A Triple V Summer

These 3 awesome kiddos returned to school last Thursday. Liam is in 7th, James in 4th and Gavin went back to daycare (he's 3).  And while the last 516 days were some of the most challenging, in balancing their remote learning and my full time work, they were also some of the most rewarding. So if you think I am celebrating their return to school, you would be right. But I'm also trying not to be sad, because I miss them SO much already. 

The saying goes: Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened. That's what I'm going to do.

Because we had this summer together, I was determined to make it memorable. Here's a recap and a look at some of our adventures. We tried to take a "field trip" over lunch break on as many days we could, some of these things were on the weekend, and some were in the evening, others I took a day off for:

Kaper park splash pad

Library (we LOVE our library)

Keith Andres MTB park

Angel Town Park (aka Shady park)

Sunset skate (scooter & bmx bike) park

Avas park

ALES park

Mini golf at Lippold park (thanks Gma & Gpa!)

Dolphin cove pool/waterpark

Stoneybrook park 

Spella park

Hill climb park

Ford school park

Dairy Queen & Ladd park

EVES park 

Hosted friends for swimming and BBQ

Deicke park and Dairy mart

 

Hurricane harbor-Rockford

 

 Brunch for Baby shower-our new nephew/cousin will be here soon!

 

Drive in movie

Founders days concert & fair food-YUM!

Wonder Lake Water Ski Show

 

Parade (candy to sustain us until Halloween)

 

Skating at the Library's bday celebration

 

L& J participating in the 'Ride like a ninja' MTB skills class

 

Getting henna tats at National night out

 

Hosted our family reunion

Group MTB rides at Raceway woods

Touch a Truck

 

The kids had a few days they were wishing they lived in a neighborhood and could just take their bikes out to meet up with friends, ride to McDonalds, etc. They also had a few times they did not enjoy doing their daily (2) pages of Bridges workbooks. But all in all, we had a great Triple V Summer!

PURE Michigan

First, a little back story. Last year our friends mentioned they enjoy going to the Dunes in Michigan and that's how we found ourselves in Mears, MI at the Silver Lake Sand Dunes last July.  And in UNusual fashion, we found ourselves there again this July! 

I say "unusual" because one of the best parts of having the travel trailer, for us, is being able to explore new destinations. However, this is a great location, very family friendly with lots to do. So, yeah, we went back. And it was just as great the 2nd time! Here's our campsite at Silver Lake Resort & Campground, and here's looking down our campsite road. All those orange flags really let you know where you are at; one of the only sand dunes you can still ORV (off-road) in.

Our first day we spent at the Little Sable Point Lighthouse beach. 

Our second day we went on the Pentwater Pathways bike trails, then to Cedar Point County Park beach.

In the evening we went to Craig's Cruisers, then to the Whippy Dipp for ice-cream.

Our last full day we went to the Silver Lake Sand Dunes (pedestrian area) for some sand boarding:

In the evening we went back to the beach for sunset.

A storm was heading in that evening so the sunset was not the best but the clear shallow water of PURE Michigan always gets us! 
 

4th of July in Door County

Even though we live in IL, we LOVE Wisconsin. Or maybe I should say because we live in IL, we LOVE Wisconsin. But even with all the time we've spent in WI, we had yet to make our way to Door County. The area is known for it's lighthouses, beaches and state parks. So needless to say, it was about time for our adventuring family to "head up north" (as the Illinoisans like to say). 

I did very little research and so our campsite was in Sturgeon Bay at Tranquil Timbers Resort. The campground was actually really nice, with big spaces. It had activities planned for the holiday weekend (like an outdoor movie) but a most exciting surprise was that it had 2 camping spots that it does not sell this weekend, which overlook the water and city fireworks display (more on this topic later). Anyway, the reason I said "...and so our campsite was in..." is because now after spending time in Door County I wish we had chosen one of the smaller towns further north, and perhaps stayed in a campground in one of the state or county parks. 

On Saturday our first stop was Cana Island Lighthouse, known for it's unique location that you have to cross a causeway to explore the island. The water was low enough so that you could cross by foot, but as you may know, Lake Michigan is pretty cold and we did not have proper water shoes. So we did the next best thing, and took the tractor pulled hay wagon ride across!

After that we drove across to the west side to Peninsula State Park. We had a picnic lunch, then biked on the paved Sunset Bike Path. Someone really wanted to hit the beach (no, it wasn't me) so Alex & Liam dropped us off at Nicolet Beach while they checked out some of the MTB trails. After their ride we packed up and headed into the town of Fish Creek to figure out dinner. We decided on Wild Tomato and after a short wait, were rewarded with really yummy woodfire pizza. To build up our appetite for dessert, we climbed the new Eagle Tower viewpoint. Then it was back into town for Not Licked Yet frozen custard. Our timing was really on point this weekend because once we had our treats the line was super long!

 

The next day we checked out the Sturgeon Bay ship canal pierhead lighthouse, which is located at the Coast Guard station. It's interesting to take the designated public walk path to get back to the pier and on either side is coast guard property. 

Afterwards we drove north to Whitefish Dunes State Park for the afternoon. The water was cold, but the day was warm. And even though it was the holiday, and there were a lot of people, it did not feel crowded. I guess that's why the Great Lakes are called inland oceans-they are SO big!

Everyone was excited for the evening's fireworks so we had our dinner and s'mores back at the campsite, then packed up the wagon with our chairs, bug spray and glow sticks and walked the 2 blocks to the reserved spots. Once the spaces filled up the party got started, as the campground staff handed out frozen ice pops and "parade" candy. Then a "DJ" started congo-ing thru the crowd carrying his boombox with America-themed tunes such as Firework by Katy Perry and Despacito by Luis Fonsi😂. The display was lengthy (more finale, less build-up please) but there was no sitting in traffic to exit, no ride home to fall asleep during, which were the best parts in my opinion. And so we walked back up to our campsite, and fell quickly asleep to the sound of residential fireworks going off in the distance. Happy Birthday America!

Since the 4th was on a weekend we had Monday to make our way home, stopping at Renard's Cheese Store, finally pulling into the driveway in the afternoon. Because no matter how many hours we have to drive in a day, it seems we always make the trip last all day! Final thoughts: 

Door County gets 3 Thumbs Up 

(that's a Triple V thing in case you didn't catch it)

Part III

 Sat June 5: Moab, UT- Arches National Park

We got an early start leaving from the Grand Canyon to make our way to Arches National Park. We (I) had planned poorly and only booked us for one night there. However, I think we fit in most of the site-seeing I wanted, even if the boys did not get to do any MTB riding. 

We stayed at Slick Rock Campground:

After having a late lunch/early dinner at a local Mexican restaurant in downtown Moab, we went right into the park.  First stop was Park Avenue (no picture but was very cool and worth the stop to view), then onto Balanced Rock, which I wouldn't even call a hike, but more of just a walk up a path and around it. Cute story on the placard about the history of Balanced Rock said there used to be a smaller similar formation that was called Chip off the old block standing next to Balanced Rock, but alas it did not survive. That is the thing about this landscape, it may not seem like it but it's fragile and always changing:

We then followed the road to the Fiery Furnace:

Then kept driving the road north through the park to Skyline Arch. Again, not really a hike, but a walk up the packed dirt path up to the Arch:

We continued to head north and make notes of the hikes we would want to do the next morning prior to our departure. We had already decided to forego the most popular hike in this park which is to the Delicate Arch (also featured on the Utah license plates) as it would be too long/time consuming to fit in with all our other stops, so instead we headed back to the lot that puts you at a short trail up to a distant (aka "upper") viewpoint of the arch. We did this for sunset and the kids had great fun getting some pictures with the La Sal Mountains in the background:

Okay, so in the pictures below, on the far left you can see the iconic Delicate Arch. You can also see the tiny little dots to the left of it, which are people waiting in line, after their hike up to the arch, to get their picture under it! I am SO glad we decided against that hike and did this shorter one for the view and sunset instead. It was just the relaxing evening our family needed after a long day in the car.

On Sunday morning we woke up early, got donuts from Doughbird and headed out (with a generous 1pm late checkout granted by our campsite) to do the rest of our site seeing. We stopped at the Visitors Center (of course) to get our ranger badges, then first up was the hike to Landscape Arch. It is the largest arch on the planet, with a width of 290 feet. The arch has had chunks break off over the last centuries, so one never knows how long it will remain standing. 

Then I headed into Sand Dune Arch while the boys took a break. I think they missed out. The trek in was short (but tough because you are walking entirely through sand) but viewing this arch in the shade within all the red rocks gave it a kind of glow. So of course I did a selfie:

Our next stop was Window Arches, the north window was the easier one to stand in/photograph:

Much to Gavin's delight, a very friendly young girl ranger stopped to talk to him about his badge and “bio-crust.” I think he was in love. Remember folks, Ranger Gavin says:

After a very busy morning we got on the road to Denver. Even though it was one of our shorter drive times, it seemed long because we left so late in the day. However, it was one of the more interesting drives, going through all the ski resorts that are west of Denver. We hit rain at the very end, but alas the evening cleared and a rainbow showed up. We always say that's Grandma Voigts painting the sky. I guess she was approving of our vacation.

We stayed at Denver East/Strasburg KOA. We used the oven in our camper first the first time. I know I haven't said much about the new camper, but we were not roughing it (bigger beds, bigger fridge, a freezer, microwave, and yes a TV-GASP!).

We woke up early and hit the road to our final stop on the way home, Omaha NE. The campground was West Omaha KOA. We actually took advantage of a campground pool finally-we arrived a decent hour and it was HOT in Omaha (just like it was hot back home). The kids also enjoyed the playground with bounce pillow and zip line.

Our final trek home from Omaha to Algonquin was relatively uneventful, though everyone was very anxious to get home. We stopped at the I-80 "worlds largest truck stop", I am not necessarily making a recommendation here, I'm just sayin' we did. The kids were very helpful unloading, but really they were just excited to get ST (Screen Time on their iPads) after a 2 week hiatus. I am proud of them and their attitude about this "Grand" trip and participation in making our family memories. We are excited already for our next trip over 4th of July.

The End. For Now.