We did it!!

We visited 71 of the 73 MN State parks. We are going for round two starting in June, and I am planning on blogging about all of the parks immediately after we have visited them this time so that I have a fresh perspective on each park. Hang on to your hats...it's going to be a crazy ride!!

Behind

I'm behind....well it doesn't really matter because I don't know if anyone is reading this. But I promise (to myself and to others) that I will update. We have visited 35 parks as of now and I'm quite behind....Don't worry. I will sit down and write...and write....and write. More to come soon!

William O'Brien State Park

We visited this park on July 4, 2010 (along with 2 other state parks, Interstate and Wild River). We hiked about a mile through the park. What a great start to the holiday. This park features camping, fishing, canoeing on the St. Croix River (we have done this several times and I would highly recommend it....just don't tip your canoe -- it's a long story for another blog, another day). The park is a great place to visit and we will definitely be back to rent a canoe or have a picnic in this park that is so close to the Twin Cities.

Afton State Park

We visited this park on June 30, 2010. Afton State Park features camping, swimming, hiking, fishing and a rolling landscape. It is a beautiful park on the bluffs of the St. Croix River. We tackeled this park late in the day and took quite a hike through the park. There are a lot of hills to climb up and down, but we were up for the challenge. This would be a great park to camp in with the family or without the family at one of their backpack sites. We had a great time, and will definitely be back to hike here again.

Banning State Park

We visited this park on June 29, 2010. Just minutes off I-35 near Sandstone. This park features the Kettle River, Historic Sandstone Quarry, Hiking, Camping, Canoeing and Kayaking. We visited this park in late June. The bugs were terrible and the geocaching hike took us directly through the middle of the park in a wooded area with a lot of bugs, frogs and mud. We were not very impressed. We have heard many wonderful things about this park and will be heading back to check out the quarry and the river...so in all fairness this park posting isn't complete yet. I will update the posting once we have re-visited the park and experienced more of the interesting features.

Cascade River State Park

We visited this park on June 27, 2010. Pure beauty describes this wonderful park on the North Shore. Located 10 miles south of Grand Marais and approximately 265 miles from the Twin Cities this park is truly a Minnesota treasure. The park offers camping sites, hiking trails, beautiful views of Cascade Falls and breathtaking views of Lake Superior. We hiked through the park with family and had a wonderful time. This was the first Minnesota State Park we visited and purchased our annual vehicle permit at. Well worth the $25. We discovered a lady slipper (the MN state flower) on our hike as well as some awesome waterfalls we wouldn't have discovered otherwise. I have posted a few of the pictures we were able to capture in this park. It was an excellent way to start off our Minnesota Park tour.

The Land of 10,000 Lakes

This summer our family has been geocaching (look it up on www.geocaching.com) like crazy....I mean like CRAZY! We discovered the Minnesota State Parks Wildlife Safari Geocache at Cascade River State Park during our annual family camping trip to Grand Marais in June....and we have been hooked on the state parks ever since. With 72 Minnesota State Parks to discover - we have decided to take on the challenge. So far we have hit 15 of the parks and we're on a roll. Our goal is to hit all 72 by March of 2012....can we do it? In the spirit of our adventures, I have decided to start a blog about each of the state parks we visit - so here it is.