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July 13, 2016–Day 9–Copper Harbor, MI

Brooke’s inaugural reporting with picture captions from Mom.

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July 15, 2016–Day 11–Porcupine Mountains Union Bay to The Chippewa Flowage, WI

What an incredibly beautiful day after yesterday’s gloominess. I woke up at 7 to go for a run along the shore of Lake Superior.  A sign at the boat launch said that Lake Superior accounts for 10% of the world’s total surface fresh water. Listening and watching the waves lap upon the shore almost lulled me back to sleep.  Thankfully the camp hostess had out coffee and hot chocolate. Scott and I sipped our warm beverages while we watched the waves.  The kids came and joined us and the rock throwing soon commenced.

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July 11, 2016–Day 7–Boulder Lake in Nicolet Forest, WI to Copper Harbor, MI

The forecast had promised sunny, humid, and eighties.  When the rain started coming down hard at 3am and didn’t stop, I knew our plans to whitewater raft on the Wolf were going to have to be delayed.  We woke to mid-sixties and fog.  Between the wind blowing the rain off the leaves and a few sprinkles we decided a quick breakfast of cereal would be beneficial.  Scott and I went for a quick brainstorming walk while the kids played on their tablets in the car.

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July 27, 2015–Day 22 Cumberland Gap Day 1

Clean feet!  This little guy’s feet are not often clean when we are out and about camping.  I took a picture of Cody sleeping because he had his feet on his mat and his head on my pillow.  As often as I gently put him back onto his mat he put his little head right back onto my mat.  We both started the day a little exhausted. During breakfast Cody said, “Teton is probably a werewolf right now. Oww! Oww!” Teton howls when she misses us.  Thankfully Scott’s mom hangs out at our house now and then to keep Teton company.

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July 28, 2015–Day 22 Cumberland Gap Day 2

This morning we had critters all over the van.  A cicada decided our van tire was a great spot to lost his shell.  A fuzzy caterpillar decided  he liked our cooler.  Something else like our cooler in the middle of the night because I heard its little claws clatter against the metal holding the cooler.  The kids and I headed off to find water for breakfast.

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July 31, 2015–Day 25 West Liberty and Red River Gorge Day 3

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July 23, 2015–Day 18 Smokys–Longest Hike EVER!

We parked at the Trillium Falls hike trailhead to try to hike Grotto Falls.  We should have kept driving further to get to Grotto Falls, but we were concerned that we weren’t going to be able to find a place to park as at 9:30 most of the parking lots were filled. We weren’t going to make the Grotto Falls recommended hike from where we parked because it would be too long of a hike for the kids, so we decided to go with the Rainbow Falls hike. That was even a stretch at 2.7 miles each way.

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July 24, 2015–Day 19 Smokys–The Last Day

After a quick breakfast of pancakes we headed back to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center that we were at last night.  This morning they had a blacksmith demonstration and a toy demonstration.

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July 26, 2015–Day 21 Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina

We started the day with a little wrestling, but then Cody worked quietly on his Legos while I cleaned up the tent.  We ate some French Toast in the sunny sixty degree weather.  It was a nice change from the super sticky heat.

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July 15, 2015–Day 10 Tim’s Ford to Foster Falls

Scott thought a quick stop in Alabama to add another state to the kids’ map would be a fantastic objective for today.  So after a delicious breakfast of French Toast and the most amazing showers we have had the entire trip (complete with temperature control and no need to press buttons to keep the water flowing), we headed towards Russell Cave National Monument.