Day 54: greening on the go

Have I used that title already? Cause I feel like we are ALWAYS on our way to or from somewhere.  This time we are in Minnesota, but unfortunately it is not for a good reason.  My husband's aunt lost her battle with cancer and we are here to mourn with the family and celebrate her life.  Tracey Louise Hill was an amazing woman and will be greatly missed.

So, today on our way up here we decided to take advantage of some of the AMAZING scenery that you drive through between Wisconsin and Minnesota.  The Upper Mississippi waterway is just teaming with wildlife refuges, dams, state parks and fisheries.  Our original plan did not pan out because Northern LaCrosse does not have much to offer in the way of good, quick food so we pushed on a little further, found some good food and a great park to stop at.  We ate a picnic lunch and then quickly set out on a .1 mile hike (yes even when it is that short we still call it a hike!) to a scenic overlook.  

Sam loved the hike and was constantly stopping to look at things, running ahead or pointing out roots to make sure we didn't trip.

The scenic overlook did not disappoint either!

And as if we had planned it, a Bald Eagle flew in!

This was a great way to spend an hour to break up a five hour drive. 

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The Nitty Gritty!

We pretty much always travel in a time crunch. It is either late at night or we need to be some place at a certain time or we are just too excited about where we are going to really want to take our time in getting there. So typically our potty stops and meal stops are the closest things to the highway and sometimes just pulling over on the off ramp!  But today we decided to try something new.  We had plenty of time for our traveling and even left a bit early just to be sure.  We traveled with a real map in our laps, which we NEVER do, so we could see things like parks and natural areas that might be coming up.  And we made the intentional decision that we were going to take a long break from the car and get outside for a while. 

I would HIGHLY recommend this to anyone that car travels a lot.  Sam loved the break from the car, had a blast at the park and was very calm and cooperative when we got back on the road.  I think it helped us to do something new and different on the road as well.  Plus, I think it is so neat that we found this little spot and shared a memory as a family instead of just wolfing down some Steak N' Shake.

Comments

[Naomi]

I'm sorry to hear about your husband's aunt.

I love the pictures that you took, the landscape is really beautiful there.
I hope you don't mind but I wrote a short blog post about your blog on my blog.
I want to recommend your site to my readers too.

[Lindsay @ BytesOfMemory]

wow those pictures are gorgeous! Sorry to hear about your loss!

[mom kuhn]

The eagle is God's signal to you, that is so cool.

[Pat Lawhorn]

Sorry to hear of Chris' Aunt's passing, but you certainly made the most of your trip. You are beginning to sound like your dad. Next thing you'll be off the interstate entirely and just back roading! Keep up the good work.

[patty]

Wonderful pictures...great moments..beautiful family!! God bless you!