Stone steps toward misty Lake Itasca, with a soft photographic edit

ITASCA STATE PARK · MINNESOTA · JULY 2026

Where the river begins.

A few days among the pines.
A collection of moments we get to keep.

ARRIVED JULY 2, 2026PINE RIDGE · OUTER PINE LOOP · SITE 167TOM + MAUREEN + CHARLIE + MAGGIE

FROM OUR FAMILY ALBUM

The kind of trip
you carry home.

One of our Itasca memories is wonderfully simple: rain outside, coffee inside the Chuckwagon Express, peaceful music, and the pine woods beyond the window.

There were places to explore and photographs to take. But there was also time to sit still. Looking back through these pictures, the little moments belong right beside the big views.

We arrived on July 2 with Maureen, Charlie, and Maggie, and made a temporary home at Pine Ridge Campground. Here’s a little of what we brought back.

01 / HOME AMONG THE PINES

Our own little
corner of the woods.

The Chuckwagon Express settled into site 167, with the Dog House ready for the next outing. Trees around the campsite, familiar faces close by, and a place to come back to at the end of the day.

Rain became part of the memory, too. Sometimes enjoying the journey means watching it from a dry seat with a cup of coffee.

The Chuckwagon Express tucked into our wooded campsite — Home for a while. The Chuckwagon Express at camp.

Rain on the RV window with the Dog House parked outside — Rain outside. A good place to be inside.

A glowing campfire beside the Chuckwagon Express at night — The campsite after dark.

02 / GOOD COMPANY

The best part
is who’s along.

Maureen, Charlie, and Maggie turn a walk through the woods into a family photograph. A pink cap, two leashes, and two very different personalities looking back at the camera.

On our Lake Winnibigoshish outing during the trip, Maggie retrieved sticks in the water while Charlie watched. Their ideas of a good time don’t always match. That’s part of what makes traveling with them so much fun.

Maureen with Charlie, our Bernese Mountain Dog, and Maggie, our yellow Labrador — Maureen, Charlie the Bernese, and Maggie the Lab. The best company.

Maureen on the boardwalk beside the lake — Maureen, with the lake and a summer sky behind her.

Maureen, Charlie and Maggie at the shallow water’s edge — A pause at the water’s edge during our Itasca visit.

03 / SLOW ENOUGH TO NOTICE

A river’s beginning.
A flower’s moment.

Itasca brought us to the Mississippi headwaters, but the photographs also pull us back to smaller discoveries: pink-and-white lady’s slippers, a path through the trees, and stone steps opening onto the lake.

These are the reasons to keep the camera close—and to put it down sometimes, too.