Yesterday we woke up to a gorgeous, crisp fall day. We had been wanting to go hiking to enjoy the fall colors, but every weekend has either already been packed full or the weather wasn't cooperating with our plans. The name of the game in Minnesota is 'opportunity'. You must make the most of good weather and be outside whenever possible. Not even an hour after waking up and studying the forecast and seeing the perfectly sunny day out the window we decided to 'just do it'. Off for another grand adventure - Mallott style!
After consulting the state parks map for which parks were showing optimal fall color, we decided on a park two hours north. The reds and oranges had already reached their peak and littered the ground, but the yellows were brilliant, almost flourescent at times.
It was still a mite bit chilly when we got there. We were only in sweat shirts. Thankfully, there was none of the typical fall wind so it made the low 50's bearable. We decided to picnic first. We found table and commenced eating. Even Ninja enjoyed her food from an over-turned frisbee. Unfortunately, we have a dog who is so used to a life of comfort, ease and warmth that as she sat watching us eat her hind legs where quivering with cold. What dog shivers in 50 degree weather? This is how the craziness begins.
Picnic conversations are always filled with the anticipation of what the hike or area will be like, what we might encounter along the way and of course the typical question from Gavin of, "So, what's the plan? How long are we going to be here?" Bennett was trying to tell us a story of some sort, but was making zero sense. Seriously, nothing he said even sounded like English. He does this alot, just talk for the sake of talking and not really thinking about what he says. After he concluded his 'sentence' we all just sat there, not sure how to respond. After an awkward 2 minutes Gavin says, "If anything you said made any sense, we would comment on it." Genius. We could not stop laughing, even Bennett. It is a line that will forever go down in the Mallott Family Chronicles of 'All Time Great Comebacks'.
This park boasted a 100 foot tower that you could climb above the tree line to get a panoramic view of the area. So of course we climbed it. We were just in Colorado - this was nothing.
Once we got to the top, this is the view we were greeted with. It was breath-taking - not only because we just finished climbing up over 100 steps but because of the beauty. The pictures don't do it justice. The lake that you see there is Mille Lacs. It is the second largest in Minnesota. You can't see to the other side of the lake - it's that big.
Since I've discovered that I'm not afraid of heights, just falling, it was much easier to look straight down and take pictures. That and it was well secured with all that strong wire mesh fencing everywhere.
Chuck seems to like to make a contest out of everything. For this enjoyable day it was to see who could collect the most beautiful leaf. These were the final entries that made the cut. It was too hard to just choose one.
Who knew a downed tree in the middle of the path could cause so much fun? We stayed at this tree way longer than most 'normal' people would. We had to have a contest to see who could jump it the best. Then we had to walk up it's slippery bark. Then we had to pose for pictures. Thank God we pretty much had this trail all to ourselves.
I improvised a little hiking cheer. We all were carrying around sticks with us. Mine was rather short since I wasn't using it to walk with. I had more of a decorative arrangement in mind to make with this lovely white stick. When Gavin has the camera, you never know what kind of pictures you're going to end up with. This wasn't even supposed to be a picture, this was just us being goofy and Gavin with a trigger happy finger.
