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Semporna
Aug 7, 2022 to Aug 9, 2022Our day began at 4 AM when we checked out from the airport hotel to catch the 7 AM flight to Tawau to visit Jimmy and Shing in Semporna. We made many promises to see them throughout the years. Still, we could not carve out extra days in our usual tight itinerary due to the… Read more…
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45-Hour Flight to Malaysia
Aug 3, 2022 to Aug 6, 2022This imminent trip home was our most anticipated event of the year. Like many individuals living abroad, this was our first trip home since the pre-COVID-19 pandemic. The flight prices were twice as high, and at the same time, most flight durations were longer than before. Instead of hunting for better prices, we blindly swiped… Read more…
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Minneopa State Park
Jul 3, 2022Continuing our state park adventure 2 days in a row, we visited Minneopa State Park in Mankato. Although the area expected scattered showers in the morning, we figured it wouldn’t be any worse than the previous rainy hike in Fort Snelling State Park. This was our first visit to this state park. The distance dissuaded… Read more…
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Fort Snelling State Park
Jul 2, 2022Celebrating the long 4th of July weekend, we made our first-ever visit to Fort Snelling State Park. Even though we frequently passed by this state park en route to the Twin Cities, we constantly reminded ourselves to visit it one day. Still, it quickly became an afterthought when we headed up there. So, this time,… Read more…
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Perrot State Park
Jun 19, 2022Given the splendid beautiful weekend weather, we took advantage of our Wisconsin state park annual pass by making our second-ever visit to Perrot State Park. Our first visit was in November 2015. We were awestruck by the grand view of the Mississippi River and the Trempealeau Mountain from the summit of Brady’s Bluff. We initially… Read more…
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Camping in Jay Cooke State Park
Jun 10, 2022 to Jun 12, 2022Continuing with our party-crashing trend, we decided to join our friends’ camping trip in Jay Cooke State Park. Although we hiked and snowshoed in this state park several times, this was our first camping trip since the iconic swinging bridge was destroyed by the raging floodwaters in 2012. This time, many friends joined this camping… Read more…
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Camping in St Croix State Park
May 20, 2022 to May 22, 2022This year, we decided against planning big vacations until we finalized our imminent trip home. Like many folks living abroad, it has been at least 2.5 years since we visited our family members due to the pandemic. Our initial plan was to fly home this early summer. However, we decided against it to wait for… Read more…
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Grand Marais
Mar 21, 2022 to Mar 26, 2022On our 10th visit to the MN North Shore, we made our first-ever visit in the early spring season. We shied away from this time of the year in the past because spring is usually very wet, but we wanted to snowshoe for one last time before putting our gears away. It was unseasonably warm… Read more…
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Willow River State Park
Mar 6, 2022After spending a night at our friends’ place, we headed to Willow River State Park in Wisconsin for a hike. Considering the terrible driving condition, staying overnight was a wise choice because the evening rain turned icy, followed by multiple inches of snow accumulation. We tried to decide between this state park and Fort Snelling… Read more…
A Peek Through Dirty Lenses
