Happy Dancing Blog

So far, we’ve focused on the beaches in Crow Wing County. It seems a little unfair to focus on the ones closest to Brainerd when there are dozens of beautiful beaches thirty minutes out. So, we grabbed snacks and supplies and drove the construction-riddled journey up Hwy 371 to Pine River to visit not only the Pine River Dam Park but also two (count ’em TWO!) beaches on Pelican Lake near Breezy Point. Pine River Dam Park The Pine River Dam has been in use for over a century,

They don’t call it the Brainerd Lakes Area for nothing. As we get into the dog days of summer, there’s no better time to make use of the area’s namesake. But before you double-check your packing list and apply your sunscreen, take a moment to see which beach might fit your needs. I grabbed my kids and we spent a hot afternoon doing a little research of the area’s best beaches. Gull Lake Recreation Area Clean sand welcomes all sand castle builders. Ever since the early 20th ce

This month, we’re focusing on helping you get outside more. I took this as a chance to see what my town had to offer in terms of outdoor activities. I also wanted to make this as inexpensive as possible, so I limited my exposure to the long list of parks in the Brainerd area. We started in Baxter and moved east. After 14 different parks, we decided what we liked best about them and what most people would get a kick out of. Brained/Baxter has a pretty robust parks system, so

After doing some research on the topic of biking in MN, something came to my attention that I had to write about. This concerns the “Complete Street” movement. But first a succinct (but thorough) definition: Complete Streets is a program designed to make our transportation grid as accessible as possible to all forms of travel; looking at the needs of cars, bikes, autos, baby strollers, skateboarders, unicycles, and pedestrians. The ultimate goal is to make getting from one pl