2019
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Sakatah Lake State Park
Sep 7, 2019We continue our adventure to visit a nearby state park that we haven’t been to, and this time, we visited Sakatah Lake State Park in Waterville. It took a little more than an hour drive to get there. The entire day was cloudy and windless, but it was chilly with the temperature hovering around mid… Read more…
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Lake Louise State Park
Sep 2, 2019On Labor Day, we made an impromptu trip to Lake Louise State Park in Le Roy. This was our first time visiting this state park, which is only a 6-minute drive away from the Minnesota-Iowa border. This state park is the site of Minnesota’s oldest, continuous recreation area. Although it began to drizzle when we… Read more…
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Myre-Big Island State Park
Sep 1, 2019Celebrating the long Labor Day weekend, we explored a nearby state park that we haven’t been to yet. We visited Myre-Big Island State Park in Albert Lea, which has a rather big yet shallow lake. After getting several trail recommendations from the park ranger, we chose to do the 4.7-mile Pelican and Esker Trails for… Read more…
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Camping in Wild River State Park
Aug 16, 2019 to Aug 18, 2019We decided to join a large group of friends to camp in Wild River State Park over the weekend. This time, we had a total of 6 families occupying 4 campsites. All of us wondered whether the camping trip would be cancelled due to the forecasted all-day rain on Saturday. It vividly reminded us of… Read more…
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Chicago
Jul 14, 2019 to Jul 20, 2019We made our 3rd visit to Chicago. The last time we were there was 9 years ago with sis. This time, one of us attended a workshop in downtown Chicago and another one of us worked remotely from the hotel. We didn’t plan much sightseeing activities since we covered most of the major attractions in… Read more…
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Charlevoix
May 16, 2019On our last full day in Québec, we explored the Charlevoix region. Designated a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, this region is well known for its agrotourism. The Charlevoix lamb is much prized for its flavor and texture that it became the first food product in North America to be legally protected based on its region… Read more…
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Parc national de la Jacques-Cartier
May 15, 2019Named after a French navigator who discovered Canada, Jacques-Cartier, Parc national de la Jacques-Cartier is located about 45 minutes drive from Québec City. This national park is located in the Laurentian Mountains that contains several glacial landforms. It is home to one of Québec’s most spectacular glacial valleys, the Jacques-Cartier valley. Just like our visit… Read more…
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Île d’Orléans
May 14, 2019We originally didn’t think we would have enough time to cramp in a visit to Île d’Orléans during our stay in Québec City, so we excluded this place from our initial trip plan. Since we managed to visit Old Québec in just 2 days, we had an extra day to explore this island at a… Read more…
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Québec City
May 12, 2019 to May 17, 2019Among all places we covered in this 12-day trip, Québec City — or more precisely, Old Québec — was by far our most highly anticipated travel destination. Inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1985, Old Québec was characterized as “the cradle of the French civilization in America”. This city was the capital of New… Read more…