sniderkin

We decided to take Cavan on his first camping trip for our family vacation this year. We planned to visit Northern Wisconsin on Lake Superior, but we took a few detours.

It was quite a long car ride but Cavan didn’t have any trouble getting comfortable and sleeping…

And when he woke up, he was a very happy boy!

To pass the time he did some singin’ … and dancin’ … and movin’ to the music…

After the drive we spent the first day at the hotel before moving on to the campground. Cavan loved jumping on the bed, especially after such a long drive!

Cavan is always so happy to wake up in the morning! How does the bear yawn when he wakes up?!

We stayed in Copper Falls State Park and opted for a “hike in” site, which just means you don’t pitch your tent next to your car, you actually have to walk into the woods a little bit. This is the trail leading up to our campsite.

This is the view of our site and tent from the trail…

While setting up it was easiest to lock Cavan in the tent, here he is peeking out.

Surprisingly, Cavan slept really well in the tent. We watched spiders hunting on the outside of the tent until he fell asleep. In the morning there were tiny toads hopping all around the tent, Cavan enjoyed watching them but we shooed them away so they wouldn’t get accidentally squished. He even slept through the thunderstorm that drenched the whole campsite and threatened to either blow the tent away, or strike a tree down on top of us during the night. It was a very windy, very bright, and very sleepless night for Shannon and I, but Cavan fell asleep before the storm hit and woke up in the morning after it was gone. We even got some hale, in July. It’s like mother nature was trying to kick us out or something!

We came across a mother deer and two fawns in the State Park and managed to get a couple of pictures…

This fawn decided to watch me taking pictures of him

We did a few short hikes in the woods. Cavan loved the view from his carrier.

Shannon and Cavan looking at the river bed from the bridge

Here’s what they saw:

Shannon and Cavan on a trail

Sunset over Lake Superior near the Apostle Islands

A pretty river in Wisconsin

True to our nature, we took a little detour for part of the trip. We found ourselves in Northern Minnesota along the coast, which is much prettier than Northern Wisconsin. If we hadn’t already paid for the site and if we could have found an available site in Minnesota we probably would have stayed there instead. Who’d have thought Minnesota was so pretty?

We did a roadside “hike” up a mountain and I climbed the guardrail to get this shot, all the while Shannon was freaking out because apparently I’m not “the most athletic person…” Pfft. Determination trumps athleticism any day… unless of course you’re talking about a race or something… then I suppose it might pay off not to be rolly-polly-fat-and-round-splatted-on-the-ground.

The rocky shore of Lake Superior

A very still Lake Superior, almost makes you want to go for a swim… except that it’s Lake Superior and freezing cold.

Shannon and Cavan playing with pebbles on the shore (and rock spiders too)

Daddy teaching Cavan how to skip stones at a roadside park

Cavan and Daddy enjoying the lake breeze

We stopped in a State Park in Minnesota to do a little waterfall hike, Cavan enjoyed putting his feet in the water in the places where it had washed over the rocks

A mountain tunnel… in Minnesota… really? tunnel… Tunnel… TUnnel…TUNnel…TUNNel…TUNNEl… TUNNEL!!!

The campground had a nice little park area and Cavan liked playing around there, he found a nice stick to poke things with.

Playing on the slide was the highlight of his day!

But there is nothing our boy likes more than WATER!

I think Cavan really enjoyed exploring on his own, despite the bumps and bruises that resulted. By the end of the trip he looked a bit like he had been in a fight with a bear… and lost.

Just to mix things up, on the way home we decided to follow the Mississippi River…

It was a nice drive and we were able to stay pretty close to the river

The Mississippi at dusk

It was a really great trip and we all had fun. It was nice to get out of the city for a week and to enjoy nature, despite the ticks. Cavan managed not to get any tick bites, and I caught a tick before he bit me, but Shannon wasn’t so lucky. He was, however, fortunate enough to have such a brave wife as to fearlessly pull the ferocious tick out of his leg and squash it to bits. The mosquitoes weren’t as bad as I expected, Cavan got one or two bites but they didn’t seem to bother him much. Cavan managed not to get poison ivy, there was plenty around though. We have yet to determine if he’s allergic to it or not (Mommy is not allergic), so until we know for sure… better safe than itchy.

And now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for! Your random clip of Cavan weirdness…

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 13th, 2009 at 3:31 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.