Itasca Vacation 2008

Last week we went on vacation to Itasca state park in Minnesota. We had a family reunion of sorts with the Swartz side of the family. When Joe was young this was an annual trip for his family. Joe's mom thought it was around 8-9 years that this was tradition. So we made the trek (800+ miles, one way) and revisited the park. It had been 10 years since the last time. Itasca is a very nice state park, with lots of groomed bike trails, walking trails, and of course beautiful lakes. The facilities we had rented out had a lake all to itself practically, I think we shared it with one other cabin. Unfortunately it's not the kind of lake you want to swim in, so boating or fishing is preferred. We had a giant lodge with an industrial style kitchen, REALLY nice bathrooms, and a staff cabin to sleep in. Joe, Miles and myself slept in the lodge so that when Miles napped we'd still be right there. Too bad Miles hardly ever napped while we were there! No joke... too much to see and he just loved being around his aunts and uncles. So he was kinda a grumpy character sometimes. The drive was my worst fear, and though not perfect, he did pretty good for his first long trip. We stopped at several parks and would eat and let him play for awhile, breaking up the length of time stuck in the carseat. He demanded that we stop every 1.5 -2.5 hours.
As you can see in the above picture, my little man has moved up to the big carseat. He actually can still fit in the old carrier but just barely :) We thought this would make the trip more comfortable for him.
It is at Itasca (Lake Itasca) that the Mississippi river starts or headwaters as it is called. Joe and I had both walked the headwaters previously, but we had dip Miles' toes in the waters too :) He gasped a little when his feet went in and than he dug his feet into the sandy bottom :)

Lastly here are just some misc pictures from the trip...