Winter tent camping at Tettegouche State Park

I didn’t realize the depth of my unmet need for outdoor adventure until I hastily concocted a winter tent camping trip over lunch one day with a co-worker. While I love exploring with my family, I read Pacific Crest Trail and Appalachian Trail thru-hiking memoirs all winter, and I am consumed by a longing to hike to […]

Cottage life, life lists, and new adventures

After we’d lived in our house for awhile I found a list I’d made where I said my dream house was a cottage. I laughed, because I had accidentally made that come true. Our house, with its cedar shakes, half picket fence, and gardens IS very cottage like. It has a cozy fireplace, amazing gardens, and a […]

Canoe tripping in the BWCA with young kids (2.5 and 4 years old, 2015)

Guys, we did it! Three days in the BWCA with young kids, and it was truly, honestly, FUN, and we wanted to stay longer! Last year (when the girls were 1.5 and 3) we definitely had “fun,” but it was more of a 60/40 fun/effort, with the none of us sleeping well and Adam being […]

Whitetail Woods camper cabins – a quick, refreshing getaway

I forgot to write about our little overnight at the Whitetail Woods camper cabins on Mother’s Day weekend! If you haven’t heard of it, Whitetail Woods is a new park with camper cabins that opened up in Dakota County last year. They have THE MOST BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED little cabins, I pretty much wanted to hire […]

Borealis Blog Family Travel Guides

We love traveling, we have kids, and we usually love traveling with kids. So we decided to pull together our trip reports for you to help inspire your trip planning. From Breanne’s first disastrous camping trip with a baby to her first family Boundary Waters trip with a 1.5 and 3 year old, and from Jen’s shore adventures […]

Ely Travel Guide (a Borealis Family Travel Guide)

Our Ely Travel Guide the first is a new series of family travel-related posts, where we don’t just tell you about a trip we took but give you a game plan for how to plan a trip of your own. First up, Ely, Minnesota, an easy four-hour drive from Minneapolis-St. Paul. Why go to Ely? Ely […]

Winter hike-in cabin camping with children at Tettegouche State Park

Every winter some friends of ours hike into a cabin at Tettegouche State Park, and I’ve always wanted to try it. Their trips sounded so magical — sipping coffee while big snowflakes fall outside, taking long snowshoe or ski outings on the vast network of trails, reading in front of the wood stove. Our seven […]

You should tri it

If you start running for health or because it is on your bucket list (or to lose baby weight like I did, seven years ago), the first question, real or in your head, is always “are you going to run a 5K?” Once you’ve done that, the question becomes “how about a half?” and when you’ve […]