Hanging Out -May 2012

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We decided to get out of Dakotah Meadows for a little bit and meet Joe’s sister and her husband, Bonnie and Tim, in Duluth for a long weekend.  On our way to Duluth we made a stop for a few nights at one of our favorite Minnesota State Parks, Wild River, in Center City.  We love this state park for several reasons; great hiking trails, nice biking trail, and the sites are far apart and very wooded.  The wild flowers were in full bloom.  The woods were full of beautiful white and pink trillium, purple lupine, and red columbine.   For those who know me know how much I love my flowers.  It was nature’s way of giving me a bouquet of flowers without disturbing them.  Loved it!

Off we went to Spirit Mountain Campground in Duluth.  First time at this CG and we were very pleased with it.  Sites are a little uneven so you have to be careful which site to pick if you are doing an online reservation.  Thankfully Bonnie and Tim have camped here many times and picked our site for us.  It was a lovely site that worked perfect for us.  We had a great weekend sitting around the fire with Bonnie and Tim.  We made steaks on the grill, Bonnie introduced me to Chocolate Wine (that was a mistake) and our last night we watched the Jesse Stone movie with Tom Selleck.  Joe and I are big fans of the Jesse Stone movies (we own all of them except this new one) and it turned out that Bonnie also loves them.  Not to sure if Tim is as fond of them.  We had a great weekend.

On our way back to Dakotah Meadows we stopped at Banning State Park in Sandstone, MN.  Sites are a little tight and short.  We decided we probably wouldn’t go back for that reason.  The park has nice hiking trails and was quiet.  We had a short drive back to Prior Lake where we stayed a few days before heading to Aaron and Cassie’s land in Wisconsin for Memorial weekend.  We love spending time with the kids on their land and of course, Cate just adds to the fun.  Cate got her own camp chair and was so cute sitting in it.  She thought she was such a big girl.  I guess she is getting there.

From Wisconsin we starting making the trip to Ohio for our son’s wedding.  We never make the trip in one day.  We just don’t like driving very much in a day so we make sure we break up that trip to OH.  Our first stop was at Rock Cut State Park in Rockford, IL.  We have stayed at this park before and really enjoy it.  Sites are nice but you have to be careful because some sites are not level.  From there we went to Rockville, IN to Raccoon State Recreation Area.  Very interesting campground.  It was very large with different loops. The CG was on a reservoir so there were many boats and families.  But the most interesting part was that out of a couple hundred sites maybe 5 to 10 sites were level.  We have never been in CG where so many of the sites either were going down a hill or going up a hill.  We would not return to this CG because of this reason.  It was very hard to find a site that we could level our RV.  I think if you had a tent or a small unit it would be okay.  The best thing about the area was the covered bridges.  The county is called the Covered Bridge Capital of the World.  There are 31 historic covered bridges in the county.  We picked up a map at the visitors center and did a 34 mile loop to see 5 of the bridges.  Three of the bridges we could drive through and two you had to walk across.  West Union Bridge was the longest we saw at 315ft long.  It was built in 1876 and we had to walk through this one.  It was very impressive!  The 34 miles drive was beautiful.  We drove on winding, narrow roads through wooded countryside and then would be in open farm fields but only for a few miles and then would be back in woods.  The bridges were so exciting to see but the drive was just as enjoyable.

        

 From here we went to Winton Woods in Cincinnati.  This is usually our home when we visit our son, Zach, in OH.  Nice place to stay.  You can pick from full hook-ups or just electric.  Our favorite spot is just electric so we only stay there if we are staying for less than a week.  After three days we headed north to Dayton, OH where the wedding took place.  We stayed 25 miles outside of Dayton in Waynesville at a nice little privately owned CG.

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