From the start, both boys were pretty aggravated by us calling it a "surprise" trip and not revealing where we were headed. They kept saying "you know I don't like surprises!" On our drive to Anamosa, James said that he wanted to go for a hike. We had plans to visit Wapsipinicon State Park as our first "surprise" location so we worked his request into the plan. Haden wasn't too thrilled at first about hiking, but he soon turned his attitude around when he spotted some water to play in. The park has a creek that runs through it, and the water forms small waterfalls in various locations so that was pretty fun. The kids found a small toad pretty quickly and chased it around for a bit.
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Next, we spotted some signs for caves. The kids loved the idea of checking out a cave since they've never been in one before. The first cave had a few steps leading up into it. We hadn't really planned out this impromptu trip very well - we didn't have any flashlights with us. Kye used a flashlight app on his phone and it worked pretty well. The first cave only went back a short distance and was pretty narrow so we had to stay single file. The kids were a bit scared and the cave had a ton of mosquitoes so we backed out of there pretty quickly.
We continued out hike, following the creek upstream. The next cave was called "Horse Thief Cave." It started out very wide and then narrowed into a tiny little area. The kids were loving their cave explorations! After this cave, we spent some time practicing for the circus - a.k.a. tight rope walking across fallen trees.
It was starting to get late so we headed back to the van and then drove around the rest of the park to check it out. It is a very pretty park and we decided that we need to return when it's warm enough to play in the water and we have more time to hike and explore.
After exiting the park, we drove the few miles to Stone City. We ate at the General Store Pub. The pub was hosting an open-mic night while we were there. I didn't really care for the music - it was mainly folk/bluegrass type of stuff but the atmosphere was fun nonetheless. The kids thought it was awesome that their lemonades arrived with gummy worms on the lid. It doesn't take much to impress my little guys! The dinner was good - but I really was excited for the kids to see what they could do for dessert. This pub offers free marshmallow roasting at your table so of course we had to try it out. The boys loved this. Once again - it's the simple things that impress us :)
On our way home, both boys agreed that we'd had a fun adventure. We discussed caves for a while and decided that a trip to Maquoketa Caves is in order.
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