Minnesota Arboretum Adventure | Arboretum Photography | Personal

One of my goals for this year is to go somewhere new or go somewhere just because I want to at least once a month.

I was sad that I lived in such a beautiful state and haven't taken the time to really explore and enjoy it which is so silly since i have lived here my whole life. So I am making that change. 

Marcus decided to join me and we made our way to Minnesota Arboretum. When we got in we found parking right away but from there were a little lost. We circled around the entrance twice before hoping back into the car and driving the 3 mile drive because we really didn't know where else to go! We were pleasantly surprised that this was the trail we were supposed to go on in the first place! We stopped at all the spots that looked interesting. They had sculpture gardens, Hedge Maze, Flower Gardens. Our favorite was the Hedge Maze. We took time to go through and we both agreed that this course would be a blast at night with a version of Tag for adults. 

All in all it was a fun time to get out of the house and go see something new! I have to say that I understand they put a lot of time and effort into this Arboretum and it really shows,buuuutttt for $15 per adult I don't think I will be back. I am a sucker for any place free so I will have to enjoy the Minneapolis Sculpture Gardens and Como Conservatory instead!

Fourth Of July Weekend | Sanchez Adventures | Personal

A four day weekend really suites me! At least this is what I found out of the fourth of July weekend. The Waits family is a family of many annual traditions; I think it was more things that worked so well we just kept doing them throughout the years.  Some of my favorites are religiously attending the Minnesota State Fair, boating on the Fourth of July, apple picking in the fall, running to the Christmas tree. ( I wrote a whole blog post with a couple of others which you can click HERE to read)

My family had plans to lay low for the fourth of July this year. Everyone in Minnesota was out and about all weekend! We were able to stretch a couple of events over the last couple of days making for an epic weekend.

Sunday - Every Independence Day weekend our church has the service outside on the front lawn! And I am pretty sure half of the congregation would leave the church is there was not picnic to follow. After we got home we packed up and headed to the boat. The Saint Croix was bustling with boats, flamingo floaties, jetskiis, and kayaks. Sunburn and filled with pizza, we sat on Hudson beach and watched the fireworks for Booster Days.

Monday - My sister Summer was having her makeup done at Sepora in the morning for her shooting in the afternoon. So I got a little window shopping  done ad when we got home we started shooting her! Once that was all done as a family we drove over to the Lake Harriott Band-shell to listen to the Minnesota Orchestra for some patriotic music!

Tuesday morning Marcus and I picked up dad and spent the morning in Afton for the annual parade they have there! One of the floats was a wedding one where several couple volunteered and you got married right in the middle of the parade! What a cool idea!! 
in the evening we headed home sat around the table and just enjoyed each others company!

It was a breathe of fresh air to step away from normal business and explore Minnesota. 

Our Trip To Mt. Rushmore | Memorial Weekend | Sanchez Adventures

Wedding season has been so full this year with my own MW brides and lots of second shooting. Weekends away from Marcus makes it a little hard making some weekends feel like we have little time for just us. So I started to plan a small trip we could do in an upcoming 3 day weekend.  Neither of us have been to Mt. Rushmore before which in my book is something every American should do once in their life! 

We hit the road in the early hours; Marcus drove us safely through south Minnesota and South Dakota. As we started to hit the prairie fields you could just see for miles sunshine and grass lands. We knew we were getting closer to our destination when the flat fields turned into rolling hills! 

Day one we checked out the Badlands National Park; I stood there in awe of how beautiful and peaceful these hills were. Marcus and I mused over this looking like what the ocean floor currently looks like. We made small stops throughout our trip, one at The Wall Drug Store ( billboards for miles, not worth stopping for) and the Pioneer Auto Show ( if you like cars at all this is for you, huge collection that is entirely unique.  Marcus LOVED it). We got into Keystone later and finally got to Mt. Rushmore. The memorial is HUGE; surrounded by trees it sits alone away from the other peaks close by. Marcus and I decided to do the audio tour because are those types of people, but it was worth it and very fascinating! When the sun was gone so was the warmness of the day,  but that did not stop us from trying the Thomas Jefferson Ice cream from their ice cream parlor. We joked all night that him bringing ice cream to America was the reason he was immortalized in stone. The evening ceremony was cold, but fun to see in person. The only thing that would have topped it would have been fireworks. 

Day two we took a old-school train ride on the 1880 train. We packed into this train with a lot of other people and enjoyed the scenery from Keystone to Hill City and back. I could have done this one way and been satisfied but roundtrip we both got window seats so that worked out well. The train 2 hour ride turned into 3ish hours total, so we decided to cruse the wildlife loop in Custer State Park. On our relaxing ride we saw pronghorns, prairie dogs, buffalo, and burros. We both love and are fascinated by animals so we both really enjoyed this part of the day. We took the back way to Mt. Rushmore with weaving roads and beautiful views of the monument and finished out the day there. 

We headed home on Monday and the drive seemed a little bit longer but I am so glad we were able to take this little adventure!