A Staycation

Ah, Memorial Day weekend, a time when many spend hours on the road getting to cabins far north of the Twin Cities, sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on I-94. Or, perhaps they are headed to northwestern Wisconsin, also spending several hours on the road to reach their destinations. For my sister-in-law living in New York City, her Friday afternoon was spent on a jam-packed train, getting out to a beach house in New Jersey for the weekend.

We, on the other hand, drove for 15 minutes, including parking time.

We put on our swimsuits, packed up some buckets, shovels, towels and sunscreen, and headed out for our weekend destination, Lake Calhoun.

We found a perfect location close to the water with room for all our towels and trappings. The water was nice, just cool enough to cool you off but not freezing. The girls had a great time digging and playing in the sand, with occasional trips out in the lake for water or exploring.

After a while we hit the playground, also on the beach, and after a while found the ice cream man, selling ice cream from his tricked out bicycle with freezer compartment in the front.

We came home hot and tired, changed out of our sandy clothes and cleaned up. A little downtime with a movie, and then some brats on the grill.  Both girls fell quickly to sleep at bedtime after a full day of fun, right in our own city.