Gooseberry Falls

The kids and I (plus Craig) spent the weekend camping at Gooseberry Falls State Park, one of our favorite places in the state...the kids love this time of year up there, which you'll see why shortly (or maybe you remember)...

Friday morning...we were gone...

On the way up, Kieran said "we should go camping again at Gooseberry sometime."  Luke had him convinced that we were heading to a hotel...he was happy to be camping...

Saturday morning the kids took Craig to the waterfalls (I was a little busy)...

And a hike above the lake to some nice scenic overlooks...

But best of all...they took him to the Picnic Lava Flow, which they call 'the tadpole place.'

They have loved catching tadpoles here since they were all very little...we tend to be there in June, right when each pool is filled with tadpoles...

Saturday night, Luke and I took a walk down to the lake as the fog was rolling back in...

There is so much to see at Gooseberry...

Sunday morning, we all went back to the falls...it was my first time seeing them since last fall...here's the middle falls...

And the lower falls...

Both of them together...

It was a good weekend...it rained a bit Saturday morning and evening, but it wasn't too bad...fun was had by all...

Interstate State Park

Last Sunday, the kids and I were going to take off to do some hiking in another state park.  Two of them were convinced to stay home (which I will get into that story soon, which will be fun), but Lukie is always up for something to do with me and being outside...

So he and I took off to Interstate State Park in Taylors Falls, right alongside the St. Croix River.  It's a park that we've been to before, we've never camped there but have spent some time, just not doing the hiking club trail...

It's also the first time I've been able to get a picture of the sign...

We got there just in time to fall in with a nature guided hike around the pothole area.  Here's Luke holding a corestone, which was originally thought to have carved the potholes.  Now it's much more likely that swirling eddies in a raging glacial outburst flood carved through the soft basalt and rocks caught inside became rounded and smooth (a corestone)....

It was cool that Lukie was able to answer a lot of questions that the guide asked...apparently he's actually been listening to me...

I even had to help the guide out when he was asked a couple of questions...I know enough geology to be dangerous...

We went in big potholes...

And found some sized just for Luke...

We explored cracks in the basalt...

And took our first picture (it was going to be a selfie...Lukie likes selfies...but someone volunteered to take a picture) out on Angle Rock...

From that point on, it was time for some hiking...we had a 3.5 mile trail to take and find the password we were looking for...but it came with some nice looks of the river...

Lukie saw this sign explained the geology of the area and said "dad...you're going to take a picture of this so you can read it later, right?"  Um... yes...yes I am...

Lots of overlooks looking at the St. Croix and Wisconsin beyond...

Someone even asked to take our picture again...I'm not a big fan of being in pictures, but okay...

Eventually, we found the password sign....we know the password...you don't...

Not that the hike was over yet...we still had to keep moving by going under the highway...

It wasn't too longer before Lukie and I went off-road...he was confused why we'd walk up a little creek off the trail....the reason why was so we could see this...

That now dry waterfall isn't whats cool...what's cool is Lukie is standing on 1.1 billion-year-old basalts of the Mid-Continent Rift System while about at his hip level is Cambrian Sandstones that are around 500 million-years old.

That's over 500 million years between those two points...and that's frickin cool...take that you 'young earthers'....

After getting back on the trail, we left it again to walk to this sign...

Minnesota's the best place in the world...why not welcome newcomers?

Back at the parking area, we checked out the paddleboats moving upstream...

And took a selfie (after almost 5 1/2 hours at the park in 85-90 temperatures)...

A good day...

Ramsey Falls

The Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, the kids and I headed out to Franklin, but on the way we stopped at Ramsey Falls to check out the waterfall....we like waterfalls...

We weren't there too long....just long enough to check out the falls...

We also didn't go out on the rock either (I didn't have shoes that would be safe for that)...though some people were amazed that you could walk out there...

Kieran really doesn't like bridges like this...he gets across them as fast as he can...

All-in-all...it was a good, albeit quick stop on the way to Franklin...

Hastings Area

The plan for the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend was for the kids and I go go hiking at a state park and complete the hiking club trail.  Kieran had really wanted to go to the Upper Sioux State Park near Granite Falls to learn some more history about the Dakota Conflict, so that's where we were going to be heading....but then Kieran/Lex were convinced to go watch a pool getting backwashed and our plans changed...

Luke had no interest in a pool being backwashed...so he and I took off on an alternate plan...we took off east for Afton State Park near Hastings.  It lies next to the St. Croix river, just upstream from the confluence with the Mississippi River....of course it started to sprinkle as soon as we got out of the car (and continued as long as we were at the park)...

There were nice overlooks of the St. Croix...

 Places where you could contemplate your situation...

 There's supposed to be a swimming beach at the park, but with the heavy rains we've had recently you can't reach it...so we skipped rocks instead...

 The trials we were on were real easy walking...

 At one point we came across a little stream...Lukie said "dad, we can cross it..." and I said "yeah, we'll cross it over the bridge."  I tend to ruin his messy plans...

 And we found the password (and got a stamp for our passport)...

We also took an awful lot of selfies...this kid likes these pictures...

 After almost four hours at the park and not ready to head home yet, we took off to Hastings to see a new waterfall neither of us had seen before....Vermillion Falls in downtown Hastings...

Right across the river is a mill that's been operating since the 1850s apparently because of the waterfall...

The view from the top was cool, but I figured there had to be a way to see it from the bottom...it was a bigger hike than I thought it would be and much more steep (especially considering the recent rains)...

We were in quite the gorge, but I didn't take many pictures because I was trying to keep Lukie and I out of the river...

But it was cool to see from the bottom...

I didn't initially want Lukie up at that vantage point (you're literally 6 inches from a 8 foot drop to the river), but he insisted he wanted a look...

What you don't see is my hand holding his butt...

From there, we crossed into Wisconsin hoping for a view of the confluence of the St. Croix and the Mississippi...but we were thwarted due to too many deciduous trees growing...it'd be a good sight in early spring or late fall.  Best we could do is get a picture of the sign...

We'll be back!!

Lukie's First Communion

A couple of weeks back was Lukie's first communion at the 10:00 mass...it was the first time we had gone to the 10:00 mass in a while, Luke and I have been going to the earlier 8:00 mass because, in Luke's words, "we're done earlier and can get outside and play."

He had trouble with the wine...his face was puckered for a good five minutes afterwards...he did not take any wine the next week...

Here's some pictures from that morning...

And one last one...the boy likes to take pictures and really likes selfies...I bet I've got a couple of hundred selfies of him and I in random places all over...