to be confused with Rochester, NY,) and since Shawn and I are not ones to waste a drive anywhere we started looking into things to do around Rochester. Turns out, not far away was Carley State Park.

I do not mean to imply that our trip down to see meet my folks was not its own adventure. We had a lovely time eating out at a place called The Workshop, catching up in-person, and making the exchange of goods--my aunt had collected some church cookbooks that were being passed on to us.

But, after all that excitement, Shawn and I headed to the woods where we continued to perfect our "retirement plan." The current plan is that i will do the nature hikes and Shawn will set up in some lovely spot with our glamper (this is the dream, at least,) and read while I walk. Absent the glamper, Shawn found a lovely picnic table while I tackled the Minnesota Hiking Club's trail....
WTF MN Hiking... What. The... F*ck

Image: A sign that says both "Hiking Club" with an arrow pointing this way and CAUTION, to which *I* say, "WTF, MN Hiking Club. What. The. F*ck,."

Yeah, so I almost died.

"Died" might be an exaggeration, but let's just say I am glad I had my asthma inhaler and that I still mostly bounce when I fall. (People say there's no good use for body fat, but PADDING is definitely one I personally appreciate now that the bruises are setting in,.) The trail was lovely, though I would have loved to see this sign at the start of my hike rather than when I was 2/3rds the way around. The maps were also less clear about the elevation change.

That being said, the official hiking trail did have lovely views of the river... if deeply treacherous bridges.

scary bridge

Image: concrete slabs that I had to jump across. Not for the faint of heart. Or the wobbly of knee.

Then, despite GPS's insistence that she could find us a faster route, we meandered home via Scenic Highway 61, stopping off at Pepin Heights for bags of fresh apples. Even though it's been dangerously dry (partly why I slipped on the trail, the ground was basically slick, dry leaf covered dust), the fall colors were still surprisingly lovely. The October blue sky is just so amazing against the russets and golds of the last of the leafed trees.

Sunday we spent catching up on some house chores--we finally put the air-conditioners in the attic, etc. I also had signed up for a game (via Discord) at Gamehole Con on Sunday afternoon. I played Lex Arcana again, which is a system and a world that I'm really very fond of. You play in as Praetorian Magical guards in a Rome that never fell (thanks to precognition magic.) I played an assassin... excuse me, "diplomat" which was fun, although his super powers only kick in if he manages to deal damage and so we nearly got our butts handed to us by a bunch of Egyptian god-infested Libyan workers. Again, for me, the fun is in the playing pretend and I had a pretty good group for that, thought it's always so much harder to have character moments in one shots. We still did, though, because

tallgeese had some clay dolls that, my character was deeply terrified of, which was only exasperated when they started to MOVE.

So. Good times.

Today, I managed to get our Halloween decorations up and we took Clover, who is now officially Rhubarb (Rhu for short) to the vet for her two week post-surgical check-up. She got the big thumbs up from the vet tech. Rhu is also now fully vaccinated for a year. We are still having some issues integrating the cats, but we are bound and determined to go slowly. We got some advice from the vet and reassurance that it can sometimes take MONTHS if you do it right. The trick is that you have to go at the speed of the most stressed cat, and that can just be... however long it takes. So, we're still doing one cat gets free range, the other has to be in a single room switch (which we OF COURSE call the "Big Switch-a-Rhu.")

Buttercup is either convinced there is only Willow Big and Willow Smol or is actually as intensely kind-hearted as we always suspected he was, as he is chill with both lady friends. Possibly Both.

So, that's us. I hope y'all had good weekends. What are you looking forward to this week, anything?

Image: The perfectly reflective Clam River (Wisconsin.)

Shawn and I went back to the quilt show in Weber, Wisconsin, to see which ones won, and on the way back to our friends' cabin we spotted a sign that said "Clam Dam." HOW DO YOU RESISTS CLAM DAM??? So, we turned down the road and followed the signs to the quirky little public park around the dam that dams the damn clam river.

Shawn crossing the damn dam

Image: Shawn crossing the damn clam dam.

The park, as my grandmother might have said, wasn't much "to write home about," but today is just such a lovely day that we spent a good half hour just sitting on the banks of the river, listening to the water flow, and watching the waves leap and pop, sending spray up into the air.

A rotted fence in Clam Damn Park

Image: a moss-covered rotting wooden fence in Clam Dam park.

Image: The damn narrow dam walkway.

Image: the view from the Interpretive Center

We are up at a friends' cabin for the weekend, but on the way we decided to take a detour to check out Wild River State Park. It is overcast today, as you can see in the picture above. The leaves are at peak, though just a little past as we travel north.

\

Image: yellowed fern leaves

The temperatures are really cold today (40 F/5 C), so Shawn and I didn't wander too far. But, this State Park has a bit of restored prairie and a number of small creeks run through it on their way to the St. Croix River.

Image: restored prairie

A bridge in the woods

Image a path in the woods that leads to a wooden bridge over a creek.

milkweed blown seed pod

Image: a milkweed with its seedpod blown

Despite the cold, we had a lovely walk. I managed to forget my state park passport AND my hiking club booklet, but we weren't up for much with the chilly air. Even so, we decided it was a lovely little park and will try to make a return trip at some point.

New, as of yet unnamed kitteh, a stray who looks IDENTICAL to Willow, aka The Void.

This weekend we heard a lot of howling and yowling in our yard. Upon investigation, we found this young lady (guessing no more than 6 months old) entertaining a bevvy of gentlemen callers in our backyard. We were able to coax her onto our porch for safe keeping as we hit the usual Facebook groups for an owner. No hits so far, though there is at least one person who is interested if she will otherwise be homeless. We have a vet appointment scheduled for her to get her emergency tests: feline leukemia and intestinal parasites, etc. If she gets along with our other two, we will get her on the docket for a spay.

Otherwise, perhaps, some lucky neighborhood Facebooker will get a new cat.

We are trying to resist naming her, but the vet needed something so she is currently, Clover, as in we found you rollin' in the... Mason pointed out that if we keep that name, all of our current crop of cats have botanical names: Willow, Buttercup and now.... clover? We shall see. We are trying to be responsible here, since our current couple get along famously and we have been loathe to break up their perfect union.

In other news, there's been a flurry of activity around my place. Monday and Tuesday,

naomikritzer and I played tour guide (not to be mistaken for The Tour Guide) for two out-of-town guests,

rachelmanija and her friend Lauren, who were here for Bouchercon, the world mystery convention. I started them off at Axman, a local "surplus" store that is far, far more than your average surplus. We're talking about surplus iron lungs, buckets of dolls heads, and so much weird stuff... along with lots of dead-useful electronics, etc. It's kind of a place that needs to be seen to be believed.

Then we had lunch at Se Salt, with the intention that maybe we might take a look at Minnehaha Falls. Normally, you can hear it roaring from the restaurant. I didn't hear it, but also didn't think of it... until we looked over the edge. There was barely a trickle. I'd forgotten about the summer long drought, despite my constant struggle to keep my garden alive. It didn't seem worth doing a nature hike, so we ended up on Summit Avenue. I gave everybody a walking tour, which was a great deal of fun. We walked a LOT, but it was a lovely day and the buildings are so fascinating.

Rachel was around a second day so we did some books shopping and hanging out.

And then on Thursday offcntr and Denise came to town as well. We went out to lunch at Bole, an Ethiopian restaurant. They have an amazing outdoor patio because Bole was one of the places that burned to the ground here in Midway during the George Floyd riots and, thus, they relocated during the pandemic. We had a lovely time just chatting and catching up and eating amazing food.

The rest of the week and weekend were spent finishing painting our bedroom. We'd painted one wall Baskerville Blue, if you recall from an earlier post, and we hadn't gotten around to doing much else even though we wanted to make the other three (we have five walls in that room) a lighter, yet rich yellow. We finally finished that project this weekend, though it took me both days thanks to the kitten dropping herself into our lives. I would post pictures of the bedroom, but it is actually so dark in that room, I'm not sure if a photo will do it justice.

Hope you all had a good week. Sorry I was completely absent.

I had been most looking forward to today. We had Mason with us and the on stop I was SURE we would all deeply enjoy was Centralia, Pennsylvania. If you know this town at all, it's probably through the video game "Silent Hill," which took the idea of what happened in real life Centralia and expanded it. So what happened in real life? A garbage fire ended up igniting a coal vein... the ground underneath the town has been burning ever since. It will apparently burn for many, many more years yet before the coal is depleted.

There wasn't much to take pictures of, thought I did snag one of the Orthodox Church that stands watch over the remains of the town.

The church near Centralia

The Centralia Orthodox Church.

But, there really is almost nothing to see. A couple of years ago, someone covered "graffiti road" with dirt, probably to discourage tourists like me and my family: https://allthatsinteresting.com/centralia-pa

Plus, my family and I probably should have eaten before we tried to find Centralia. We get notoriously bitchy if we don't eat by a time, and we missed an opportunity to grab a sandwich and so by the sixth time that I was turning around on a tiny, narrow highway there may have been some yelling... which was not at all how I wanted this particular leg of the trip to be. I had really hoped we'd get out of the car and wander around, but we ended up turning around so many times that by the time we ran into some other people on one of the side road who were also exploring the ex-town, we were all so fried that we never even got out to stretch our legs.

:-(

But, we made up for it by finding a spectacular waterfall outside of Clarion, PA, called Rapp Run Falls.

Image: The falls

Image: Rapp Run River, looking like something out of Middle Earth

The other thing that amused us today were the Pennsylvania mile markers. Apparently, they mark every tenth of a mile and they have never heard of reducing factions, so there were 1/10, 2/10 (instead of 1/5), 3/10, 4/10 (instead of 2/5ths) and the one that drove me insane, 5/10th... I mean, okay, for consistency I get maybe doing everything else as tenths, but why not mark the half mile as HALF MILE??

Can you tell we were pretty bored of driving?

It was a long day, but we are safely back in Youngstown, OH again. Having liked out hotel so much the first time around, we simply booked it again for the return trip.

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Day in the Life of an Idiot

Journal of Lyda Morehouse

Entries tagged with adventure hikes

Just Another Day in Paradise (Monday)

Just Another Day in Paradise (Days 1-2.5)

Packing AGAIN

Connecticut has no Ocean

Wednesday Greetings from Connecticut!

Local Tourist At Large in St. Paul

Myre-Big Island State Park

Driving Adventures: Nerstrand Big Woods State Park

More State Park Driving

Afton State Park

'Tis the Season

Driving in a State Park

Our Day to Explore

Might Be Worth a Detour - The Indiana Edition

No HeyGo, So Had to go OUT into the World

Carley State Park

Clam Dam -- Might Be Worth a Detour!

Might Be Worth a Detour - Wild River State Park

New Cat, Who Dis?

There, And Now Back Again...