Memories in the Miles MN

Nerstrand Big Woods State Park (one of my favorites so far) is named because it contains some of the last remaining portions of Minnesota's Big Woods. A huge highlight of the park is its waterfall. In addition, the park contains a unique nature playground that is the perfect ending to a family hike. We stopped at Nerstrand Big Woods on the way home from our visit to Lewiston  as part of our quest to visit all of the Minnesota State Parks and complete the Hiking Club and Passport Club. This was our fourth state park in three days, and my 7-, 5-, and 3-year-old were a bit tired, but these trails were interesting enough to capture and keep their attention. The park has full bathrooms with running water, so after a bathroom break and snack, we set off on the 2.2 mile Hiking Club loop, listed on AllTrails as the Nerstrand Beaver Loop . The whole trail is wide, well-maintained, and shady. It has a few ups and downs, but they weren't very steep and it was overall easy. The falls come...

Our family loves nature and loves free, so nature centers are a favorite for us. When planning a play date for my daughter and her friends at Westwood Hills Nature Center in St. Louis Park, we got the added bonus of checking out the Trail of Small Wonders. This year's event ends on July 29, so hurry over to check it out! Westwood Hills Nature Center is fun in itself. We first discovered it two summers ago, when we explored some of the 160 acres of trails, and saw a deer, turtles, and beekeepers working in the apiary. The nature center building is home to a few raptors outside and other small animals inside by the exhibits. The outdoor play area was being built at the time, so we were excited to return and see the final result. There is a small playground, a flowing water activity, and a nature play area where the kids built a fort with large branches. Now for the highlight of the day - The Trail of Small Wonders! The St. Louis Park Friends of the Arts offered a workshop on buildin...

This park had me at "No mosquitos!" Whitewater State Park (Altura, MN) is known for Chimney Rock and for not having (many) mosquitos due to very little standing water. We visited this park with our 7-, 5-, and 3-year-old on our trip to Lewiston, MN . I knew these trails would be a bit of a challenge for my children, which is why I wanted to start the day at this park. Make sure you bring plenty of water and be ready to take breaks. The Visitor Center had a lot of fun activities and we spent time there both before and after our hike. My children especially enjoyed the taxidermy animals, ranger outfits, and magnetic fishing activity. The Hiking Club Trail at this park is interesting, because the booklet tells you to just hike from the Visitor Center to the end of it and then loop back on the paved road/trails. The AllTrails version of this, Coyote Point Trail to Dakota Trail , has you going out and back on the same trail. Since we wanted to see Chimney Rock anyway, we decided t...

Oxbow Park and Zollman Zoo  (just west of Rochester, MN) was an absolute gem of a stop on our family trip to Lewiston ! I was scrolling through Google Maps to see what state parks were on the way from Southwest Minnesota to Southeast Minnesota, and I noticed the listing for a zoo. My girls love zoos and animals, so I decided to check it out. It looked like an interesting stop, and the best part is that it was free! The zoo, nature center, and Path of Imagination Playscape ended up being even better than we pictured. We started in the brand new nature center and took advantage of the nice bathrooms and cold drinking fountains. The nature center has displays to learn about area creatures and has some indoor animals, including birds and snakes. Next, we headed outside to the zoo. We walked past a variety of birds, including two bald eagles. Then we went to an enclosure for two otters, who seemed to be putting on a show for us, swimming up, down, and around in front of the glass, to th...

Rice Lake State Park was our family's first stop on our quest to complete the Minnesota State Parks Hiking Club and Passport Club . It was one of the stops on our drive from Southwest Minnesota to Southeast Minnesota for a 2-night family getaway in Lewiston, MN. You can read our full trip agenda here . This small state park is on the north side of Rice Lake near Owatonna, MN. The park office wasn't open the day we were there, so we stopped to get the passport stamp outside of the office and grabbed a park map so my daughters could "navigate." When the office is open, they have birding kits, GPS units, and kids activities to check out. We did the Hiking Club Trail, which is 2.4 miles. The AllTrails map is called Rice Lake Trail and can be found here . AllTrails estimates that it takes 45 minutes, though we knew with a 7-, 5-, and 3-year-old, it would take longer. We started with a snack in the picnic shelter area near the playground to show our girls where they would ...

Over the winter, we realized we've never actually taken a trip with just our family. My husband and I have taken vacations and we've gone with my family or his family, but it's never been just us with our kids. Our children are 7, 5, and 3, and enjoy exploring and nature but need to work up stamina on hikes. One way we hoped to build up that stamina and motivation was by buying our girls the books for the Minnesota State Parks Hiking Club and Passport Club. Read this post for more about these clubs and our plan to check out all of the parks. We decided to plan our trip around some of these state parks and chose southeast Minnesota. I started by looking for Airbnb listings in the area for our timeframe, and once I found one in Lewiston , I put together an agenda using information from the Hiking Minnesota Facebook group, the Alltrails app, and the blog DayTripper . This trip actually took us from Southwest Minnesota to Southeast Minnesota and then back home to Minneapolis...