Hiking The Pothole Trail In Interstate State Park

For the past couple of weeks I have been sharing photos and stories of our families staycation to Osceola Wisconsin.  In my first post, we played in Cascade Falls and then in my second post we took a scenic train ride.  Today, I'm going to show some fun we had the next day in a nearby park called Interstate State Park.

Interstate State Park are two separate state parks on the Wisconsin/Minnesota Border;  that is why it has such a strange name.  The St. Croix River separates the two parks.  On the Minnesota side is a short fun trail I thought the grandchildren would enjoy.  It is most known for its unique potholes, but it also has gorgeous views of the St. Croix river canyon.

The park was just a short drive from our hotel in Osceola.  The grandchildren had some fun waiting with grandpa by the car as their mom and dad were busy checking out.

The park entrance for the Minnesota side is located in Taylor's Falls.  They have the cutest riverwalk on the way to the park of which you will see more of at the end of this post.

Leave it to young Atticus to find a stick right away!

The views on this trail are beautiful.  

There were lots of steps to climb, so mom had to carry baby Lazarus in a sling.

The Pothole Trail is perfect for little kids for it's a short little hike but has so many twists and turns, ups and downs, and a Little Rock climbing that kids just love.

There are over eighty potholes on the Minnesota side of the state.  It is the largest concentration of glacial potholes in the world!  They all differ in size.  Some are only a few feet wide and deep and others can be as large as ten feet wide and sixty feet deep.

Pictured below is an example of a glacial pothole.  Potholes are formed when sand or gravel are caught in whirlpools and swirled with such force that they would drill a hole straight down into the rock.  Larger rocks caught in the hole would polish the rock smooth.  

In addition to the fascinating potholes on this trail, there are also lots of great rock formations.  The grandkids found this large rock wall so interesting and each kid had to have their own photo taken in front of it.

There was a narrow crack in the wall that the kiddos could crawl through one side and exit out the other.  They thought that was pretty cool.

There is a sight-seeing cruise you can take down the St. Croix river.  We have never done it, but it is on our bucket list!

We saw some canoeists floating down the river.

The park had a selfie station set up on one of the viewing decks.  I always appreciate it when parks do this because it's always so hard to get a photo of the entire family.

I didn't bring my walking sticks so some parts of the trail I left up to the more agile ones to explore while I waited on top.

Baby Lazarus had enough of the sling by now and wanted to get out and walk himself.

After hiking the Pothole Trail, we headed back do the riverwalk back to our vehicles.  The kids found these lounge chairs fun.

They had a couple of fun photo cutout boards in this spot.  The grandkids always love them!

The riverwalk goes under the busy bridge/highway.  The grandkids had fun climbing under the bridge.

We saw a cute little covered bridge and decided to see where it went.  To our surprise, it took us up into town and right back to our vehicle!  That was so funny.  It looks like it would be going on a hidden trail into the woods, but it just leads to a lot of stairs going back into town.

But there is a gorgeous view of the St. Croix river from the bridge area, so it was all worth it!

And that is all of our staycation to Osceola.  Next week I will wrap things up with some other things we did the week our kids were visiting and then I'll begin my Door County post.

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

See These Posts for More Things To Do in the Osceola Area:

Fun in Osceola Wisconsin

A Scenic Train Ride on the Osceola Railway

A Candlelight Walk in Interstate Park & Other Valentine's Weekend Highlights 

Exploring the Forest, Gorge, and Glacial Potholes of Interstate Park

Fun In Osceola, Wisconsin

My daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren come up and visit us every year during the 4th of July of week.  It is always an exhausting, but fun filled week.  We always do one little staycation where we go somewhere nearby for the night.  This year I picked the sweet little town of Osceola Wisconsin because of their train ride and waterfall.  My husband and I went there for a winter weekend getaway a few years ago, and thought it would be the perfect place to come back with the grandkids because they love trains and it's only two hours from our house.  I'll share more about the train ride next week;  this week, let's talk about the waterfall!

The waterfall is called "Cascade Falls" and what is unique about it is that it is located right smack in the middle of the town of Osceola!  I mean, how often does that happen?  No need to drive hours into the country side and hike three miles to see a beautiful waterfall.  Nope, just look for this American Indian statue, and walk down a crazy amount of stairs and you will happen upon the most beautiful waterfall you ever did see!  Or, if stairs aren't your thing, the falls can also be viewed from the back deck of Osceola's famous restaurant "The Watershed Cafe".

The most unique, fun thing about this waterfall is that you can walk right behind the falls.  The water isn't deep so you can have so much fun wading.

Here's a short video of me standing behind the falls.  My hubby is trying to encourage Elisha to run through the falls.

A handsome pose by my son.  Isn't that water cascade just breath-taking?  The falls are 25 feet tall.

Even little Lazarus was able to get his feet wet;  the water was shallow enough in spots.

Here's a short video of the front of the falls.

The falls are located in Wilkes Glen where there are some lovely hiking trails.  See THIS POST when my hubby and I took the trails in winter.   On this day, we didn't have any time to hike the trails as we had a train to catch!

It was an overcast day, so we sure got some great photos!  I framed the one below of this little guy.  What a cutie!

The next day, we returned to Osceola for a picnic lunch and to stroll their cute streets.  They have some really nice shops.  One of our favorites is this old antique shop where they also sell ice cream!

You know it's good ice cream when your face is covered in it! 😊

Next week I'll share all about the real reason we went to Osceola:  to ride a REAL TRAIN!  

See you then!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

 

A Summer Staycation with the Grandchildren

I know I say this every year, but I can't believe the summer is half over already, can you?  Why does summer always go by so fast?  

Like most people, we aren't traveling much this summer.  My daughter and her family came up for a week's visit in June so I thought I'd do a lifestyle post on it since I don't have any travel posts to share.  It was a fun week full of lots of activity.  Here are the highlights!

On their first night at our house we treated everyone to pizza at The Stone Barn.  You may remember me sharing this unique restaurant in last year's post when we took my son there to celebrate his 30th birthday. 

We got three pizzas and devoured them all!  It is delicious pizza made in a stone pizza oven.

The weather was absolutely perfect for an outside restaurant.

After dinner, grandpa and I took the kids to see the goats!

These city kids got a kick out of these goats, but were a little apprehensive about them.

When we returned home, we had their birthday party (see this post here) then grandpa started a fire in his brand new fire pit that he built himself.

The next day we took the kids to church, then had a picnic lunch at River Prairie Park.  This is an interesting  park because they have a man-made play river for kids to wade in.

Atticus loved climbing on all the rocks and logs.

Of course the second his clothes got wet, he took them off.  Such modesty.😀

I was fascinated with this birdhouse collection at the park.  I thought it was so pretty and original  and I was surprised that so many birds were willing to live so close together.  Usually they are more territorial and prefer houses away from other birds.

We went to two different beaches while the kids were here.  They don't have lakes and beaches in Indiana like they do in Wisconsin and Minnesota so the kids are always super excited about going to the beach when they are visiting.  This is the Alma beach.

This was Elisha's first time at a beach.  He loved the sand and water.  He was tickled pink with it.  But of course the first thing he did was put the sand in his mouth. Yuck!  Why do babies always want to do that?

We spent one day hiking at Frontenac State Park.  You may remember me going there with my son last fall  (see this post HERE).  They have a nice paved trail there perfect for young families.  It has great views of the Mississippi!

The grand babies all took turns in the stroller so no one got too tired.

Of course Elisha slept through most of the hike.

There was a cute natural play area for the children along the trail that I did not even notice the first time I was there.  

After our hike we went to another beach, this one is in Lake City.  It was absolutely beautiful.  The water was so warm.

There is a pretty marina there too.

Atticus was much more interested in climbing all the boulders than he was in the water at this beach.

Unless of course he found a large walk in the water!

There were a couple of rainy days and super hot days during the week where we just had to stay home, but I always had plenty of activities to occupy the kids.  Their favorite place to be in my house is my craft room.  There are so many fun things for kids to do in Mamy's Craft Room.

 I plan to see my babies again in August when we drive to their house to see Alethea in her very first ballet.  I can't wait!

I hope you enjoyed this lifestyle post.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!