Exploring

The boys had spring break this past week.

Yes, all the boys. Joe took the week off work, too, so we spent 9 whole days together hanging out. Joe also planned a delightful road trip down the Mississippi River and led us to all sorts of beautiful places. The tree above is on Maiden Rock Bluff, and here’s the view down.

Our next stop was at the birth home of Laura Ingalls Wilder, which was almost more than Charlie could handle. As he got out of the car, he whispered to himself, “I can’t believe I’m actually seeing this!!!”

There’s something amazing that happens when we walk in woods together.

We stayed two nights in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and explored the area in the meantime

The river was quite high, so we felt like our feet were about to get wet any minute

We happened to be in La Crosse on the day of the month when the busses were free, so that made scooting around town easy

They even had an awesome wooden playground on which to have a rousing game of hide and seek

At the end of our street was Old Grandad Bluff

It was windy up top, but the view was great

We attempted a group selfie, but only Hennie’s hood made it in

So we asked for some assistance

And then the silly version

This lady apparently donated most of the money for the conservation effort to keep this bluff from being turned into a quarry, so we kept her company for awhile

For dinner the first night, we hit La Crosse Distillery, which was so delicious and had such a good atmosphere that we came back the next night for another dinner.

Oh, hey!

After La Crosse, we headed on our way to Viroqua, which turned out to be a great place to spend the day. It provided us with some of the most delicious coffee and breakfast of all time

Afterward, there was a huge old building filled with books, so we naturally had to fully explore the collection. The boys played a game of hide and seek that was pretty epic. Henry found a spot that neither Charlie nor I could find!

After a delicious lunch at their local café, we headed to Wildcat Mountain State Park

Henry was impressed that he hiked up a WHOLE mountain! (Wisconsin-size…)

Snack break view

We spent an amazing night in Black River Falls at the coolest Airbnb ever. It was cozy and pretty, energy-positive (the home produces more electricity than it uses)

They even had this great rocking-llama called Polly

And fun games to keep us entertained

Their backyard view

The next day we walked down to the riverfront from their yard. It got real icy, though, so I decided to go back up and enjoy my coffee on the deck. The boys all trudged on, though!

After heading out of town, our last stop was Eau Claire. Their children’s museum was wonderful

The boys had a ball, and even convinced me to enter the digestive system

We had several chill days at home after our four-day trek. It’s always nice to sleep in your own bed again, and get dressed choosing clothes from drawers instead of duffel bags.

After enough down time, the boys wanted to hit yet another hot spot: the Mill City Museum in downtown Minneapolis. They especially love the water room