Glacier National Park July 1 - 9, 2016

We did a road trip with our fifth wheel to Glacier National Park over the 4th of July. We've been to Montana a couple of times, but hadn't been to Glacier yet.

We drove from St. Cloud to Williston, ND the first day and stayed at the Lewis and Clark ND State Park. The park is very nice - a bit out of the way - but the sites are large, we had full hook ups and it was a great place to relax for the night.

Playground in the background - dump station in the foreground

Bathrooms

One of the sites - they are all pretty much like this - they also have quite a few pull throughs.

View of the Missouri River from the campground

Day 2 we arrived at Glacier. We stayed at the East side KOA for the entire week. This was a great location to see all of the things we wanted to do.

view from our campsite

Campground

Our first day we drove up to Logan's Pass stopping many times on the way.

Rams below

Logan's Pass

Day 3 was 4th of July and we drove to Many Glacier where we did a boat tour, walked through the lodge and did a short hike.

The next day we headed back up the Going to the Sun Road by-passing all of the stops we did the first day and did the entire west side. We visited McDonald Lake/Lodge area, East Glacier, walked the Trail of the Cedars and stopped at many other turn offs. 

Marmot

One of the red tour buses

Start of the Trail of the Cedars

Saw this mule deer just outside of the McDonald Lodge area.

McDonald Lodge

Cabins on Lake McDonald

Lake McDonald

More views of the McDonald Lodge

Saw these 2 guys near Logan's Point on the way back.

The next day we went to Two Medicine where we hiked to the falls, then went down to the lake and did a bit of shopping in the store. We also went to East Glacier to see the lodge and had lunch at the lodge. 

Two Medicine store

Two Medicine Lake

East Glacier Lodge

Our last full day we went to Waterton Park in Canada. We saw the Prince of Wales hotel, ate lunch in Waterton Village and drove the Red Rock Canyon drive where we finally saw a grizzly bear.

Prince of Wales hotel

These 2 were just outside the border crossing. 

We left early morning and I got this great shot right from outside the camper.

Itasca State Park (June 23-26, 2016)

We went to Itasca State Park for a long weekend. When I booked I wasn't sure what kind of weather we would have the end of June, but it was great! It actually got really warm on Saturday. We biked over 60 miles. Itasca has wonderful bike trails. We also met some great people, did some hiking, went to the headwaters, visited the visitor center and relaxed.

This is the view of Lake Alice from the Douglas Lodge/boat landing area.

Here's the boat they do tours on every day.

 Another view of Lake Alice - the old cabin is back in that little clearing.

Lady Slippers - the Minnesota State flower

Preacher's Grove

Another view of Lake Alice from Preacher's Grove

 Hike to/from Preacher's Grove

Bike trail between Pine Ridge and Bear Paw campgrounds

Headwaters

View backwards from the headwaters

More of the headwaters

Wegman's old store

Gathering spot for many campground events

Museum of Itasca Story

View outside the museum

Swimming beach

Our campsite

Bike trail - there's a bridge up ahead that goes to the Douglas Lodge

More Lady Slippers

Old Log Cabin - it's only open on certain weekends

View to boat landing from old cabin

hiking trail to/from old cabin

More hiking trail to/from old cabin

 Turtle - we saw a couple of them on the trails

More of the headwaters

Tall pines

Bike trail

June 10-12, 2016 Mille Lacs Kathio State Park

Went to Mille Lacs Kathio State Park for a quick weekend. The weather was very warm so we were worried about mosquiotos, but we didn't see one!

St. Croix State Park - Memorial Weekend 2016

We traveled to St. Croix State Park for Memorial Weekend. We really like this park especially on holiday weekends as it's 5 miles from a main road and another 12 miles to the nearest town of Danbury, Wisconsin and 15 miles to Hinckley, Minnesota. Because of this there isn't alot of day traffic and people aren't there to party. They are there to camp, hike, canoe, etc.

This park has 211 sites so it's very big. There are open sites as well as more woodsy secluded sites. There is a bike path which is 5.2 miles and takes you from the main campground to the beach/picnic area. There is also a paved trail that goes around a large portion of the campground. There is a small store and you can rent canoes which will drop you off and pick you up from designated locations.

William O'Brien State Park May 6-8, 2016

We arrived at William O'Brien State Park on Friday morning and the temperature was almost 90 degrees! We camped in the Savanna campground which is the upper campground in the park. I'm guessing because of the warm weather the park only had a couple of spots open during the weekend and all of the electric spots were taken. Saturday and Sunday were gorgeous at around 70-75 degrees and Sunny.

Both girls came with and we went to Stillwater for some antique shopping. We also did a little hiking on the accessible trail (see below) along the river and around the picnic area.