Mosquitoes & The Mississippi

My weekend was spent in the great outdoors and I thought I would do a little recap of the good, the bad, and the fun we had on our weekend away!

Our humble abode for the weekend. This little guy made it pretty well through a thunderstorm on our last morning!

The Good

Location, Location, Location

Oh hi Mississippi River and Iowa way in the distance.

We chose the Mississippi Palisades for their trails and they did not disappoint. It was beautiful up there! The have about 15 miles of trails and on Saturday we hiked about 8 of them. Some of those trails are not to be taken lightly! There were quite a few steep hills we had to climb, but once we got up to the bluffs and overlooks it was worth it. The views of the Mississippi River were awesome and the trails were fun.

Pretty awesome views on one of the many overlooks along the trails.

Some of those trails are not to be taken lightly! There were quite a few steep hills we had to climb, but once we got up to the bluffs and overlooks it was worth it. The views of the Mississippi River were awesome and the trails were fun.

Adam on a bridge on the Sunset trail, one of the tougher trails in the park.

Would definitely choose this park again.

Camp Eats

Surprisingly the food was also awesome! I was a little nervous because I haven’t done much cooking over an open flame and I wanted to make sure we had enough food while still eating healthy.

Look at me cooking over a camp fire!

It was actually pretty easy to accomplish and we didn’t have to get any fancy equipment or food. A good old cast iron skillet, a pot, heavy duty aluminum foil, and a few utensils were all it took to cook up all our meals. Plus, I even got a new recipe out of the deal! That’s a win in my book!

The Bad

Mosquitoes

Yeah, yeah I know. I was outdoors and in the woods so I should expect mosquitoes. Which I did. Which is why I brought bug spray. And why I got really upset that I STILL got eaten alive. We coated ourselves in bug spray and my legs got chewed up. I think I have at least 20 bites on one leg alone. Adam got a few bites but not nearly as many as I ended up with. I must taste better.

Smiling despite the hundreds of mosquitoes feasting on my body

Choo Choo Train

I didn’t expect this one. Along the front of the camp are train tracks for freighters hauling cargo across the country. They come by about every two hours. All. Day. Long. It just so happened that our site was right towards the front of the camp and we could hear those freighters and their extremely loud horns. It wasn’t too bad during the day but at night those horns can wake you up with a heart attack. Just something to keep in mind if you plan on going there. Try to get a site as far west as possible.

Hey choo choo train that is going to wake me up every two or so hours… I could have done without you

Overall, it was an awesome trip. We got to escape the city and enjoy nature, hike some gorgeous trails, see some wildlife (I was about 15 feet away from a deer at one point), and spend some time disconnected from modern life. I also got to spend some quality time with my husband which is always a treat since he sometimes works some long hours during the week. Uninterrupted time with him is always appreciated.