A mile-and-a-half bike trip with her dad to Dairy Queen when Erin Moening was 3 -- and on training wheels -- was just the beginning.

Since then, Erin, now 11, and Brad Moening have extended their range, going on numerous father-daughter bike trips well beyond their St. Paul neighborhood and culminating in a 340-mile trek to Canada this summer. Next up: a possible trip to New York.

The family, including mom Eileen, Maeve, 7, and Molly, 6, doesn't stop at biking. They just returned from an eight-day, 160-mile canoe trip from their cabin near Melrose, Minn., to Hidden Falls in St. Paul. In the winter, the family cross-country skis; last winter, Erin won her first skijoring race.

But summertime biking has become a family favorite. Maeve is planning her own father-daughter bike trip to Blaine. Youngest Molly's claim to fame is "biking" to Wayzata on a tag-along.

Here is their version of How I Spent My Summer Vacation:

Erin: We used to have a lot of goals, like the bronze bunny on [Minnehaha Parkway] about 6 miles from here. A couple of years ago I biked to my grandma's in Blaine, which was 26 miles. Then I thought I should bike to my cabin, so I did that last year. It was three days and 142 miles. This year I wanted a bigger goal, so we thought biking to Canada would be fun. It took us about five days.

Brad: She had her mom's mountain bike that we put skinny tires on. We had a hard time finding a bike to fit her.

Erin: One [of my panniers] had a sleeping bag, and the other had food and a tent. My dad had bigger panniers: He had his sleeping bag and most of our food and clothes.

Brad: Once I forgot to close the pannier and we were dodging a thunderstorm, and it filled with water so we had to make a stop at the laundromat in Finlayson.

Erin: I think the best moment was when we saw a pack of baby wolves near Duluth. It had been raining, and my dad's brakes were wet. When they heard the squeak, they ran away.

Brad: The best part for me was Erin talking nonstop. I heard lots of stuff that I'd never hear.

Erin: The worst was one trail where we went 60 miles without seeing anybody. I couldn't talk to anybody else but you. I usually make up stories to keep myself entertained, especially when it's wet out and boring.

Brad: The fourth day, from Gooseberry Falls to Grand Marais, we were going right into the wind. We were just dying. But the last day was the most beautiful day. We had a tailwind from Grand Marais to Thunder Bay. Then there was a big climb just before the border. It was foggy, and when it burned off we had a view of Mount Josephine.

Erin: First, I wanted to be in the Olympics in cross-country skiing. But now I want to be the first woman to bike in the Tour de France. And when I was younger I had this crazy idea to bike to my grandparents' house in New York. The year after next we're probably going to.

Sheila Mulrooney Eldred is a Twin Cities freelance writer.