For Fathers Day we went up to William O'Brien State Park to spend the day hiking and canoeing. The weather was nice--sunny and warm. Surprisingly, the park was not extremely busy, although the roads through Stillwater on the way up were very crowded.
We rented canoes at the boat landing and were told that the river was high and fast due to the recent rains. Because of this, we headed upstream initially so we would have an easy paddle back. Hailey and Mariah were in one canoe and LeAnn and I were another. Kara was not with us as she was away for the weekend at a friend's cabin.
The upstream paddling was a lot of work and we ended up going about a mile upstream in about an hour. Coming home took about half the time. After canoeing, we hiked up the river's edge and then through the woods and back to the car lot. The shade of the woods felt very good after being out on the sunny river.
On the way back home, we stopped in Marine-on-St. Croix and got an ice cream treat from a small ice cream shop that was tucked behind the stores along the main street.
Kara got home later in the afternoon and said she will go golfing with me at a later time since she was not able to spend the day with us.
It was a very enjoyable day celebrating fatherhood and family
