Reaping what I sow!

So a while back I did some sowing of wildflowers in our back yard. I did it a little late in the summer, but the seeds have sprouted and I'm finally seeing some awesome wildflowers. Take a look...

Next to my fence flowers

A few more days and everything will be FULL bloom! Can't wait!

Best Puppy Friends

Today we had an impomptu puppy play date in our backyard! The pups had so much fun...

...r u n n i n g...

...a n d  p l a y i n g...

...a n d  r o u g h  h o u s i n g...

...a n d  c h i l l i n'...

True friends let you share a water dish!

Camping @ Kettle Moraine South Unit

This camping trip started slow, since we started getting ready Friday morning, but thankfully Kettle Moraine is not far at about an hour and half away. Our camping reservation was at the Whitewater Lake East Loop (which if you have similar reservation, you must check in at the "Contact Station" before going to you campsite--it doesn't say that anywhere, but that's what you have to do.) Below is what the sites looked like, or ours anyways, some were a little bigger, but most were about this size.

After setting up camp a little we went to Whitewater Lake to swim. The swimming area is small but nice providing sun and shade. We swam a little, and then laid out and read a little. When we headed back to camp we continued to set everything up...without a cloud insight we (and with my insistence) decided not to put the rainfly on to sleep with the breeze blowing through the tent. We started the campfire, and began cooking.

Hot ham and cheese
Sweet tomato rice

Some time after making dinner it started to sprinkle, so we scrambled to put the rainfly up...the rain actually stopped by the time we had everything up...I guess we should've just put it up from the beginning. Then we played Bananagrams. We also made several attempts at dessert, finally perfecting it. We used the pie iron to make tarts: raspberry cream cheese and peanut butter, chocolate, marshmallow. The tarts are made with crescent roll dough on each side, and need to watched while cooking to not over cook or under cook. No camp fire is the same so there is no real consistency, so just keep checking if you are making these yourself.

Sometime in the early morning hours it began to rain much harder, so I am so glad we had in fact gotten that rainfly up and on the tent.. No water in the tent so we just continued to sleep and sleep, finally waking up quite late in the morning, which felt great. We ate a little breakfast and walked down the street from our campsite to a scenic overlook.

After our short hike we decided to climb in the car and get a lay of the land, and took a drive along the Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive heading north. The Kettle Moraine area is absolutely beautiful!

When we got back, we got ready to go canoeing on Rice Lake (next to Whitewater Lake, and right down the road from our campsite). Rice Lake is great place to canoe, and may be a great place to swim too, but we didn't find the best area. We got out in a mucky area were I stepped on a fish (so gross!) and when we swam out there was tons of weeds. The water felt nice, but swimming was short lived. Here's a few pics of the lake...

That night for dinner we cooked in the pie iron again making "calzones" with bread, tomato paste, roast peppers, turkey pepperoni, and cheese. It was DE-licious!

After dinner, we played more Bananagrams, and Hubby read aloud to me by the fire.

This morning, we woke up and broke camp to head home. It was a great trip in a close but beautiful area. Great memories!

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

This past weekend, hubby, pup and I packed up and headed to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore for a weekend of sun, sand and camping.

When we first got there we set up the campsite. If you are thinking about camping here, get there early; campsites are first come/first serve. We stayed in the Mather Loop at campsite M34. It was nice, but not overly roomy--if we'd had more people joining us it would have been tight--but we didn't so it was perfect. If you do have your choice of sites, I thought some of the sites along the back of the loop looked really nice, and many of the sites were much bigger. Here is our site, to give you an idea of where we stayed.

After setting up camp, we went to check out Mount Baldy on the far east side of the park. There are two ways to get to the beach from the parking lot; a short hike up and over a dune, or a little longer hike over some smaller dunes. 

Now, the trail head clearly says to only take the trail over the large dune if you are good shape--we took that trail, and are not in the best shape--don't be scared. A rest or two on the way up and anyone in decent condition will be fine. Here are a few pictures from the top of Mt. Baldy...

Looking straight out at Lake Michigan

And looking east at the beautiful power plant in Michigan City

Now to go back up the same dune to the parking lot is much more steep, but it is ultra fun to go down!

Steep!

After climbing (and descending) Mt. Baldy, we walked along the beach heading west, and waded in the cold water of Michigan. 

Pup's first time in waves!

Looking down the beach

After walking for a while we took the trail through the woods back to the parking lot--it was really pretty!!

After that we hit up an incredibly crazy junk store (on the corner of second and central, if you are interested...it's a pickers paradise), brought some firewood, and spent the rest of the night playing Bananagrams, cooking and hanging out by our campfire.

Day Two started with a nice drive along Lakeshore Drive and eventually ending up at Central Beach. We swam around in the lake with puppy and then took a catnap in the sand; the weather was perfect and we were able to find a secluded spot and it kinda felt like a private beach.

Central Beach

My sandy Puppy Girl!

After hanging out at the beach for a while we started to feel a little thirsty and a little burny, so we decided to head back to the campsite for lunch. After hanging out there for a bit we went to Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk. While there are no dogs allowed on the actually beach, we enjoyed walking on the trail to the beach (paved so it's good for strollers and wheelchairs too) and out onto pier.

Trail to the beach

Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk Pavilion

Beachfront

"Riverwalk" Pier

After our walk back to the car I realized how tired, and hungry I was. We headed back to our campsite once again to start a fire and cook some dinner. After dinner, we played more Bananagrams and hung out around the campfire.

Sunday morning we woke up, broke camp, and headed home. It was an awesome trip! And I would recommend the Indiana Dunes to anyone--especially those in the Chicagoland region--as a quick, fun, inexpensive way to enjoy Lake Michigan's beaches.

Weeding and Sowing

Today I spent most of the day weeding the bed we put in last year next to our gravel patio. After a very busy May, the bed had not been tended to at all this season--though some of the perennials have been doing just fine without me. After weeding, hubby tilled around the plants and I planted some nasturtium around the boarders and then some more of the seeds I bought earlier in the year ( poppies and chinese forget-me-nots for this area). Though, the seeds in the front beds are sprouting up, I am always unsure how seeds will come in...I guess we'll just need to wait and see.

End of April

Today

An improvement, right?

Des Plaines River Trip--Section 2

Yesterday, Hubby and I  canoed the second section of the Des Plaines River, from Wadsworth Road to Grand Avenue. Last year we canoed section one, and loved it, so we couldn't wait to get out this year. We put in at the canoe launch at Wadsworth Road and started paddling. During this part of the paddle the river was wide with tall grass along the shores, we were paddling mid-day so the sun was strong and there was little shade on the river. We saw signs for portages but the water level was high enough we never encountered any log jams; however, about half way through the trip there is a rock damn that must be portaged. We portaged to the right side, I'd recommend portaging to the left; obviously either side works, but left is easier with less rocks to navigate and trip on. After the portage the river becomes more wooded and shady. There are several downed trees, but the trees never blocked the entire river and could be canoed around. During this portion you do canoe past some peoples backyards, but houses were set much further away. On this section, two bridges are canoed under one which is 41 (Skokie Highway) and the other is Grand Avenue. After canoeing under the bridge at Grand, our trip was almost over, since we took out at Gowe Park (behind the Old Warren High School). This trip was 6.2 river miles but only took us about 2 1/2 hours, because the river had a nice current due to the heavy rains of last month.

Here's the things I really liked about this portion of the river: 
-Easy access. Both launches were nicely kept with ample parking. The easy accessibility is really key with canoeing in a suburban area, it makes the trip convenient and straightforward allowing more people to get out and paddle.
-Lots of birds. We saw cranes and/or heron, red winged blackbirds, grackles, mallard ducks, and more that I don't know the name of.
-Plenty Deep. While I do think the river was deeper than it normally might have been, I would expect this section is nearly always deep enough to canoe without ever dragging bottom.

Here's a few things I didn't care for as much: 
-Traffic and Powerlines. Most of the river runs right along Highway 41 which means you listen to traffic for much of the trip. And on this section of the river there are high tension lines crackling overhead while canoeing through Gurnee.

Again, I think this is the trade off. While not providing a complete wilderness excursion, the trip was convenient, allowing us to paddle for a few hours on Saturday morning, and have the rest of the day to enjoy other summer activities.

Des Plaines River Trip--Section 1

Yesterday, Hubby and I took a little day trip down the Des Plaines River. We put in our canoe at Russel Road, canoed through Van Patten Woods, under the bridge at 173 and south, taking out directly after Wadsworth Rd. in Wadsworth, Illinois. According to the map the entire trip was 6.25 river miles, and it took us 3 hours and 45 minutes. The first half of the trip had quite a few shallow spots, some parts were so shallow we had to get out and push, but there was only one portage for a beaver dam. The second half of the trip was plenty deep, and well shaded by trees. While the first part of the trip was absolutely beautiful, I have to say I liked the second half of the trip better as it was more relaxing..

Here's the things I really liked about this portion of the river: 
-Very clean. I saw very little garbage in or around the river, which is great. Good job everybody for doing their part!
-Lots of wildlife. We saw a few different types of cranes, and several other species of birds, a beaver, a muskrat, and a few fish that just wanted to jump into our boat.
-Canoe Launches. The canoe launches were easy to find and well maintained.

Here's a few things I didn't care for as much: 
-Mud. The Des Plaines has a sandy, muddy bottom, if I can be picky, I prefer a pebble or rock bottom...that way you don't sink and get stuck when you have to get out of the boat and push.
-Traffic. This part of the river is absolutely beautiful. We went nearly the whole trip without seeing a person, car or house. BUT, we heard the traffic on Rt 41 nearly the whole way. Now, I cannot be too negative about this because this is the trade off when you are on a easily accessible river in the middle of a heavily populated county.