World's Greatest Explorers...

Planet Earth has been adventured by many amazing explorers. 

First there was Marco Polo, a Venetian traveller who made tremendous journeys to explore Asia and China. 


Then there was Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer who made four ground-breaking voyages to the Americas.

Christopher_Columbus
And now we have the Craft family who tirelessly searched for the most beautiful sites in a County park 50 minutes away from home...




Yes, the Crafts buckled up long enough to watch half of Zootopia and brave the wilderness for a few hours with nothing more than graham crackers and four water bottles. And for anyone with four small children... you know this was no easy feat.


Long ago (about 3 decades to be exact) Matt, his many cousins, his father, and uncles would pack up on Mother's Day, say bon voyage to the ladies for an afternoon and explore Pinicon Park with a bucket of chicken and a 24 pack of Budweiser. Actually I think just the kids explored. Pretty sure the men stayed back to mind the beer. 

Anyway, Matt thought it might be a good idea to venture back to Pinicon Park with his brood of children and his wife. Matt knows my heart belongs to the outdoors, especially if it means exploring/hiking in the woods. I have to say it was a family adventure enjoyed by all, and if I must be honest that came as a surprise. Even Maddie hopped out of the stroller for awhile to dip a toe in the creek and run through the "forest."



Some parts of the trail were steep enough to warrant man made stairs. This part of the hike was a hit!




The gods of exploration must have been with us because we somehow hit all the highlights we wanted to see without a map. While I have many talents, understanding my location without a map is not one of of them. I am directionally challenged. Thankfully Matt is full on Magellan and we found the fun little rock spots to play in and an enormously tall tower to climb above the treetops. The view was pretty spectacular.



Thank goodness the whole thing was caged!!!!


We even found the paddle boats. I stayed back with Maddie and ate chips with a side of Snickers at the playground while Matt took the other three out for a ride. And after hiking, boating, climbing, and playground-ing we stopped at Casey's for a quick in-the-van dinner before bedtime because that's the Iowa way. It was a fun day of exploration and I can't wait to see where we end up next time.


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