camping – Love, Tennis, and Cancer

Cabin Adventures 2026

Posted on June 22, 2026June 22, 2026 by mfregien6c146e4539

I have been enjoying some cabin time in Minong, WI. Anna, Levi, the dogs and I drove up last Thursday. Levi drove home yesterday because he had to work today. Seth was unable to make it this year because of work. It’s hard planning family time with 3 working, adult kids! Last August we were up at this same cabin. The weather was glorious and I thoroughly enjoyed a lot of just “cabin life” spending my days on the deck by the water. However, my kids informed me that they were bored last year and wanted to venture out more this year. Luckily, by “venture out” they mean go hiking different places…something I happen to love to do as well.

Friday morning we checked out the Trego Nature Trail. It was a lovely 3 mile loop with lots of great views of the Namekegon River. We finished the hike just in time for some rain to roll in. We spent a lot of time playing games that afternoon/evening.

Saturday we headed to Superior, WI and explored the beach at Wisconsin Point Park. The dogs were in Heaven. They loved it so much. They were living their best life terrorizing sea gulls. We also revisited one of my favorite places that we went to last year…Amnicon Falls State Park. I need to go back there sometime when I am by myself and can just find a spot to sit by the river and soak it in for a bit.

Sunday we mostly hung around the cabin. We went out to get coffee in the morning and then Levi left right after lunch. Anna and I hung out in the afternoon…reading…playing games…getting the dogs out swimming.

Today Anna wanted to go to Duluth. She found a trail in Chester Park that she wanted to do. It was a great hike along a river with a few little waterfalls. Luckily, there was a local guy and his dog near the kiosk with the trail map on it who gave us great advice on the best trail to take. After the hike we went down to Canal Park and walked out to the lighthouse on the pier, strolled down the boardwalk for a bit, and then stopped and had the biggest ice cream cone I have ever experienced for lunch. It was amazing to me how little Anna remembers from all the times we had vacationed on the North Shore over the years. In fact, I was telling her that many years we would go up on Father’s Day and stay until Wednesday. She replied with, “Did we ride a train? I think I vaguely remember a train”. I just said “yes”. So odd that’s the thing she remembers!

It’s been some good, recharging time away…it’ll be hard to leave in a couple days…

St. Croix State Park

Posted on June 30, 2025 by mfregien6c146e4539

Saturday afternoon the kids and I headed to Red Wing to a Fregien Family BBQ. It was nice to see almost all of Jason’s siblings and a few other members of the family that I haven’t seen in awhile. It was a pretty short visit as everyone has lots of activities to fit into the summer weekends that never seem long enough!

From Red Wing I drove up to St. Croix State Park. I took the scenic route up the WI side of the river. It was a relaxing drive with lots of thinking time to sort out all my feels. I love getting together with Jason’s family…but it’s not without its pain points. As most things in life these days, the joy and the pain…the happy and the sad…the tears and the smiles…go hand in hand.

Camping was an adventure…like usual. St. Croix State Park is beautiful. It was an easy walk down to the river from my campsite…which I really appreciated. Nothing better than brewing a cup of coffee in the morning and then heading down to the water to sip it. I was not a huge fan of the camping there though. The sites were very open and very close together. Not ideal for this solo camper. It was also really stormy Saturday night…which freaked me out! I’m not a fan of storms when I’m in my house…let alone solo in my Bronco.

I was tired on Sunday from the lack of sleep overnight so I didn’t hike like I usually like to. Instead I explored more of the park by Bronco…got some mud on her tires on a long, windy dirt road. I found a nice little overlook that I hung out at for a little while watching a pair of swans and their babies. They were too far away to get a great picture of them. You can just spot them in this picture.

This morning I got up and decided to head home right away. I stopped at Tobie’s to get my kiddos some cinnamon and caramel rolls…and me some coffee. When I got home the dogs decided it was time for them to get a walk, so Anna and I took them to Whitetail Woods. There we saw a pair of swans with five babies! I was able to get a better picture of those! Anna was also excited because the berries along the trail were starting to get ripe 🙂

And now back to work tomorrow…before another camping trip Thursday. On Wednesday, I have my last therapy session with Tara before she moves to Eureka, Montana. It will be good to have some time to sort that out in the woods.

The Camper’s Maiden Voyage

Posted on April 28, 2025 by mfregien6c146e4539

We went on our first camping adventure this past weekend. Like all adventures…there were some parts that were awesome…and some that were not so awesome….but all of it was memorable.

Friday we learned that packing up takes longer than you think it will and also that we need to be a little more efficient in what we decide to bring along. I’m sure some tweaks will be made to our packing list every trip this summer. We also learned that Anna can back a trailer with no problem…she did it on her first try. I, however, struggle mightily and have yet to do it successfully…sigh.

I was happy with the way the camper worked out. We set it up with the table in the middle area when we arrived Friday evening and played games. Then converted it to all sleeping area for the rest of the weekend. We had plenty of sleeping space.

Saturday morning we hiked in the bluffs. It was a very physically challenging hike, but so beautiful. There were so many eagles and turkey vultures to watch. Levi thought it was great fun having me watch him climb big rocks and trees…and then have me take his picture. I told him there’s a reason there are so many turkey vultures soaring around…and that he better not hurt himself during tennis season because I don’t want to explain that to his coach!

There were a couple of spots that we could get down to the water. Anna and Levi both enjoyed trying to skip rocks…a little more challenging when all the rocks are limestone. I was having flashbacks to a family trip up to the North Shore when Levi was pretty young. Jason, Anna, and Seth spent so much time skipping rocks while I had Levi in a carrier. Anna did let me get one selfie of the three of us up in a tree by the water…

This one of the just the two of them is better…

The afternoon was a little bit frustrating. We went to the ranger station to rent a canoe and go fishing. The ranger gave us paddles and life jackets and sent us on a mile-long trek to the lake where the canoes were kept. We got there only to discover that they hadn’t actually put the canoes out yet, and that the lake was way too shallow too fish from the shoreline. So we trekked back to the ranger station…got a refund for the invisible canoe…and then headed into town for coffee.

We capped our adventure off Saturday evening with a good ole’ fashioned campfire and then had the full camping experience of packing up in the rain Sunday morning…blech. Our next adventure is in two weeks! It’s at a different park…with less hiking…but more kayaking, fishing, and biking. Can’t wait!