High Point Road Trip!

On Friday, September 2nd we packed up the car, and Moxie of course, and hit the road for plans to hit 7 state high points to bring our total to 44 of 49 (not including Denali in Alaska!).  Let's see how it goes!

Moxie's little nest in the back seat - she's getting plenty of rest on this trip

First stop - Illinois - our High Point #38 - Charles Mound.  The difficult part of this high point is they are only open 5 weekends per year (the high point is on private property).  So we are hit it the last weekend of this year (we planned to do it last year and at the last minute found out we missed their last date of the year).  It's an easy walk up.  Park on the road and walk the 1 mile driveway up to the "top".  It was quite the busy day up there with all of the others trying to bag their high points as well.  Beautiful day!

drove by Chicago on our way - my mom's home city for 40+ years!

the scenic walk to the top

Along the way from IL to IA Tom spotted a sign for a Patagonia store so of course we had to stop.  This was a great find in Milford, IA, home of The Unviersity of Okoboji (where? - That's for you, Joe Clark).

We also spotted a "lighthouse" on our travels in IA (who knew!) so we had to stop and take a picture for Mary Ellen!

Stop 2 - Iowa - our High Point #39 - Hawkeye Point.  This is another easy high point but very unique with the incredible set up.  They had a sign for every state high point which showed the elevation of that high point and the distance from here.  Very cool!

Next stop - South Dakota!

Til Next Time...Happy Trails!