My goal for the weekend was to walk most of the trails, and so we took off for Hidden Lake Trail (a round trip of 2 1/2 - 3 miles). It was hillier terrain than the others had been, so it was probably good we did this last and by itself. Surprisingly, you can't see Hidden Lake from the Hidden Lake Trail, but only from a tiny portion of Maple-Basswood Trail.... read more

From August 2004 through June 2008, Jeff and I challenged each other to a bocce battle in Minnesota's state parks, as a way to see them all. He kicked my butt, to put it mildly. It was great to see all the parks, but for many, our visits were brief. Lake Carlos was the third of four state parks we saw 21 May 2008 and we were there less than an hour. Jeff won 22-7, not one of my better performances. So, when planning a camping weekend with friends, we picked Lake Carlos and planned to actually see the park. The four of us headed out after breakfast to do the Wetland Overlook and Long Prairie River Trails. The boys did reasonably well, but were slowing before we even got to the second trail. I wanted ... read more

Jeff & I decided to add a zoo to our itinerary while here in Chicago because we haven't been to one in ages. I wasn't sure whether to do Lincoln Park or Brookfield, but figured out that Brookfield=Minnesota Zoo and Lincoln Park=Como Park. We like Como Park, but it doesn't take long at all and there's not a lot to see. So to Brookfield it was. We got there earlier than expected and so had to wait for the gates to open. The first employee there to open them couldn't figure out how and had to go get a second employee. Fortunately, that was the biggest gaffe of the day. I hadn't counted on 100 different school groups being there, but it was a big enough park to be okay. There are some areas under construction ... read more

As many of you know, we are planning a 3 week road trip to Alaska this summer. Jeff wanted me to post this countdown weeks ago, but I refused on the basis of our other vacation. So, here it is. Barring any international travel restrictions, we will be leaving in: ... read more

Our primary destination for today was Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southeastern New Mexico. It’s on our list (National Park Service parks, monuments and memorials), we’ve never been and, of course, it was supposed to be really interesting. We decided to do both the Natural Entrance and Big Room self-guided tours. The boys were, aside from an occasional brief melt-down by Cole, phenomenal. A NPS ranger was very impressed that both boys were still looking energetic near the end of the tour. They had fun; we had fun and many of the photos turned out, too. Have I ever mentioned how much I love our new camera? Liam tells me that his favorite part of the cave was the popcorn on the ceiling and the lion’s tail. His other favorite part was the bat cave. He ... read more