Voyageurs - Lake Kabetogama

 

After leaving Ash River we traveled a short distance (less than an hour) to the most western side of the park about 30 minutes south of International Falls.  Our campground was called the Pines of Lake Kabetogama and their website boasted that it was a nationally ranked campground which of course has us all wondering just what exactly it would be like.

As is our way, we'd booked our campsites a year or so out (the moment they became available to book) so we landed some really good premium sites which as it turned out was exactly the right move.  The campground was build on basically two levels, the water level and then maybe 20 or 30 sites up top on a ridge of sorts.  The path up was nearly straight up and down depending on if you were driving or walking but the view from the top was amazing!  Our three sites were positioned right on the point and looked out to the lake.  Mom and Dad's site even came with a golf cart to get around the campground and up/down the big hill.  It sure came in handy for moving people, chairs and coolers!

In addition to Mom/Dad and Dan in their campers Tom and Carolyn also rented the "glamper" that the lake had onsite for people who didn't own campers to use.  Turns out the glamper site was right next to Mom and Dad's site so we had all 4 of us all lined up in a row.  It couldn't have worked out more perfectly if we'd have planned it (which, we did...lol!).  The only thing we wish we could have changed was the weather.  

If we're all really honest with you, the weather on this trip sucked!  It rained every single day we were in Minnesota.  We lucked out to get one good boat day while we were at Ash River, but even that evening it rained.  The weather was no different at Lake Kabetogama and it really made us get creative about how we were going to spend our days.

Our one boat day at this campground couldn't be refunded so we took the pontoon out in the rain and took it across the lake the the Elsworth Rock Garden (pictured above).  The place was totally empty when we arrived (probably had something to do with the rain) so we had the entire place to ourselves to explore.  We saw signs at the local gas station that the National Park charged $60 per person to ferry you over, give you a tour and take you back home again.  If that's the case, our boat rental was totally worth it!  I'm here to say don't spend $60 to go if that's your only option to see it.  We went, we saw, it was ok...not worth $60 per person though.  Our return boat ride was less enjoyable than our way out.  Our way there was drizzily, but the way back we were in a full on rain storm and we all looked the worse for wear because of it it!

But, you know what the rain is good for?  Fishing!  And, thanks to all that rain, Abby caught what she'll probably always remember as her first fish just as we were pulling into the dock to go and dry off and get warm again.  Tom was trying to dock the boat, there was a lot of commotion going on, and all of a sudden I heard Ryan yell that Abby had a fish on the line.  It turns out she caught a 18inch (or so) Northern.  It's a fun fish to catch because they fight and pull on the line and dive deep to try and get away.  Ryan was able to net it and Abby was so proud of herself for catching the ONLY fish our group caught the entire trip.  Ron and Carol caught 2 other fish at Ash River, but for a place known for fishing, we didn't catch much.  Though, we weren't really there just to fish and we probably didn't try hard enough to be truly successful.  

We celebrated Haze's 8th birthday while we were on vacation - complete with a perfect "camper cake" that turned out a little higher on one end than the other because the camper wasn't totally level.  Mom and Dad organized a special birthday scavenger hunt for the girls, that ended with Hazel coming to me to get her birthday present from the entire family - a bunny!  

Hazel has been relentlessly hoping for a bunny for 2+ years now and after 2 very successful hamsters we decided we'd give a bunny a try.  His name is Ned and he's a baby holland lop.  I'll do a full blog post to introduce him later but so far he's been a great addition to the family.  

We had to get pretty creative with how we spent our days while we were here because of the rain but we did what we could when we could get outside and away from the mosquitos.  We played cards and games and figured out how to watch Netflix in the camper for the first time ever (thanks to campground wifi) - the kids loved that!  We visited International Falls and spent an afternoon looking around their local town museum (not the most fun for the kids) and a museum for Bronc Negerski (a former bears player and maybe the only famous person from that town.  

That day in international falls DID lead us to a fun restaurant/bar where we got light beers on tap, listened to a juke box, at cheese curds and tater tots and watched the kids put too many dollars into a claw machine.  A good ol' "Wisconsin" afternoon.

The rain stopped us from exploring a little bit, but this summer has been filled with draught and burn bans and fires in Canada whose smoke travels all the way down to Chicago and New York so, in the end, the rain was good for us all.  And, it led to some beautiful sunsets (when we could get them), a first fish story that Abby will remember for years and lots and lots of cocktails and card games!

Dear Hazel (Age 8)

Haze, you are really the funniest, most unique little human.  You doesn’t give a F what anyone else thinks about you (please keep that attitude baby!) and you dance to the beat of your own drum.  The other day you told me that when you first met your new friends at camp everyone was sharing fun facts and you said “I showed everyone my curved pinkies and they thought it was so cool…I am the only one that has that talent!”.  Keep being weird sweet girl!

You’ve been practicing handstands for what seems like every hour on the hour and are nailing them better than I could ever hope to do!  You want to be an artist when you grows up and want to live in the house right next door.  You said your house will be shaped like a bunny, with ears and everything and the mouth is the front door.  You want to have a menagerie of animals (mostly bunnies) that live with you but you don’t want to get married or to have kids. And one thing you know for sure, it’s that you don’t need a real job.  Your job will be making art and people will pay you for that.  You said you don’t need health insurance or other things traditional job provide like vacation days or you know, pay checks.  You told me you’ve got this and honestly, I kinda believe you.  Keep that wild spirit and stays the course and you just might just pull it off.  I can’t wait to see what year 8 brings to us.

Favorite TV show:  “Bingo and Bluey”

Can you even believe that the kids STILL say Disney Junior shows are their favorites?  Abby too! And, it’s not for lack of options either.  At this point they have access to Netflix, Disney Junior, Amazon prime, HBO etc and after all that, those dang blue dogs from Australia rank at the top of their list of favorite shows.  I think if they came out with new Lion Guard episodes Hazel would be all over it and back into making the Pride Lands in her room night after night.  I love love love that they are still small in this way, and that they still like cartoons.  It goes too fast…of this I am sure.  

Bears or Packers? “Both”  

Of course – this is what Abby always says now too.  But, I take pride in knowing that the BOTH choose to wear Packers colors for “wear your favorite team” day at school recently.  I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact of laundry or that the green and gold outweighs the blue and orange options in their drawer.  HA!  Truthfully they do not actually care about this topic – but they DO like the rivalry between Ryan and I.

Favorite Food: “Donuts”

Mine too, Hazel.  Mine too.  Well, donuts, ice cream, popcorn and old fashioneds would top my list.  I think in addition to Donuts Hazel also loves cheese, bologna with bologna sauce (mayo), goldfish crackers, smore’s and trail mix (just to name a few of her current favorites).  Oh, and drumsticks ice cream.  

Some firsts this year:

I struggled to come up with some real “firsts” for Hazel over the last year.  Hazel wasn’t much help when I asked her to recount some first.  She said things like “the first time I ever wore these tie dye pjs to bed” or “the first time we jumped in the pool this summer”.  I don’t know if she quite gets the idea.  LOL!

But – here is a small lists of first for her 7^th year!

• ·  Big Girl Bike with gears – we got Hazel her first “big girl” bike with hand breaks and gears to change at the start of the summer.  It was supposed to be her big birthday present from us but, it turns out we had something else up our sleeve – more on that in a minute.  She’s been riding the bike for a few months now and I don’t think she’s mustered up the confidence to zoom down the big hill of the driveway the way she does on the wiggle waggle, but she’ll get there.  She jumps right on her new bike and is so excited to show people her gears.  Oh and Ryan just hooked up her wheel lights a few weeks ago (for nighttime riding in the campgrounds) and now she loves her bike even more!

•  Sleepover at a friends – Hazel has been having sleepovers with our close friends for quite some time but just in the last few months she’s been invited over to her friend Maddy’s house for a real friend sleepover and she’s loving it!  We haven’t quite mastered the part where if you stay up too too lake you can’t be a total grump the next day…or maybe, instead, it’s better to just close your eyes and sleep at some point…but we’ll get there!  It’s been fun having a friend just down the street for easy get togethers and play dates. 

• ·       A bunny!  - Yep, you read that right, by the time I hit post on this blog Hazel will know that we’ve finally made her wish come true and there is a bunny waiting for us on the back side of this vacation we’re on.  She’s been consistently asking for a bunny for over 2 years and she’s not waivered on her ask.  The hamsters were a test to see if they’d follow through on taking care of the animals, on cleaning cages, feeding animals, and most importantly wanting to continue to play with them.  The hammies were unexpectedly one of my favorite adds over the last few years so I’ve finally decided to give bunny raising a go.  We’ll see!  Ned, a male holland lop is headed our way in just a few days – made possible by the fact that Hazel asked for nothing other than “a bunny and everything it needs” from every single person she could get to listen.  So we’ve pooled our resources and gifts and everyone is working together to get her the things she needs for Ned.  Pictures to come soon!  I’m sure he’ll be a hit. 

Erin said it best when she said “Hazel is a real study in never giving up on her dreams” and honestly, if that’s what she learns out if this whole experience, that’s well worth the money and bunny turds! 

Favorite Toy: “Zoey”

Hazel’s favorite toy truly is Zoey (one of her many bunnies) but she has recently created her “snuggle friend group” which consists of Zoey, Dollie, Stripes, 3 frog lovies and then another random addition or two.  This snuggle friend group gets packed up and travels with her wherever she goes.  I think it came about after she left a friend or two along the way.  So she now knows exactly how many friends she’s got with her in tow on any given trip and she counts them when we’re headed back home to make sure she’s got the whole crew accounted for. 

Some other real hits this year are the robot dog she got for Christmas from Auntie and also her joke book.  Who knew the $8 “Jokes for Seven Year Olds” I grabbed off Amazon would be such a hit…but she’s commented more than once that it’s one of her favorite books and a favorite toy from Christmas.  Hey, I’ll take it!

Favorite Outfit:  “Dresses, especially long ones.”

This was 100% true for the last few years, but I’m seeing her pick them out less often.  We’ll see how now that we’ve entered into the warm summer months, but I’m seeing her picking out more shorts and t-shirts than she’s ever worn.  I love the dress phase though, so I’ll keep her dresser stocked with some good options and keep my fingers crossed that she start to pick them out each morning as we get ready for summer camp.

Nicknames:

·       Magoo – I truly don’t know how this one came about but I consistently call her Magoo these days.  I’m sure it’s a Ryan-ism that has stuck in my head but I think it’s here to stay, at least for awhile!

·      Junebug – of the three nick names, I think this is the cutest one, though if I’m honest I don’t hear us using it that often.  This is her nickname for online profiles (which is a cute one…).

·      HayHay – this is all Abby, all the time.  I never call her this, but it’s probably the most screamed word in our house.  Yep, you read that right, we’ve got a lot of ‘tudes happening around the McGrath house these days but we’re not going to focus on the negative in this post.  Abby calls Hazel HayHay in good times and in bad.  It still cracks me up because all I see is that silly chicken from Moana…

A sweet story about you:  

Favorite Movie: “That’s a hard one…let’s see….”

I swear, that was her answer!  I don’t know that she’s really got one.  It’s not like it used to be where they’d ask for a movie on repeat….now I don’t even know if I can name the last movie they saw.  But, I can say some new movies that are out right now that I’m excited to show to the kids.  There is a new Mario Brothers animated movie out and also a live action Little Mermaid that has a lot of people talking right now.  I can’t wait to give them a watch myself.  We’ll see if they become fast favorites.  

Fears:   “The bad pigs.”

These dang bad pigs!  They’ve been her fear on this yearly post for quite a few years now.  I know she dreams about them again from time to time so I’m sure that’s helping to cement the story of this dream firmly in her brain.  I have a few recurring dreams like this from my childhood that I can replay right now in my brain if I want to.  I get it!

Favorite Color: “Purple.  And second is green.”

This answer hasn’t changed for years!  Purple and green…nothing less, nothing more.  She knows what she likes but she’s not upset if whatever the thing is isn’t purple or green.  At this point I think it’s just the answer to the question and less about actually caring about it.  I get that!  Don’t adults answer in this same way!?  LOL! 

Height/Weight:  4 feet (FINALLY, now you can ride the big rides!) and 49 lbs

Voyageurs - Ash River

 

Our big summer trip this year was to Voyagers National Park in northern Minnesota.  We picked this location for a few reasons:

1. It is within our "8 hours from home" drive time - which makes it perfect for a week long trip.
2. A National Park we haven't yet been to - another stamp in our book!
3. It's one of the least visited parks - a much needed reprieve after Yellowstone 2 years ago
4. It's a dark sky park - so we're really hoping to catch the Northern Lights (seems unlikely given the weather this week but we can try!)

We left Friday after work and made it about half way to Voyagers, near Eau Claire, Wisconsin where we tested out a new way to book campsites - Harvest Host.  Basically you pay a flat fee for the year ($100) and you can camp at their campsites for the entire year for that one time fee.  The sites are all private home/property owners who allow Harvest Host members to camp on their property.  The idea is that many of them are also businesses (wineries, breweries, farms etc.) and that you'll visit their stores etc. and spend some money with the business while you are there.  The location we picked was really just some families farm. It was beautiful and quiet. They sold honey so we grabbed two jars while we were there.  

Overall, it was a good first experience and I think we'll try to find another weekend or two this year just to see if its something we want to do year over year.   

Saturday we arrived at Ash River, the eastern part of Voyagers where we camped until Monday.  Saturday it was pretty cool and rainy but we made the most of it where we could!  We'd rented a pontoon boat for Sunday, which turned out to be maybe the best day (weather wise) of the entire trip - we'll see we're still on vacation as I write this :)  Saturday we visited the visitors center (to get our stamp), played some games in the camper, painted some rocks for hiding, watched Men in Black and just hung out with our friends.

Making memories while jamming all 9 of us into Mom and Dad's camper to escape the rain and the mosquitos.  It was tight but we'll all remember that dinner!

We did a little pier fishing in the drizzle - they caught one walleye.  Not ideal but the kids had fun practicing using their new poles.  Both girls are actually pretty good at casting now!

S'more wars to pass the evening!

Sunday we lucked out with the weather.  The sun came out, it warmed up and we spent the day exploring the park by water.  We took our pontoon all the way to Kettle Falls where there's an old hotel nicknamed the 'Tilton Hilton because of the huge slope in the floor.  

The slope is really hard to capture in photos but I think this one (above) is the best one.  Notice the base of the pool table.  You can see how extreme the slope is to just get it level enough to play pool.  

We tossed our lines in more than once to try fishing but didn't catch anything (isn't that how it always goes).  After being on the boat for probably 6 hours we heard a tiny bit of thunder.  Luckily Dan checked his phone and saw a big storm headed our way.  We docked, unloaded and made it into our campers just in time for a huge rain storm.  We got lucky we had as much fun in the sun as we did!

Monday we packed up camp and headed to our third campsite of the trip - at Kabetogama.  We're still camping right inside the national park but on another part of the lake, further west.  We hope the weather will hold out so we can get back out on the water and explore parts of the park that we haven't seen yet.  More soon!

1 Family x 12 (June)

 

We made it to Voyagers!!  I've got lots to share in a few posts coming up - but for now, our family photo for June.

Camping (with Siedors and Cunninghams)

 

This summer we're on a mission to try out some new campgrounds in the area that we haven't yet been too.  Ryan's better about pushing the envelope than I am...mostly because finding something new takes work (and more than work...it takes TIME!).  But, as usual, he's right.  New is fun.  Somehow it's been years since this group has done a camping trip together.  I think the last time we a backpacking trip to Kettle Moraine that happened before any of the kiddos in this picture were even born!

We tested out the Maquoketa Caves in eastern Iowa (pronounced Ma-Coke-Et-A) and we loved it!  We hiked for a good bit of time on Saturday between a morning hike and a guided evening cave tour by the camp host.  I bet we put in a solid 4 miles of hiking between the two hikes and we didn't even get to see all of the caves or hike on all of the trails.  This will definately be a repeat location for us going forward.  The campground is small, maybe less than 50 total sites and the caves made for some interesting hikes.  It reminded me a lot of the topography/geology of Starved Rock State Park.

The kids had an amazing time and played so well together.  They even worked together to engineer a homemade swing that they made themselves, strong into a tree, and pushed each other on.  Pretty creative!

We tried out a new 'smores recipe courtesy of pinterest or Instagram.  You put all the standard 'smore ingredients into an ice cream cone, wrap it in foil and toast it.  Jury is out on if it'll become the new standard.  I think I prefer the regular old fashioned 'smore myself.

The weather held out for most of the trip.  It was forecasted to rain for a good bit of Saturday, but it held off til about 10 or 11 pm Saturday night which was amazing.  We got to do all of the fun outdoors camping stuff we wanted without being rained out.  The tenters in the group were a little damp on Sunday morning, but overall everyone faired really well.  My guess is that all the kids slept really well on Sunday night.

We're so thankful that we've got this tribe of friends and family around us to travel with and raise our kids with.  It's way more fun to do live as a big 'ole group of friends!