Rice Lake State Park in Owatonna, Minnesota

A couple weeks we decided to spend the afternoon out at Rice Lake State Park, which is just outside Owatonna, Minnesota. It is not a huge state park, but has manageable trails for hiking with kids and ample opportunities to observe a variety of different kinds of water fowl. They do have a couple of displays up that tell what typical water fowl visit Rice Lake and how to tell the difference between males and females. I am not really a bird person, maybe when I get older, but I can see why people find bird fascinating.

There were plenty of spring wild flowers in bloom. We were hoping to spot some morels while we were here, but were not lucky.

They do have an old school playground here that the kids like. So many playgrounds are big colorful plastic things, that these old ones are a bit more interesting.

They do have camping here - some campsites even overlook the lake, but we only came for the day. We have a State Park sticker on our vehicle (actually, we bought 2 so we have them on a vehicle at home and at the cabin) so we can just drive in for no additional fee, but otherwise it's only $5 for a vehicle admission.

They have quite a few canoes to rent here and 2 kayaks. We have been canoeing here a couple times and it is best to go in the spring or early summer, but late summer and into fall the reeds are too thick that it is hard to get out there.

This is not a deep lake, I think they say it is 3 feet deep across the whole thing. So there is no swimming here. But there is only one property on the lake besides state park, so it is very quiet and you will enjoy the serenity. In the winter they have groomed cross country skiing trails here and year round there are hiking club trails here.

Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Garden in Kansas

Coming from Minnesota in mid April to the Kansas City region of Missouri and Kansas brings the treat of seeing a lot more green on the trees on the ground and colorful flowers.

We went to the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Garden as part of our fifth annual girls weekend. We had never been here before and this was actually the first time I can claim to have been to Kansas because our other trips here have kept us in Kansas City Missouri.

We are just hanging around with Monet. He is a pretty nice fella. Obviously, it is just a statue, and one of many statues within the Botanical Garden.

This is one of the displays in the train garden. The train garden is one of the big specialty gardens they have there. This is the larger of the display but the other one has a train that will run under the sidewalk you are walking on and you can see it below. There is also a Big Caboose there and a ticket station for kids to play in. There is also another area near this that allow kids to be Hands-On and play in the dirt.

Like I mentioned before it was a treat to see these flowers in full bloom. When I returned home from the trip, which was just a few days ago, I see that my tulips may be ready to open at the end of the week or sooner.

These two sculptures are called Dancer I and Dancer II. I just thought they were beautiful and looked so graceful.

I thought it was interesting to see the root structure of this tree along side the creek. You can see how low the creek is right now. They must really need water. Although when I drove by the river that run through our small town, it is looking pretty low as well.

They have a very handy visitors guide to help guide you through the gardens and on the handful of wood trim trails. We went on one of them along the creek but because we were wearing ballet flats and sandals we didn't walk all of them. Admission is only $3 for an adult which is quite a deal.

I just love this fairy garden made into a lot. It gives me an idea of something that would be fun to do with my daughter up at the cabin.