I Like #221

 

I've been absent for a couple of weeks (and late today) because I was able to take a couple of weeks and travel around the Dakotas and Northern Minnesota camping with my family.  I left my pups with my sister, but my parent's three dogs travel with them, so it was a wonderfully doggy vacation.

Here they are sitting (snoozing) with me in the back of the truck.

We started in South Dakota where we did some hiking in the Black Hills, and then went back down to Wind Cave National Park.  We went there last year (I love the bison and the prairie dogs) but we weren't able to go in the cave last year so we went back.

The cave was super cool- the boxwork structures were very different from the caves I'm used to.

From there we drove up through lots of prairie to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.  It was lovely, millions more prairie dogs to watch and love as well as some beautiful badlands with lots of vegetation and some wind-sculpted canyons.  I'd love to go back there with more time to hike.

After that we drove and drove until we got to Northern Minnesota.  We tracked along over the course of a week or so from the west (up near International Falls) edge of the Voyageurs travel pathway all the way down to Lake Superior and then along the Lake Superior North Shore.  It was a very watery trip, so fun and different from many others.

My parents and I and the three dogs stayed in their truck camper, and because it was so unseasonably hot and dry, we were glad to occasionally have full hookups since the solar charging system doesn't run the AC very well.

At a stop along the way in Lake Bemidji State Park we took a hike to a bog and saw lovely carnivorous plants, including pitcher plants (second two pics) and sundew (fourth pic).  We were traveling with long-time friends, and Susan (shown below) introduced us to an app called Seek which identifies living things from phone pictures.  We had a great time taking pictures of flowers and plants and insects (and dogs) and looking up what they were.

We next traveled to Voyageurs National Park where we mostly did water things, but we also took a great hike where there were some really cool fungi, including this Lobster fungus.

Mom and I did a lot of paddleboarding.  It was a really fun way to experience the lakes, calm and quiet, and very serene.  I borrowed a paddleboard from my sister, and it was great to be able to go out together. We got to paddleboard in Lake Roubeax in SD, and lake Kabetogama, Birch Lake, and Lake Superior (in Grand Marais harbor) in MN.  It's hard to take pictures while paddleboarding; my mom took them through her waterproof phone pouch (which is a little hazy).  I took a few with my phone out of its ziploc, but I was always afraid of dropping it in the lake!

Lake Kabetogama (in VNP).  It was pretty hazy the whole trip thanks to smoke from the wildfires in the west and in Canada (just north of where we were) and one in the Boundary Waters (fairly near to where we were).

Jordy loves the water.  We camped at Birch Lake (glorious and beautiful and quiet and not overpopulated) outside Ely where he was able to play in the lake.

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is mostly used for multi-day backcountry canoeing trips, but we just had time for a short morning canoe trip on Slim Lake there.

Proceeding ever eastward, we took the ferry out to Isle Royale National Park in Lake superior.  It was a lovely ferry ride with great views of the island and landing float planes.

The vegetation was so different in the North Woods, lots of beautiful birches and ferns and tons and tons of different types of berries.  Unfortunately they're having a dry, dry summer. The fire danger is very high and we saw lots of dried up plants, trees that were already dropping their leaves, and berries that were way tinier than usual.

While camped in Grand Marais, we had a lovely day wandering around the town, doing laundry, and of course, more paddleboarding.  We paddled to some little coves where there were little pools, cool rocks, and lots of sea birds.  Lake Superior really has the feel of the ocean, it's so very big.

The last day we drove down Lake Superior to Gooseberry Falls, where we did a lovely hike and walked down to some very secluded lake coves. 

In spite of the haziness, heat, and dry weather, it was a really really lovely trip.  I love being outdoors and traveling with my family and their friends.  Such a pleasure.  Now I'm back home; glad to be in my own bed, but otherwise going a bit crazy trying to catch up!

I know I'm late to the party, but head over to LeeAnna's to see more things to like this week!