From Lake Superior to a small town in Wisconsin to a beautiful lakeside park in Minnesota, it’s been an amazing week.
The Porcupine Mountains were so beautiful that it was hard to leave them on Thursday, for the day-long trek south to a small town in Wisconsin where my brother and sister-in-law live. It is also home to the real-life great-nieces who created Flat Emma, Flat Eden, and Flat Eliza (or as the real Eliza calls her, “Flat Me,” which totally cracked me up!)
I went biking and shopping with the oldest one, exploring with the middle one, and biking with the youngest one, who had just gotten her training wheels off and was proud to show her newly learned two-wheel skills.
Osecola also has a beautiful waterfall, so I hiked down the stairs to get a shot.
All good things must end, and so I pulled out of the driveway on Tuesday morning bound for a scenic drive south to the Minnesota border. The whole point of Tuesday’s camping in Minnesota was to get that one night camping done, so I could put the Minnesota state sticker on my US chart (my personal rule is I have to spend at least one night in the state to put up the sticker).
I was originally thinking to overnight at Walmart, but it was hot in their parking lot with no shade so I went to Plan B and the state park about 3 miles out of town. I was so happy I did that, it is a beautiful place and I’ve enjoyed my one-night stand immensely.
I’m also the only person in my non-electric loop so it’s kind of my own private campground. All I had to do was walk across the road to get this sunset picture and then I sat inside and watched the dusk show through my big front window. It’s the kind of “end of day” scenario I dreamed about when I was working for a living.
Today I’m headed down to Iowa, another “get that state sticker” move, only I’ll stay two nights to give me a break from driving every day. I’m slowly making my way to the southwest, but I won’t get there till November at this rate, which is actually OK by me. I’ve got some people to see along the way.
When we treat children’s play as seriously as it deserves, we are helping them to feel the joy that’s to be found in the creative spirit.
Fred Rogers
Looking forward to next years visit.