2012 Trip West: Day 2, Devils Lake Wisconsin

 I had all intentions to keep this blog going through the trip, but fatigue, lack of good data access, and most importantly, time spent having fun, took priority. So I'll start a month later and see what I can remember...

We all had a restful night at Nordic Pines, a little campground at Devils Lake State Park in Wisconsin. Surprisingly I felt more rested there than I had in weeks, I really do love my sleeping bag!

I escaped for a little run through the park while the kids had breakfast. It felt amazing to run on a rocky trail again, even if it was for a short bit. I couldn't wait to show the kids the neat purple-colored boulders lining Devils Lake. I had to peel them away from their second breakfast of black raspberries, first! I think we all felt a little more at home here, getting outside again and just enjoying the start of our adventure. We had lunch on the boulders by the lake, before hopping in the car again for the 4-5 hour drive to Minneapolis. 

Driving through a city again pretty much convinced the kids that city life is NOT for them. And I thought I did pretty good navigating our big blue bus through the city interchanges! We rolled into my friend, Gina's neighborhood late in the evening. She lives on a quiet little street just off a main highway, so when we turned in and slowed down pretty quick, Addy got hit with a wave of motion sickness. Addy announced her sickness mid-turn around to pull in front of Gina's house--the rest of us quickly demanded that she get out fast! None of us wanted to see, let alone smell, puke so early in our trip! Addy jumped out and let the fresh air do its magic while I finished turning that big bus around. I caught a glimpse of Gina's neighbor looking out the window, obviously wondering what in the world we were doing. Having 6 of us plus a dog and all our gear pile out next seemed to make him wonder even more, then invading Gina's house while she was still at work likely only topped it off. There we were! Ready to stay and enjoy our friends for a few days. I still wonder why he didn't call someone when I then left the kids there to stretch their legs while I took off to pick up Gina from the airport.

It was so nice to spend time with Gina and her sweet girls. How Gina keeps up with everything, including being an incredibly dedicated (and fast!) triathlete boggles me. I feel like I have our kiddos in a pretty self-sufficient spot, allowing me to get out for an hour or two each day, but even so I lack the energy to really push myself like Gina can in that time, what an inspiration! The kids and I enjoyed some time keeping up with Gina's busy girls, including some time at the park and reading lots of books. I was so impressed with both Mia and Kenna for being especially sweet with them.

Leaving Minnesota for North Dakota felt like leaving again for the first time--I had to build up my courage a bit to tackle that big unknown expanse of road on my own. Fargo, North Dakota and it's famed recent boom-town status from oil production was calling me. I thought it might be kind of neat to show the kids a town that might be in the middle of its most historic moment. Unfortunately I chose the wrong side of the Red River to stop for lunch. We found a park with great potential, it just seemed the local pot dealers had already discovered that. We were safe, but we didn't stay long. Instead we moved on to a monster Scheels sports to load up on last minute vital camping gear--a cooking pot. The one thing I forgot to pack. That place is pretty crazy, makes for good free entertainment along the road. Stuffed game, amusement rides and games, an
d historical wax figurines--all surrounded by every bit of outdoor gear imaginable. Hmmmm....strangely very American. I managed to play tourist mom and get this shot of the kids, to remember it.

4-20-2012 Taylor's Spring Getaway

Wow, it's almost two months and I am just  posting this! I guess in order to get away I had to play a little catch up, then spring sports, then I thought I might as well dive into dentist and other fun appointments...then the end of school rush and beautiful weather pulling us outside. I had even hoped to finish before Taylor's big 13th birthday, but didn't quite  finish for that, either. I've got to jot my thoughts down about our fantastic getaway to Florida before it escapes me completely.

This year was Taylor's turn to choose a spring getaway with mom. I'll explain more about our spring getaways when I catch up on a post about Addy's trip last year to San Diego. Taylor already knew where she was headed--Florida, to swim with Manatees. She's been dreaming of that for a few years now ever since learning about how they are endangered. Now that we've moved East, Florida fit a lot better into the set budget we give to each of the kiddos for their one-on-one getaway. So Tampa, Florida, it was, and Taylor's only hope was to see the Manatees and just hang out on the beach. Easy enough. Part of the fun was working with her on choosing a hotel and figuring out all that we could fit in 4 days without going too over budget. We found a somewhat beach-front hotel not far from the airport, which was key as I would be renting a car and I'm not the best at navigating new areas, as much as I love to study maps. I was a little more wary about Florida in general compared to the west, just seemed like it would be more crowded or foreign, or both.

Despite discovering Spirit Airlines is cheap for a reason ($40 per carry-on bag?!), having a 2-hour delayed flight, and being pulled over by a tourist-hungry cop just outside the terminal for my lights not being on in a brightly lit airport parking area just after I pulled out with the car, we made it without overly-frazzled nerves and felt right at home at our hotel. Oh, and I might add it also took an extra 45 minutes to figure out how to pull into the hotel from the highway, but we worked that out as well. All that was long-forgotten when we walked out to this view in the morning:
 

Then after grabbing some breakfast foods and beach essentials, and a few more wrong turns, we drove up the beach-front roads in search of a good beach to grab some sun and relax. I never realized Florida beaches were so covered in shells--teeny tiny ones, and not so teeny tiny ones, in all sorts of shapes and colors. Made me wish we had all the kiddos there to enjoy it.

 

 Instead I just reveled in the quiet one-on-one time I had with my beautiful soon-to-be teen. Nothing like enjoying sweet berries on a warm spring day on the beach. We eked out all the sun we could get, and took in another beach in Clearwater, before escaping back to the hotel for the evening. We knew that first day might be our only chance at good sun and warmth, with the start of hurricane season only a few weeks away, so we took in as much beach time as possible.

Day two of our trip we hit the mall, knowing a good downpour was on it's way. And what the downpour! We stayed at the mall an extra hour just to avoid being overly drenched on our way to the car. We ended up only half-way drenched, but made out with some good finds! I'm not sure which Taylor enjoyed more, time at the beach or time at the mall without siblings in tow, both rare occurances.

Day 3 was Taylor's dream come true, and mine, as our tour to swim with manatees in the Crystal River turned out to be perfect. Look at that grin!  

 

 

Then the rest of our free-time, we just hung out and enjoyed the views together, and the quiet!