Raspberries on the Deer Creek Trail

Back in beautiful Marysvale,  we headed out for the Deer Creek Trail.

Crossing over the Sevier River, we headed towards side trail #74.

Just beyond Hoover’s, the large rock cliffs came into sight.

And then our ride came to a halt!  Raspberries were spotted by the creek and anyone who knows Caleb knows he LOVES berries!

So we picked and he munched until a glance up at the sky told us we needed to move along the trail.

Flowers and butterflies graced our way over the creek crossings.

We travelled up to the top where the side trail joins with the Paiute 01, eating lunch at the meadow fence that Chris and Caleb helped construct a few weeks ago.

Caleb’s new tires traversed the rocky fields with ease as he was now fueled with raspberries!

Twenty-seven miles round trip was perfect timing

to arrive back at the trailer before the monsoon opened up the sky!

Another beautiful ride on the Paiute trail!

Making Tracks- Minnesota to Utah

After leaving Canada, we stopped at the Red River State Recreation Area campground in East Grand Forks, Minnesota.  Following devastating floods the cities of Grand Forks, North Dakota and East Grand Forks, Minnesota joined together to create a greenway that provides recreation and protects the cities from future flooding of the Red River.  We enjoy our stay in this area to restock the cupboards, enjoy the city parks, browse through Cabela’s and view a movie and pretty much all within walking distance!  This year we immersed ourselves into Disney-Pixar’s new movie “Brave”.  We were also treated to a reshowing of “How to Train Your Dragon”.

(photo courtesy of Disney-Pixar)

From point A in East Grand Forks, Minnesota we traveled to Mitchell, South Dakota for an overnight stop.  Wouldn’t you know there’s a Cabela’s there too?  Then we made our way through the edge of the Black Hills and decided to return to Chadron State Park in Nebraska (point C).  We stayed 3 nights before a long travel day with an overnight stop in Lyman, Wyoming.  Moving on to our current location (point E) in Marysvale, Utah to ride the trails before returning home.  According to Google Maps that is 1486 miles from point A in East Grand Forks to point E in Marysvale!

We stopped in Chadron a few years ago and had a great time.  The same was true this year, except there was a bonus!  Due to the drought, there weren’t nearly as many ticks! 

We swam in the warm pool, practiced archery, walked the grounds, played on the playgrounds, and watched the turkeys meander through our site.

Now we are settled in at the South Forty campground where we stayed earlier in our trip to ride the ATV trails!

(Deer Creek Reservoir, Utah)

Early Celebration- Canada

After catching a good sized Smallmouth Bass, Caleb was treated to an early birthday present, a float plane ride over the lake!

Our friend flew over to the cabin and got Caleb all strapped in for an aerial tour of Lake of the Woods.

He was thrilled to have the opportunity and said that the lake looks very different from the air.  The reefs are more apparent and the people & boats sure look small!

He took some photos through the summer haze of the island with Grandma and Grandpa’s cabin.

Many thanks to friend and pilot, Bob Harkness! Perhaps one day Caleb will pilot his own float plane.

It was a wonderful early celebration for his 12th birthday since we have headed back over the border.

A pleasant border crossing, past Willy the Walleye with the stars and stripes in the background.  We are back in the USA, weaving our way around the record setting heat wave and meandering around the smoke from the western wildfires.