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**We have been off the blog for a while, and please note this post was written in August! Life has been a whirlwind for a while and then the holidays fell upon us, but Hiking Thru Life has some big blogs coming your way. With the new year, we plan to be more regular with blog posts! Thank you for your understanding and support of our adventures!**
Sometimes life gets busy and there’s not enough time to sit in front of a computer screen and reflect upon what has happened on our outdoor adventures. It’s nice to shut down the computer screen and get a break once in a while. It’s a refresher and gives you time to focus on what’s important in life. We all need that mental break from the screen.
There have been so many memorable events this summer that happened to us and we’ve felt loved and blessed by everything. From a camping trip with family to a camping themed wedding shower to a build your own trail mix bar at our wedding. It’s all been based on love and what our foundation and relationship have had a huge part of – the outdoors.
I must admit, I’ve missed writing and taking time to reflect upon memories and joys the outdoors brings to us. Throughout the time spent with family and friends the past few months, I’ve been able to hear from some readers how inspiring this blog is to them. That means the world to us! Knowing that we can inspire others to get outside and embrace your love for life and each other through nature is powerful. It keeps us inspired to keep writing and sharing the awe of nature. Our love goes out to all of you as our inspiration! Keep reading and the writing will keep coming. We also have a YouTube channel, Hiking Thru Life, that we are aiming to grow. Go subscribe so you can watch all of our videos!
The past month has been a whirlwind of events and most importantly, your author and editor behind Hiking Thru Life are now officially hiking together forever. We got married on August 12. We had a perfect outdoor wedding surrounded by our 225 family and friends. The wedding was very “us” with an outdoors and camping theme.
Spending time with family is always a time to be cherished. It is especially a time to be cherished when it’s long-distance family. We had the luck of spending a long weekend with family who flew up from Arizona a few weekends before our wedding. Since they don’t get to Minnesota often, we took it upon ourselves to give them a true taste of Minnesota in a jam-packed 4 days. How do you cram Minnesota into just 4 days? Well… get outdoors!
Since we were a large group of 9 people, we tried out the group campsite at Jay Cooke State Park. It was our first time at this State Park as well. We have always wanted to check out this park and fun fact, Jay Cooke State Park is where the Superior Hiking Trail begins.
The group sites were large enough for 20 people with plenty of tent pads. They have three fire rings so plenty of space to cook your campfire food as well.
The group sites are walk-in sites that are less than 1/4-mile from the parking lot. Keeping this in mind, our group still brought as much stuff as most people do when they go to a drive-in site. Luckily they have carts that resemble over-sized wheelbarrows at these sites to help get your gear from the car to the site. It was not what Andy and I typically bring to camp. We are used to backpack-style camping with everything that fits into… a backpack. With all of our stuff, it looked like we were ready to camp for a whole week (we only stayed one night). We were prepared for anything to happen that night.
Between 9 people we had 1 large tent that could have easily slept all 9 of us, 1 two-person backpack tent (the one we use when we camp), and 2 hammocks. Setting up camp took nearly half the night! We also brought a big screen tent but the bugs weren’t bad and we didn’t end up using it. Like I said, we were prepared for anything. We wanted to keep the out of town family comfortable on their Minnesota camping experience.
For dinner, we tried out our new cast iron pot and made potjiekos. Translated it means “small pot food” and can be most easily described as a rustic version of a crockpot. Throw anything into the pot and let it cook over the fire for 3-4 hour hours. It’s important to add beer to your pot too! The trick is also not to open the pot while it’s cooking. Everything must sit and simmer together. I encourage you to read more about potjiekos, there are some great recipes out there. The secret, however, is that you don’t really need a recipe. Start with a meat and add any seasonings and vegetables you’d like. A grain such as rice, quinoa, or couscous is also highly recommended. Guarantee it will turn out delicious and your 4-hour wait will be worth it. It was so tasty that when we got home from camping the next night we made a second round in our backyard firepit.
The next day we tore camp down, took about 4 different trips back and forth between the cars and campsite to pack everything out, and hit the road up to Duluth. First we had to stop for a hike before getting to Duluth. We stopped at Ely’s Peak for a quick hike to show the family the view from the top. Following the short hike, we continued to Duluth. Seeing a lake was important to the Arizona family because of course, Arizona is dessert without too many lakes. What better lake to show them than the largest around, Lake Superior! If you’ve ever been to the boardwalk in Duluth on Lake Superior, chances are you’ve seen the old boathouse that has been turned into a climbing gym/diving board. Loads of people were climbing and jumping off it that day to cool off in Lake Superior.
One of our new favorite breweries between the Cities and Duluth is Moose Lake Brewing Company. It’s probably a favorite brewery because it’s the only brewery off I-35 between the northern suburbs and Duluth. I highly recommend stopping there. You can sit on their patio and enjoy a beer with a peaceful lake view. It is a well-deserved break from the traffic on I-35.
Now that our wedding is over, the planning has stopped and life is becoming more “normal”. We hope to go back to more regular updates of our adventures. I know we’ve missed a few adventures in between all the craziness of life that’s happened, but Mr. and Mrs. Hiking Thru Life are back at it!
Another post will be coming soon with the highlights from our “honey-hike” to Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada. Stay tuned for that. But in the meantime…
Question to our followers: If you were following us on our honey-hike by viewing our updates on our Facebook page made possible by our Garmin inReach SE+, how did it work out? Was it easy to follow along? Feedback and comments are appreciated.
We loved using the technology in remote areas to track our trip, and want to know best how to communicate to our followers. Thank you in advance for any feedback.
Peace, love, and hike thru life!
Sarah, Andy, and Daisy