Minnesota Camping

Temperance River State Park September 23-25, 2016

2016-10-03T12:26:00.005-05:00

Last camping trip of the year. We headed to the North Shore of Minnesota. Temperance River State Park is a great park with lots of hiking trails, a bike path across the road from the campground, waterfalls in the park and close distance to other state parks and Grand Marais.

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Jay Cooke State Park - August, 2016

Jay Cooke State Park is located about 15 miles south of Duluth, MN. The weather wasn't the greatest for us during our visit, but we got in about 25 miles of biking and a couple of hikes. This park is famous for the swinging bridge. Most of the sites are too small for us, but there are a couple that we fit in and the drive through site was perfect. Very private and big.

Welcome sign

One of the hiking trails

Swinging bridge

Kettle River

We saw a few folks white water rafting along the river.

Our site

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Sibley State Park - August, 2016

Sibley State Park is a very popular park in the summer. They just added electric in the upper campground so we'll be excited to camp in that area next time.

View of Lake Andrew

Dock on Lake Andrew

Hiking trail

Another view of the lake/picnic area

Lac Qui Parle State Park July, 2016

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We camped at Lac Qui Parle State Park in July. We hadn't been here in probably 20 years. They revamped the lower campground and added the upper campground. The campgrounds are about 5 miles apart on opposite sides of the Lac Qui Parle River/Lake. The park is very spread out. The lower campground is woodsy and you can tell it can get very wet down there. The upper campground is basically and old corn field. They have added some trees, but they aren't very big yet. The sites are some of the best state park sites we've ever been in. They have many drive throughs and the back in sites are huge. You have lots of space and some of the sites have full hooks ups as well. This park is great if you are just looking to get away, relax and enjoy the peace and quiet.

Sign to the upper campground

Lower campground road

Lower campground picnic shelter

Old Mission area about 1 miles from the upper campground.

Old Mission

Inside the Old Mission

Dam about a mile from the upper campground - we saw many people fishing here. There is a Core of Engineer picnic area on either side of the dam.

View of Lake along the road from upper to lower campground

Another view of the lake along the road

Sunset taken from our campsite

View of the upper campground.

Glacier National Park July 1 - 9, 2016

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We did a road trip with our fifth wheel to Glacier National Park over the 4th of July. We've been to Montana a couple of times, but hadn't been to Glacier yet.

We drove from St. Cloud to Williston, ND the first day and stayed at the Lewis and Clark ND State Park. The park is very nice - a bit out of the way - but the sites are large, we had full hook ups and it was a great place to relax for the night.

Playground in the background - dump station in the foreground

Bathrooms

One of the sites - they are all pretty much like this - they also have quite a few pull throughs.

View of the Missouri River from the campground

Day 2 we arrived at Glacier. We stayed at the East side KOA for the entire week. This was a great location to see all of the things we wanted to do.

view from our campsite

Campground

Our first day we drove up to Logan's Pass stopping many times on the way.

Rams below

Logan's Pass

Day 3 was 4th of July and we drove to Many Glacier where we did a boat tour, walked through the lodge and did a short hike.

The next day we headed back up the Going to the Sun Road by-passing all of the stops we did the first day and did the entire west side. We visited McDonald Lake/Lodge area, East Glacier, walked the Trail of the Cedars and stopped at many other turn offs.

Marmot

One of the red tour buses

Start of the Trail of the Cedars

Saw this mule deer just outside of the McDonald Lodge area.

McDonald Lodge

Cabins on Lake McDonald

Lake McDonald

More views of the McDonald Lodge

Saw these 2 guys near Logan's Point on the way back.

The next day we went to Two Medicine where we hiked to the falls, then went down to the lake and did a bit of shopping in the store. We also went to East Glacier to see the lodge and had lunch at the lodge.

Two Medicine store

Two Medicine Lake

East Glacier Lodge

Our last full day we went to Waterton Park in Canada. We saw the Prince of Wales hotel, ate lunch in Waterton Village and drove the Red Rock Canyon drive where we finally saw a grizzly bear.

Prince of Wales hotel

These 2 were just outside the border crossing.

We left early morning and I got this great shot right from outside the camper.

Itasca State Park (June 23-26, 2016)

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We went to Itasca State Park for a long weekend. When I booked I wasn't sure what kind of weather we would have the end of June, but it was great! It actually got really warm on Saturday. We biked over 60 miles. Itasca has wonderful bike trails. We also met some great people, did some hiking, went to the headwaters, visited the visitor center and relaxed.

This is the view of Lake Alice from the Douglas Lodge/boat landing area.

Here's the boat they do tours on every day.

Another view of Lake Alice - the old cabin is back in that little clearing.

Lady Slippers - the Minnesota State flower

Preacher's Grove

Another view of Lake Alice from Preacher's Grove

Hike to/from Preacher's Grove

Bike trail between Pine Ridge and Bear Paw campgrounds

Headwaters

View backwards from the headwaters

More of the headwaters

Wegman's old store

Gathering spot for many campground events

Museum of Itasca Story

View outside the museum

Swimming beach

Our campsite

Bike trail - there's a bridge up ahead that goes to the Douglas Lodge

More Lady Slippers

Old Log Cabin - it's only open on certain weekends

View to boat landing from old cabin

hiking trail to/from old cabin

More hiking trail to/from old cabin

Turtle - we saw a couple of them on the trails

More of the headwaters

Tall pines

Bike trail

June 10-12, 2016 Mille Lacs Kathio State Park

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Went to Mille Lacs Kathio State Park for a quick weekend. The weather was very warm so we were worried about mosquiotos, but we didn't see one!

St. Croix State Park - Memorial Weekend 2016

2016-06-01T15:09:00.002-05:00

We traveled to St. Croix State Park for Memorial Weekend. We really like this park especially on holiday weekends as it's 5 miles from a main road and another 12 miles to the nearest town of Danbury, Wisconsin and 15 miles to Hinckley, Minnesota. Because of this there isn't alot of day traffic and people aren't there to party. They are there to camp, hike, canoe, etc.

This park has 211 sites so it's very big. There are open sites as well as more woodsy secluded sites. There is a bike path which is 5.2 miles and takes you from the main campground to the beach/picnic area. There is also a paved trail that goes around a large portion of the campground. There is a small store and you can rent canoes which will drop you off and pick you up from designated locations.

William O'Brien State Park May 6-8, 2016

2016-05-10T13:37:00.001-05:00

We arrived at William O'Brien State Park on Friday morning and the temperature was almost 90 degrees! We camped in the Savanna campground which is the upper campground in the park. I'm guessing because of the warm weather the park only had a couple of spots open during the weekend and all of the electric spots were taken. Saturday and Sunday were gorgeous at around 70-75 degrees and Sunny.

Both girls came with and we went to Stillwater for some antique shopping. We also did a little hiking on the accessible trail (see below) along the river and around the picnic area.

Sibley State Park April 15-17, 2016

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The weather turned absolutely gorgeous here so we decided to head out camping for the weekend. We went to Sibley State Park. Only the Lakeside campground was open and no bathrooms, but we're self contained so no problem. There were about 15 other campers this weekend.

We were very excited to find out that the Oakridge campground added electric to one entire loop. Next time we camp here that's where we'll be going. The sites in that campground are much bigger and more private.

Palm Springs, California - March 26 - 30, 2016

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We headed to Palm Springs for a few days of warm weather, hiking, biking and golf.

We visited Old Town La Quinta - they have shops and restaurants here and it's just a cool place to walk around.

We went to the morning street fair. There are quite a few vendors and food. Didn't buy anything.

We did some hiking at the Cahuilla Nature Preserve. This is a pretty cool place to hike with the most popular hike being the oasis hike - a 1 mile hike that's pretty easy. We continued on and did the moon walk hike as well making it 4 miles round trip.

We visited a few campgrounds/resorts for possible future winter visits with our fifth wheel and loved the Emerald RV Resort.

We took the Aerial Tram up to San Jacinto State Park and did some hiking up top.

We stayed at the Hyatt in downtown Palm Springs

And of course we did some golfing

Grampians National Park and back to Melbourne January 6, 2016

2016-01-10T13:15:00.001-06:00

We did a couple of hikes in Grampians National Park and then it was time to head back to Melbourne to return home. We also stopped off at the Ballarat Zoo hoping to see some Koalas.

Grampians National Park - January 5, 2016

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We drove from Warmmanbool to Grampians National Park (about 2 1/2 hours). We stayed at Lakeside Tourist Park in a camping cabin. We grilled Aussie brats on the deck and watched the kangaroos jump around.

Great Ocean Road, January 4, 2016

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Today we started out at Mait's Rest, a rainforest walk and then drove to a wildlife sanctuary where we saw kangaroos, emus, deer, and miniature pony's. We also finished driving the Great Ocean Road.

Great Ocean Road - January 3, 2016

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We got up early and went to pick up our car to start driving the Great Ocean Road. We stayed in Apollo Bay and saw koalas in the trees

Melbourne, January 2, 2016

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We rode the free trolley around Melbourne and visited Victoria's Market.

Sydney to Melbourne, Australia - New Years Day, 2016

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We flew from Sydney to Melbourne, Australia on New Year's Day. We walked around Melbourne and went to bed early.

Sydney, Australia - New Year's Eve 2015

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We did the Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach walk today. Spent a little time on Bondi Beach and when we got to Coogee Beach we had more fish and chips. We headed off to Rose Bay Wharf to catch our boat to watch the midnight fireworks on the harbour.

Blue Mountains - Australia - December 30, 2015

2016-01-10T12:15:00.001-06:00

We took a train up to the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney for the day. The train ride was about 2 hours long. It was very busy, but we managed a pretty strenuous hike and saw some beautiful scenery.

Sydney, Australia - December 29, 2015

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Day 2 in Sydney we did the Harbour Bridge walk and took the ferry to Watson's Bay. In Watson's Bay we did the gap walk and had lunch at the Beach club - fish and chips. We then came back and walked around Darling Harbour.

Sydney, Australia December 28, 2015

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Arrived in Sydney, Australia on the morning of December 28th. We visited the Opera House, saw the famous Sydney Harbour bridge, Hyde Park and the Royal Botannical Gardens. We had lunch in the Rocks.

Baker Park Reserve (Oct 2 -4, 2015)

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We went to Baker Park Reserve for the last camping trip of the season. They were very full and we were lucky to get a site.

We used to love to come to this campground when our girls were little because of the great playground and beach areas. Plus the campground is mowed like your backyard. Now when it's just us we find the sites are a bit closer than we'd like, but we still biked and walked the 6.2 mile trail and the weather was great.

Bike Trail - 6.2 miles round trip

Campground before everyone came in for the weekend

More of the bike trail

Itasca State Park September 4-7, 2015 (Labor Day Weekend)

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We headed to our favorite Minnesota State Park over Labor Day Weekend - Itasca.

The weather was super hot and humid and I had a icky cold, but we still managed to bike over 50 miles and relaxed.

Bike Trail

Our site in Bear Paw campground with a great view of the lake

Headwaters

Douglas Lodge

William O'Brien State Park (August 14-16, 2015)

2015-08-17T09:43:00.002-05:00

We went to William O'Brien State Park for the weekend. This park is between Taylors Falls and Stillwater, MN so there is alot to do and see in the area. The weekend was really hot and humid. We did a bit of biking (into Marine on St. Croix) and between the upper and lower campgrounds. It was so hot I had to walk my bike up the hill. The lake was a little green, but the swimming area was clear, clean and very sandy.

We stayed in the upper campground where the sites are more private and bigger.

St. Croix River (view from the lower campground)

Walking trail along with St. Croix river/lower campground

Fishing dock on Lake Alice

Walking trail around Lake Alice

Fishing dock from another view on Lake Alice

Beach

Michigan July 18-25, 2015

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We headed to Michigan for a week of vacation July 18-25, 2015. We hadn't been since our honeymoon and that was 31 years ago!

We drove from St. Cloud, MN to St. Ignace, MI in one day and arrived late afternoon. We stayed at the Straits State Park and it was a great choice. We could go to the lower campground and have the views below of the Mackinaw bridge, there was a grocery store within walking distance and we could bike to town.

Our first full day we took a boat over to Mackinac Island. We took the 9am boat because they take a little detour and go underneath the bridge before heading to the island.

Our first view of the island was the Grand Hotel (and another boat bringing people to the island).

Main street Mackinac Island

We did the 8.2 mile bike ride around the island. We had brought our own bikes and this was a great decision. There are no vehicles so there are bikes everywhere! One of our first stops on the bike was arch rock. We had to climb 207 steps to get to the top.

Arch Rock

You have to pay $10/person just to go inside to see the Grand Hotel so we just rode by.

Another trail with a great view on Mackinac Island

On Monday, July 20th we headed about an hour north to Tahquenenon Falls State Park. There are upper and lower falls, camping and hiking trails. We saw both the falls and walked around a bit.

Tuesday, July 21st we headed 2 hours south to Traverse City. On the way we stopped in Petoskey at Petoskey State Park. We parked the truck and camper in the picnic area parking lot, got out our bikes and rode through the campground. The beach below is in the picnic area. We also had lunch before heading on our way.

Wednesday, July 22nd we drove out to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. We did the dune climb below.

On the scenic drive through the park you come to an observation deck and an area where the dunes go directly into Lake Michigan. Some people were going down and climbing back up. They warn you about doing this as it's extremely strenuous coming back up and it's VERY steep.

Back in Traverse City we went down to the beach to relax.

Thursday, July 23 we biked from the campground in Traverse City to Sutton's Bay. It's 22 miles one way. The trail is on an old rail bed so it was pretty flat and very scenic.

Town of Sutton's Bay

Traverse City State Park

Friday, July 24th we headed north about 4 hours to Indian Lake State Park just outside of Manistique, Michigan. We walked on the boardwalk in town and then checked out the beach in the campground.

Manistique boardwalk and lighthouse

Indian Lakes State Park picnic shelter and beach.