Thursday, June 22, 2017

Loon Lake Minnesota 09.09.16

We have camping fever. In the words of our Scamp friend Jeff, we "camp entirely too much." That may be the best compliment a new, happy camper could ever receive.

About two weeks after returning home from the big Westward trip, we decided it was time to add another state to our cute camper map. We chose Minnesota, since it's only about 35 miles away, and there were lots of places to choose for a campsite.


There I am! Putting on the official MN sticker. (Please, hold your applause.)  This map is great. It comes with the blank US map, and all 50 state stickers to add as we travel. We figure somebody must use it for some reason other than camping cuz they include Hawaii. LOL! Wouldn't be too easy to get there towing a camper! :) Anyway, we got this on Amazon. Here is a link to The RV State Sticker Travel Map if you're interested in getting one.

Our campsite was a walk-in only site at Robertson Park, part of the Jackson County Minnesota park system. Just a few minutes into MN, it took us no time to get there, choose a spot, and get set up. The park is beautifully shaded with lots of large trees. We were able to hop into a lakefront campsite, our favorite.


We continue to marvel at how many lakefront sites we've been able to find, and you just can't beat the price! I think we paid $20/night for this one. It was a huge site, and nobody at the campsite on one side of us gave us lots of space to enjoy.

The weather was cool, calm, and sunny...one of those fall days you read about in stories. We took advantage of the firepit and sat down with some beverages to help warm us from the inside. :)

Andy, fireside, working on breaking our found firewood in two by burning it in the middle.


Here I am with my cool new "Camping Hair Don't Care" tshirt my sister bought me for my birthday, and (shocker!) I'm drinking wine from my new silicone yellow wine glass. The glass itself is very...well...weird. It's awfully flexible, and has a small rim. Takes some getting used to, but certainly is NOT breakable, which makes it camper-friendly. The wine inside was fantastic! It was from one of my most favorite places on the planet, Little Swan Lake. Go to their website, or their Facebook page here. They even have a B&B that is wonderful.



This was one of the most relaxing camping trips to date. On Saturday, we drove to the Okoboji area and did a little shopping.  One of the places we stopped at is a closeout store, and we found a cool Coleman brand dome, 12x12 for CHEAP. It was even yellow, like the camper trim, so we had to have it. We bought it, brought it back to the campsite, and I quickly realized there was something broken. Andy on the other hand, took much longer to admit that it wasn't going to work. I sat down and watched the comedy show. :)



The conversation that took place during the dome-raising attempt.

A-"Why won't it work?"
P- "Because it's broken."
A- "It's not broken, we just need instructions. Why won't this lock into place?"
P-  "Because it's broken."
A- "Ok, This is broken."

We returned it on our way home Sunday. LOL!

That night, we were treated with yet another spectacular sunset. I will never tire of these!


I love all the colors and textures that are included in a sunset, especially a sunset over a body of water.

I'll leave you with that beautiful image until next post when I tell you all about camping in eastern Iowa near West Union.

Happy Camping!
Peggy

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Go West! Part 6, The Final Post

How am I still talking about a trip we took last August? Time to finish up this trip and start talking about all the other cool stuff we've seen and done.

After leaving our campsite in Wyoming, we drove for 9,736,846 hours through Nebraska and finally stopping at a campground in Kearney, Fort Kearney State Recreation Area. You never truly appreciate what a looooooong state Nebraska is, until you're at the end of a wonderful vacation, and are just trying to get home. No offense, Nebraska. I still like you. :)

So, here we are, on our last night of our BIG Westward trip, so we decide to set up all of our stuff! Lights, rugs, awnings, candles, etc. We sure looked good!



The lights on the awning tie-downs are brilliant! They keep us from tripping over the tie-downs in the dark, and they give a nice ambiance to the campsite. I bought these at Big Lots, for super cheap, and each strand runs off of 2 AA batteries. They are designed for indoor/outdoor use, so they're perfect for camping! No cords, and since they're battery powered instead of solar, I don't need to get them in the sunlight while traveling.

Normally, on just a quick overnight, we wouldn't go to the trouble of setting up the awning, but since it got used so little during the trip, it was worth it!

We were pretty tired and just ready to be home, so we just hung out at the campsite, doing a whole lotta nothing! :)


Well, clearly not "nothing." We must have had OK phone service!

One of my favorite things to do while camping is take in the scenery of wherever we camp. Kearney SRA didn't disappoint. Got a beautiful sunset!



That pretty much marks the end of our Westward trip! We had a great time, really fell in love with the T@b, and are ready for the next adventure!

Happy Camping!
Peggy