Four more state parks

I am sitting at the table this morning. I have just finished a toasted bagel with peanut butter. My French Press Coffee is about a minute away from being ready to enjoy. The difference in this morning and most mornings when I blog is today Terry and I are camping in Beaver Creek State Park. BCSP is in Amish Country in SE Minnesota. We found the perfect camping spot yesterday afternoon as we entered our third state park of the day and our 35 state park since May 14^th.
To get to the camping we drove through a trout stream!! We went for a walk after we set up camp and read about Beaver Creek. It runs year round and the water temp is always at 50. It makes it ideal for trout. As we stood by the stream and felt of the cool water I am sure it was 50 degrees as it was cold to the touch. About 25 feet from our picnic table is a bench over looking the stream. Last night we sat on the bench and talked for a long time. The sound of the stream could lull you to sleep, it could take all your troubles away, it could bring you back to your childhood and all those memories, it could remind you of your younger days when you thought life would never end-you could do anything and good health would always be yours. For Terry and I, last night, it seemed to carry away the day. We had experienced one of those 24 hour periods when life seemed kind of difficult. BUT the stream and all of its God given beauty seemed to melt all that away. We watched a humming bird find sweet nectar in the flowers across the water, we marveled at the fire flies as darkness came and they appeared everywhere. I captured one and as I held it in my hand the light was so bright. It brought back memories of childhood when Dave and I would bike up to the lake for our summer time night bath and bring a jar with us. After we washed away the dirt and dust of the harvest day we would go to the east end of the lake where there was a bridge. We would catch fire flies and bring them home. We would set the jar in the dark and watch the light. I could not have asked for a more peaceful, a more happy time. As I sat by Terry looking and listening to the brook I was so thankful to have her in my life.
Today we plan to enter several more state parks and then end the day by meeting Aaron/Amy/Leo and Ruby at a state park on the Wisconsin side. We will head home Sunday in time to greet John and the boys who plan to come back from 4 days in the Boundary Waters Sunday afternoon. They will drive back to South Bend Monday.
Terry and I have several things we need to attend to this coming week. There always seems to be so much to think about, so much to do, so many places to go I can not believe I had time to work with deaf children for 38 years in the school system. At this time there are no 5 day work weeks, no parent conferences to go to, no IEPs to do, no basketball games, no soccer games, no bike races and for sure NO PAPERS TO DELIVER but still the time flies and sometimes it is difficult to get everything done that one wants.
I just poured my first coup of FP coffee and it tastes out of this world in the cool morning air. It has a special flavor and the right kind of bite that makes one thankful for being alive and able to be out and about. We are so excited to be planning a camping trip this fall but yet there is so so much to see and do so close to home. We have found SW and SE Minnesota to be so beautiful. We are in bluff country this weekend and it is really pretty. There seems to be no drought here as the crops look wonderful.
I am writing this Friday morning but will post it later as we have no Verizon access here. One more sip of coffee before I shut down the computer.

HERE ARE SOME OLDER PICTURES FROM THIS SPRING

I WILL LOAD NEW PICTURES ON THE COMPUTER WHEN WE GET HOME.

PS  It is now 3:40 Friday, we are all set at Merrick State Park in WI and we are waiting for Aaron and family.  They should arrive any time.  We are at a very large campsite and living the dream (pit toilets!!)