State Parks Tour (Parks 1-5)

This summer begins our quest to visit all of our state parks in the upcoming years.  We figure if we want to be done in 7-8 years, we will have to make it to 10-12 parks/year.  If we want to have it done in 8-10 years, we will have to visit 7-9 parks/year.

Since Memorial weekend looked so nice weather wise, we made an impromptu decision to take a trip to the SW corner of the state last weekend to visit 5 parks out in that area.

We had the two girls join the passport club where the goal is to get your passport stamped at all the parks.  Greg & I joined the hiking club where the goal is to hike designated trails at each park.  The trails range in length from 1 mile up to 6+ miles.  I would say average is 2.5-3.5 miles.  You have to find a password located on each designated trail and fill it out in your book.

Hiking proved strenuous for the kids but we were able to accomplish what we needed.  We did need to switch up our schedule and we had a sleeping kid at one park but we made it work.

It was a very busy weekend and I've decided that squeezing in more than 2 parks/day is overkill.  My goal is next time we take a trip, we will do 2 parks/day.  That leaves plenty of time for eating, driving, sightseeing, etc.

I think we will try to squeeze in another 5 parks or so this summer/fall.  We're thinking about hitting up some of the SE parks when the leaves change color.

State Park #1
Kilen Woods State Park

Kilen Woods sits among a lot of farmland along the DesMoines River.  The land was purchased from Agil Kilen, thus how it got it's name.  This park is a small, basic park.  The ranger station wasn't open although the ranger did stop by and say hi to us.  The bathrooms weren't open.  There were maybe 5 sets of people camping and 1 or 2 other cars in the parking lot so by no means was this park busy.  It is for the most part a wooded park but we did catch a few glimpses of prairie.  The hiking club trail that we hiked was 2.4 miles and was mainly in the woods and had some pretty steep climbs.  We found the password pretty easily at this park although the words were so faded that it was hard to figure out what it was.  Out of the 5 parks we visited, this was my least favorite.

The elusive picture of me.  

A little bit of prairie.  

 View of the Des Moines River from the lookout.  

State Park #2

Blue Mounds State Park

After having lunch, we continued our journey on to Blue Mounds State Park.  This is not a wooded park; it's all prairie.  This is a very interesting park and gets my vote for the interesting factor as my favorite of the 5 parks we visited.  There is a nice swimming beach, lots of hiking trails, a buffalo viewing area, a rental teepee, and a really nice campground.  This park also wore us out as the hiking club trail was 6+ miles in the sunshine over a hot prairie.  Thankfully, the weather was gorgeous.  There was a nice breeze, low humidity, and warm sunshine.  The trail goes for miles out into the open prairie over mounds of Sioux Quartzite (which is how it got it's name) and then loops back to the campground.  When we got back to the campground area, we were really disappointed as we hadn't found the hiking club password.  I even went into the ranger station asking if we missed it perhaps.  Well, it turns out that the trail goes out over the lake and dam for another 1.8 miles.  The kids were beat after just hiking 4.5 miles so I stayed with them and they played on the swings and on the pier while Greg hiked the additional 1.8 miles over the lake and dam to find the password.  It was successful though - he found it!  

We saw lots of flora/fauna here including buffalo, prickly pear cactus, tent worms, and a bird of prey of some sort (didn't have my binoculars) which I initially thought were hawks but after looking in my bird identification book, maybe they were eagles. There were lots though soaring overhead.  

This is the beach/picnic/pier area.

They got their binoculars out for our tour of this prairie park.  

This is the quarry where Sioux Quartzite was harvested.  People actually climb this cliff.  

Prickly Pear cactus grows in this park.  Pretty neat!  

This little one was exhausted after we headed back out on the road.  Our goal for our first day was to visit one more park (Split Rock Creek) but it was almost dinner time when we left the park so we opted to go straight to Sioux Falls for the night and add Split Rock Creek onto our agenda for the next day.  

State Park #3

Split Rock Creek State Park  

We were on the road by 8:30 a.m. the next morning and the weather was cool and drizzly.  I was afraid we would be rained out at our next park and we didn't really bring much for warmer clothes (that's why Anna is wearing her pajama pants in some of the pictures).  

Pipestone County does not have any natural lakes so Split Rock Creek was dammed and thus formed Split Rock Lake and the surrounding area was turned into a state park.  This park was small and was mostly in open grassland surrounding the dammed creek.  There was a swimming beach and the campground seemed to be busy. The hike was easy as the trail was mostly a wide, even ground, mowed path.  We even saw a big garter snake right in the middle of the path.  It took us by surprise and I almost stepped on it.  Fortunately snakes don't creep me out.  Hiking club for this park was 2.6 miles.  

As you can see, there was lots of prairie at this park.  

Pipestone National Monument

After Split Rock Creek, we drove right through Pipestone so we had to stop at Pipestone National Monument.  I have never been there before and we thought it was noteworthy enough to warrant a stop.  In this area, the rare pipestone is formed from a layer of clay in-between layers of Sioux Quartzite which forms from sand.  This was a sacred place for the Indians and even during war times, tribes would be at peace here.  They used to pipestone to make pipes.  

Meredith participated in the junior ranger activities and earned a certificate and pin.  

There are still active quarries there.  

As you can see in these pictures, they had just burned the prairie a few days prior to allow for new vegetation and to get rid of invasive species.  It was not as picturesque as it would be with the prairie grasses and it smelled of burn but it is what it is.  

This is hard to see, but the stone about a third from the middle left is called The Oracle.  

State Park #4

Camden State Park

Our next stop was Camden State Park which is located  in a beautiful valley created by the Redwood River.  It was named after settlers during the 1840's named it after their previous home of Camden, NJ. This was a really nice park with lots of recreational options ranging from camping, swimming, playground, hiking, etc.  It is a big park and I would have loved to explore it a little more.  The ranger station was nice with a gift shop and very helpful and friendly rangers.  We hiked the hiking club trail which was about 2.4 miles.  The trail was fairly easy and wide but hot given that much of it was in the open prairie. It was a combination of woods and prairie on this hike.  We were a bit hot and worn out after we finished but we took a few minutes to let the girls play on the playground before leaving.  

This is the nice swimming beach. 

In case you were wondering what the hiking club password signs look like.  Meredith is very proud to have found this sign way up ahead on the trial.  

The girls playing in the sand.  

This was one of the overlooks on the trail.  

 State Park #5
Lake Shetek State Park

Our fifth and final park of our trip was Lake Shetek State Park.  Lake Shetek is the headwaters of the DesMoines River.  Shetek means pelican in Ojibwe although we didn't see any pelicans at the park.  We did see one in a lake on our drive to the park though.  This state park was created as a memorial to 15 settlers who were killed in a conflict during the Dakota War of 1862. We did not get a chance to visit the Shetek Memorial which marks the burial site of the  killed settlers.

I think this one was my favorite for the fact that it had so much to offer.  It was bustling with people, had a really nice lake and swimming beach, lots of camping, historical sites, etc.  Anna was completely passed out when we got there so she stayed in the car and missed the sign picture.  The hiking club hike for this park was short - only 1 mile so Meredith and I hiked it while  Greg stayed with Anna in the car.  The trail took use out over a causeway to Loon Island and the trail circled around the island.  The hike was easy and boring…except walking over the causeway.  The trail was nice ands wide and covered with rocks.  I would have loved to see some more of the park but we were just too tired and it was late in the day so we headed home.  We stopped in the gift shop and Meredith and I got matching neon rainbow tie dye sweatshirts and Anna got a cute t-shirt.

This is the causeway out to Loon Island. 

The trail was nice…just a boring hike.  

We came back to find that sleeping Anna had woken up and was very sad and disappointed we hiked without her.  

Easter

I spent Good Friday baking so Greg helped the girls dye Easter Eggs.  It's kind of ironic that we have to do this since NO ONE in our house will eat hard-boiled eggs.  They all went to Grandma.  

We headed to my Aunt Phyllis/Uncle Peter's house the day before Easter since my cousin and his family were in town from Chicago.  

Here are all the kids getting ready for the egg hunt.  It was the favorite part of the day I think.  

And finally, the bunny came.  Meredith almost lost out on the bunny though…she had some really, really bad behavior going on but the bunny pulled through.  They got nautical outfits with anchors, Kidz Bop CDs, bath sponges, scratch books, peace symbol stuffed animals, and candy. And the movie Frozen.  

I'm totally biased but I think this is about the cutest picture ever! I threatened to take away their candy if I got any goofy faces and I ended up with ONE where they both had really nice smiles and no flailing arms, heads, etc. 

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So…never in a million years did I EVER think I would be an independent consultant for a direct sales company.  I always avoid direct sales but I finally took a friend up on her offer for some samples and I fell in love with the products and now I can't imagine using the cheaper, crappy stuff you buy at mall stores.  I ordered more.  And now I'm an independent consultant.  The start-up kit is only $99 and look at all the goodies I get to let YOU try!

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Well. Hello There!

So yeah.  It's been months since I've felt compelled to write about anything.  This winter has been too much even though we did get to take a wonderful vacation.  I won't even get into talking about how I drove the 1.5 blocks to the bus stop all winter because IT NEVER GOT ABOVE 10 DEGREES.  I honestly have taken very few pictures all winter.  

So let me start by talking about that wonderful, FREE vacation that Greg earned from RBC (where he works) that we took back in January.  We had a bit of a debacle getting down to Florida as our flight was cancelled and rescheduled for the following day.  it was a nightmare retrieving our luggage but since this was an RBC paid-for trip, all we had to do was call the travel company that handled the whole event and the immediately got us booked on another flight in the evening.   Only problem was that it flew into Ft. Meyers and we needed to be in Miami.  But the arranged for a shuttle to pick us up and drive us across the state.  We finally got into Miami around midnight.  We stayed at an awesome hotel right on Biscayne Bay.  I had plans to check out Miami Beach that evening but obviously that didn't happen.  We slept in the next morning, had a wonderful breakfast courtesy of RBC and boarded a bus to take us to Ft. Lauderdale.  

I left my big SLR camera at home and only brought my iPhone.  It was so nice to have such a teeny, tiny camera to take photos with.  

Here is the sunrise over Biscayne Bay in Miami.  The warm weather felt sooooo nice!

Here is the ship we were on for the week.  The Celebrity Constellation.  The ship was privately chartered so everyone on board was an RBC employee….and NO KIDS!!!  Most of the people were from Canada.  I did not meet a single person outside of Canada (besides our little group of 8 from Minneapolis) the whole week while on the ship.  But there were people from other countries aboard…just not very many.  I was almost talking like a Canadian by week's end.  We opted for an inside stateroom in exchange for a $200 shipboard credit.  And much to my surprise, I did not mind the inside room at all.  It was small but I never found myself wishing for a room with a window or a balcony.  So we made a good choice.  

Our first stop was a private island called Cayo Levantado in Samana, Dominican Republic.  At every stop, RBC had wonderful events set up for us to attend; however, we decided to do a shore excursion at this particular stop.  A small, private island just isn't my cup of tea.  I'd rather see the land and locals.

This is Cayo Levantado.  The ship tendered not too far from here.  

This is a view of the mainland from where the ship was tendered.  It was beautiful.  

We decided to do a caves and mangroves shore excursion to Los Haitses National Park.  As we were crossing the bay, we got to see dolphins jumping in and out of the water.  I have it on video but it takes too long to load on here.  Anyway, it was really neat!  

This is a picture of Bird Island.  

We got to explore several different caves.  We even went through one where they filmed the Israeli version of Survivor back in 2007.

The caves were full of Petroglyphs.  

After the caves, we moved on the the mangroves.  

 It was pretty neat.  Overall, I left the Dominican Republic intrigued and wanting to see more.  

Our second stop was Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.  RBC had an event planned at Magen's Bay Beach so we boarded the shuttle first thing, and headed out there.  As you can see, it was a beautiful day.  

The entertainment just for us was this steel drum band.  It was so  neat.  I also have video of this.  

In typical RBC style, they took care of us with drinks and pizza!  

After the beach, we headed back to Charlotte Amalie and did a little downtown shopping.  We walked back to the ship dock and took a tram up to the top of the mountain near the ship dock.  It was a bit expensive but it was neat.  We had great views.  

See the gorgeous views?  You can actually see Vieques, Puerto Rico in this picture off to the left.  

We each had a slushy cocktail that was really yummy.  

After that we had an hour to kill so we stopped for some food at Señor Frogs.  Not thrilled with that decision.  Just to give you an idea, we ordered chips and salsa as an appetizer.  I think it was $6.99.  See that tiny cup of chips….yeah.  That's what we got.  A handful of chips for $6.99.  Oh well.  Live and learn.  

Our third stop was San Juan, Puerto Rico.  Again, there was an RBC sponsored event but we chose to do an excursion again.  

We went to El Yunque National Rain Forest.

View of the canopy from the Visitor's Center.  

We climbed to the top of this...

To get this view.  And yes, it did rain shortly after this.   

 Once we returned back to Old San Juan, we did some shopping.  Here is a street view of Old San Juan.  

This is a fort in Old San Juan that we sailed past as we were heading back out to sea.  

A rare picture of the both of us.  

Stop four was Nassau, The Bahamas.  Here is a street view showing some of the Bahamian architecture.  

We didn't have much planned here so we opted to attend the RBC sponsored event. It was  at the British Colonial Hilton and there were Junkanoo Dancers and an open bar.  It was awesome!  Again, RBC really took care of us.  

 This is the beach at the British Colonial Hilton and you can see the cruise ships in port.  The ship that you see is the Oasis of the Seas.  That ship is twice as big as the one we were on (our ship is docked on the other side of it).  It was gigantic.  To the point where you look at it with your jaw dropped.  

The obligatory Nassau Branch of RBC photo.  

 After the event at the Hilton, we shopped a little and did a short walk over to the Queen's Staircase.  Slaves carved this staircase out of rock for the Queen.  

Up at the top of the staircase is Ft. Fincastle.  Nassau has many old forts.  This one happens to be the highest point on the island.  It was closed for the day so we couldn't actually go in it but we walked around the grounds.  

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This was taken as we were heading back to the ship.  

And there you have it!  It truly was a wonderful vacation.  I just can't believe how well we were treated and taken care of.  Thanks RBC for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.