Welcome!

Welcome to Cook's 101 Places Challenge! This project is based on Joanne O'Sullivan's awesome book, 101 Places You Gotta See Before You're 12. We are using this blog to chronicle Cook's progress (really it's OUR progress, since his sister Ama and I will likely be with him most of the time). It is basically a life scavenger hunt where, rather than wandering aimlessly, we are instead wandering aimlessly while searching for stuff!

I recommend the book to anyone with a curious, adventurous kid. It gives suggestions for places that you might not think of that are sometimes challenging and sometimes unexpected, but always interesting. And the book is a great excuse for a day trip! I wish all of life was this much fun!

You can click on "Places Cook Has Seen" at the top of this page to show only the places that he has already successfully found. Thanks for visiting!

1: A Lighthouse DONE!

Split Rock Lighthouse, Two Harbors, MN. August 2012. This lighthouse has been made into a fabulous museum where you can tour the lighthouse and other buildings. There are tour guides all over the places that are full of really interesting information about the history of this place, which is super remarkable, and also about lighthouses and Lake Superior in general. It was a fabulous stop!

Because of its remote location, supplies for the Split Rock Lighthouse used to have to come in by boat, and water had to be brought up to the top of the cliff from the lake below. There is still a staircase leading down to the water where the dock used to be, and it leads down to this rocky shore. The kids had fun playing on the rocks, and the view from here was just spectacular.

2: A Landfill DONE!

Bismarck Landfill, Bismarck, ND. July 2011. The kids and I took in our old desktop computer to the electronics recycling center. We didn't venture into the depths of the landfill, but we saw the big piles of trash and the swarms of seagulls from a distance.

3: An Artist's Studio DONE!

September 2014. Powderhorn Ceramics Studio, Minneapolis, MN.  We signed up for the family ceramics class at Powderhorn Park again this fall (we did it last year, too), and this year Rowan is (sort of ) old enough to do it.  Up to 3 people can go each week and we have gone in all different combinations, so everyone has gotten at least one chance to go. The class lasts for 5 weeks, and lets you try different types of clay work and then you fire and glaze stuff that you can bring home! Lots of treasures, as you can well imagine...in these pictures Amaranth is building a tardis!

4: A Migration Path DONE!

September 2014. Minneapolis Monarch Festival, Lake Nokomis, Minneapolis, MN. We went to the Monarch festival at lunchtime and tried to eat lunch there, which was a mistake and a disaster for a couple of reasons: long lines, grumpy kids, etc. but the festival itself was great! Wish we'd all been in a better place to enjoy it.

There were a lot of booths and activities with information about the monarch migration and how to make our city a hospitable stopover for these beautiful traveling pollinators.

Ama and Rowan made mudballs (Ama is posing with hers in the next picture) that are filled with milkweed seeds. You're supposed to throw them somewhere in your yard or wherever so more milkweek can grow!

After our ill-fated lunch, we played in a grassy part of the park away from the crowds and all of the bustle. The boys played hack, and the girls played hide and seek, and everybody had a nice time laying around in the grass. Incidentally, we saw a lot of monarchs flying around while we were at the monarch festival. 

5: A Skatepark DONE!

Hillside Park, Bismarck, ND. August 2010. This skatepark is only a few blocks from our house, so Cook has actually been skating here a few times before. There are usually teenagers hanging out, but for the most part they are really patient and nice about sharing their skatepark with a kid.

6: A Working Farm DONE!

Riverbound Farm. May 6, 2011. We went out to our friends Angie and Brian McGinness' farm for an open house launching the 2011 season of their CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). We aren't members of the CSA, but it was fun to visit the farm!

They had built a treehouse playset, and you can see a field in the background. Cook caught their baby geese. The yellow one is named Sunshine and the brown one is named Cookie (yup, named after Cook!!). They were SO SOFT they felt like stuffed animals!


The party had a group of bluegrass players making wonderful music the whole time we were there. Brian McGinness plays the bass so I suppose they were his friends. The farm raises chickens and gives eggs out with the CSA shares. They had a miniature horse and two great big Clydesdale-looking horses that they just bought. They are going to use them to plow the fields!! Also, they use solar panels to power the electric fences, which Cook and Aria appear to be posing dangerously close to in this picture. Riverbound Farm is an amazing place!!

7: A Space Place DONE!

Dr. Evermore's Forevertron, Wisconsin Dells, WI. October 2012. I had heard about this place for years and it was so great to finally get to see it! Dr. Evermore built this amazing time travel machine out of repurposed materials. It needs a huge amount of energy to work, so it has to be struck by lightning before we will know for sure if it works, but there's no doubt in my mind that it will.

There are also tons of amazing sculptures, including a whole orchestra of birds made out of musical instruments. The next picture has Ama sitting in a machine that lets you listen to space...we talked to a man who explained to us where a lot of the building materials had come from. The big square listening piece above Ama's head used to be used in silent movie theaters to amplify the music (before there was any type of powered amplification).

Here is the Forevertron in all its glory! We wandered around the yard looking at stuff for a long time. Ama particularly liked the oversized frying pans and Cook liked the collection of mini robots.

These are the faces the kids made when I told them to imagine what face they would make if they were stepping onto the Forevertron to be blasted into space forever. I was surprised at how much feeling they both showed, kind of like a combination of fear and resignation:

8: An Animal Rescue Center DONE!

Central Dakota Humane Society, Mandan, ND. May 21, 2011. CDHS is a really, truly wonderful organization that we have supported for years. They are the area's only no-kill shelter, which means that animals can stay here for as long as it takes for them to find a home. Also, if they get animals that are too sick or have really specialized needs they sometimes keep them forever and make sure that the animals get all the accommodations they need.

Cat kennels!

Dog kennels!

And we managed to get in and out without

adopting anything, despite the protests of both kids!

9: A Superlative Place DONE!

The Mall of America, Bloomington, MN. May 29, 2010. This is the largest mall in the United States (based on total enclosed square footage). Cook rode on one of the biggest roller coasters they had at the indoor amusement park called Nickelodeon Universe. Three times! Here is his victory photo:

As a side note, while at the amusement park, Ama ate what might be the biggest piece of pizza in the known universe:

10: A Faraway Island DONE!

Storybook Island, Rapid City, SD. June 2013. Grandpa and Grandma took Cook and Ama to this amazing park and they both really liked it, especially Ama. It is full of life-size fairy tale scenes that you can play on. We tried to take Cook here when he was just a few years old, but it was closed, so when he finally got the chance he might have been a little too big for it to be magical. But it's a cool free park if you are looking for something memorable to do in Rapid City!

11: An Antiquarian Bookstore DONE!

Midway Bookstore, St. Paul, MN. September 2012. This is a huge 3-level bookstore that specializes in rare and out-of-print books. We didn't even make it to the basement. Maybe next time. Cook was particularly interested in the comic book section. He bought a Spawn and a Simpsons comic, and I got a Louis L'Amour novel. Ama picked out a postcard for grandpa and grandma.

 
Cook also had a massive allergy attack while we were in the store that ended up lasting for 24 hours before I finally gave him a dose of Benadryl. Guess he won't be working in a used bookstore when he grows up.
They didn't have much for kids books beyond very old, collectible, boring stuff, so Ama lost interest pretty quickly. Also, she wasn't feeling too well that day. Chris didn't find anything to buy. Rowan was very patient with the whole business.

12: An Old-Growth Forest DONE!

August 2014. Itasca State Park, MN. We were in Bemidji and decided to go over to the headwaters since we were so close. When we went into the visitors' center at the park, we discovered that the lake is actually surrounded by an old-growth forest made up of three different types of big pines. Here is Ama posing by the information plaques.

Then we went to the place where you can walk across the Mississippi River (at the headwaters that come from Lake Itasca). There were a ton of people, and Rowan and Ama couldn't resist the water, so they got pretty wet, but it was the perfect day to explore northern Minnesota wilderness!