Julia

This is one of several hotels near the MSP airport that offer “stay and fly” services. If you stay with them for at least one night at the front or tail end of your trip, you can leave your car parked at the hotel for the duration of your vacation free of charge. We have used the service several times, finding it convenient to already be near the airport prior to the flight and avoiding long-term parking rates at the airport.

Anytime we’re in Ely around lunchtime, we make sure to stop in at the Front Porch cafe—delicious sandwiches, quiche and pastries.

We chose a cart-in camping site for our stay (#9, if I recall correctly), and it turned out to be one of the most memorable camping experiences so far. The sites are beautifully but naturally landscaped and feel very secluded. We were there in early October, and the overnight temp dipped to the mid-20s, but it was still fantastic.

Great hiking among gorgeous fall colors!

This park has a great vantage point for the downtown Madison skyline, including the State Capitol building.

...except when the crazies are out!

The coolest thing about this hotel is the alarm clocks having an MP3 jack. We were able to play some tunes on the iPod using the clock’s speakers while getting ready in the morning. It was the first time we’ve noticed that in a hotel room.

Firemans is a nice little city park in the heart of downtown Chaska. It has a playground, fishing piers and a swimming beach on a small lake. The lake, Firemans Lake, is one of several sites that were formerly clay pits during Chaska’s brickmaking heyday.

Yummy omelets!

For the occasion of finding our 2500th geocache, my husband Jonas and I decided we’d pop over for Mexico for it. Not intending to drive our rental vehicle to Mexico, we parked in Calexico, CA and walked across the US/Mexico border to Mexicali. There we hired an agreeable taxi driver to take us a few miles out of town to Laguna Salada. He seemed a little confused as to why we were so interested in driving out to some desolate salt flats (crazy Americans), but happily obliged. Afterwards, he drove us to El Sarape Restaurant, where he and Jonas shared a beer while waiting for our takeout. We walked back across the border with 2500 geocaches and our tasty takeout—that’s our Mexicali adventure!