Tag Archives: Maplewood

Maplewood State Park ~Pelican Rapids, MN

Maplewood State Park

I love this park so much that we ended up going three times while visiting family in MN!

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The first time we ended up just taking the twins and my niece.

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This is the woodland trail loop.

It is under a mile but so pretty!

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I may have told my husband that I was not going home…

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Minnesota in the fall is hard to leave!

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My adorable niece.

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For the second visit, we had all of our kids and came into the park from the south.

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This is a small portion of the Star Loop trail.

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Next, we walked some of this beautiful trail near Maplewood Church.

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I had actually decided to try a family picture with this stunning backdrop but a birthday party started.

I could not bring myself to get out my tripod and set everyone up for a family pic with an audience.

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We drove into in the park a bit more and ended up stopping to take this pic on a side road.

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I love how it looks like everyone is cooperating and having fun but in real life, I had one mad at me and glaring for most of the pics…

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On our 3rd visit, we had just the girls(the boys opted to stay and play with cousins).

We hiked on the Ironwood Trail.

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I can’t get over how pretty the woods were.

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The girls decided to throw leaves at Nick on the hike back to the vehicle.

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Love these.

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I am already missing fall in Minnesota!

MN Trip ~Days 1&2

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Day 1

We drove all night and got there around 1 or 2 in the morning on Saturday.

My boys always bounce right up in the morning, ready to play.

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My little nephew holding a frog.

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I could follow these two around all day.

They are just so cute!

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Day 2

Maplewood State Park

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We try to hike at Maplewood every time we are up.

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I would hand off the camera to Nick and then proceed to take pictures with my phone.

I am a little bit addicted…

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These guys liked to yell at us.

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I walked ahead of everyone.

There is something about walking alone in the woods that just makes me breath deep and relax.

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I spent a lot of time walking in the woods behind my parents house growing up.

It was one of my favorite places to be.

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Grandpa making calls at Nick.

Nick was stalking us from above.

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He is a great teacher.

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We made sure we were going to MN when the leaves were changing.

So pretty.

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Another chipmunk to yell at us.

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The Trumpeter Swans were migrating when we visited!

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This girl has me wrapped around her finger.

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She wanted to take turns taking pictures of things with my camera and phone.

My turn consisted of pictures of her.

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Nick and I headed back to Maplewood to catch some pics in the evening light.

It was cloudy…

I decided to roll with it.

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Tripod and interval timer to the rescue.

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Maplewood is a beautiful park!

Make sure you go if you live in the area!

Do you have beautiful fall colors where you live?

 

Hiking in Minnesota at Christmas time

It was a little chilly in Minnesota this Christmas but we still had some nice days to hike!

maplewood1stThis was our first hike.

Maplewood State Park Woodland Trail.

maplewoodcome maplewoodmaddie maplewoodme maplewoodusYou get pretty warm wading through thick snow!

I made Nick go first so he had the hard part of breaking the trail.

That is the nice person that I am…

hillupSince it was a short hike, we hiked up to the Halloway Hill Overlook also.

One of these days this hike will seem easy.

In that day I will know I have turned into a superhuman…

hillsumac nick hilloverlookThe view is always worth it!

I might not be thinking that while hiking up that hill but once at the top I am good!

tamaracOur boys, two of my nephews, and my mother in-law joined us for a trip to the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge.

We went on the Old Indian Trail.

The visitor center was closed for renovations.

I am looking forward to checking it out the next time we head up!

tamaracboys tamaracboysstopIt was a bit of a rough hike for some of them but we made it!

It would just feel wrong if I did not hike while up in Minnesota!

Such a beautiful place!