Tag Archives: camper

Full campgrounds and amazing waterfalls ~North Shore, MN

After Nick got home from Poland, we left for the North Shore in Minnesota.

Lake Superior is one of my favorite areas.
We were getting there at the end of a holiday weekend so we thought we might be able to find a spot without reserving but I called on our way just to be sure.

They were booked.

And furthermore, it costs $10 to reserve a spot which bumped up the price quite a bit.

The Eckbeck was in the perfect location and the price was great($14 a night) but it did not have water or electric.

We were borrowing my in-law’s camper so we did not have are usual setup which meant no heat at all while we were there.

Since the boys were staying in a tent I thought we could tough it out at least for a night.

It poured our first night.

The boys ended up getting soaked and bailed out to the vehicle.

We ended up getting them a new tent that was hopefully a little bit drier.

Our first hike was in Tettegouche State Park to High Falls.

It was a pretty hike and brought back all the memories of when Nick and I backpacked in this area several years and kids ago…

Tettegouche is a beautiful state park! All of the kids wanted to see a cave down below so Nick held onto them just to be safe.

It made for fun pictures!

I opt for easy one pot meals while rving.

We went down to Gooseberry Falls and Split Rock Lighthouse State Park the next day. Nick is great at the technical shots like water blur on this waterfall!

After a very rough first night, Nick suggested that I go to the lighthouse alone since there is an entrance fee.

I did not stay long but it was a nice quiet look at the lighthouse and the view from there.
Afterwards we all went to a spot in the park you can go down to the water and see the lighthouse. The kids saw a scuba diver and decided to try out the freezing cold water… I got a lot of video of screaming kids when the cold water touched them. We were gearing up for a big day the next day and hoping we would get more sleep for it!

We paid one night at a time for our camping spot because we were not sure we could do 4 nights with so little sleep!

The “Leap of DOOM!” ~Lake McMurtry

My oldest girl and Nick ran in the Lake McMurtry run last month!
This was the only hike I went on. Some camping trips are not as great as others. This place is beautiful it just ended up being a harder trip.

These signs were fun though from the race! She listened to the signs and thought it was too big of a jump. They always make a big deal of this jump. The hype get’s bigger every year. “I’m a camera!” Cutest camera ever! I guess I went on two hikes technically. Nick dropped me off while we were driving and I walked the rest of the way. Sometimes a peaceful walk is just what I need.

This was our second time camping here.

It is really a beautiful campground!

Maybe next time we can hike more of it!

If you want to see more of our hike (including my littlest’s camera work) check out the video!

Hidden Cove Park and Marina ~Rving with 5 kids (Dallas Area)

We stayed at Hidden Cove Park and Marina just outside of Dallas.

I wanted to stay at Cedar Hill State Park but since it was spring break weekend, they were full.

I may have panicked for a while when I realized I needed to find a campsite on spring break weekend…

Thankfully Hidden Cove had empty spots and was a good price $35 a night for water and electric.

They even had some trails at the park which was nice for running off some of the kids’ crazy energy after the long drive.

One of my kids thought to poke a giant mound of dirt with a stick was a great idea until hundreds of ants came pouring out…

Thankfully none got on her.

She thought they were though and it took a while to convince her otherwise.

Hopefully, she will not poke mounds of dirt again.

These two were pretty adorable.

These are pretty accurate portraits of what my kids are like…

My littlest is really into boots in the shot or glaring.

She thinks it is really funny.

This ended up being a really pretty park!

I was going to share what we did while in Dallas in this post also but it would be too long so I will have to share that next!

I spent Saturday alone with all 5 kids in and around Dallas while Nick was at a conference so it was interesting!