A sunny camping trip

-At my insistence, we took a group photo by the State Park sign before our parties split off and went our separate ways. Of course, the photographer screwed up and left his tripod at home in the other vehicle, so we had to improvise as best we could and use the hood of a vehicle; hence the slight angle of the shot.

By Allan Olson

Sunny days were here again on our annual camping trip to a MN state park, this time to the Big Stone Lake campground near Ortonville. Unlike our two ventures last year in which we were rained out and then flooded out, respectively, not a drop of rain dampened us on this trip. Instead there was a whole lot of sunshine. It was so nice that we didn’t even bother to put the rain fly over one tent, and the screens were left open on the other.

The tradeoff for all that sunshine as opposed to rain and cooler temps was that we spent more time in the vehicle and consumed more gas touring the countryside during the warmest parts of the day. It was worth it.

We left on our annual trip last Wednesday (July 26), following a doctor’s appointment. We modified our trailer to fit two canoes, and with some help from local businesses I got it all wired and ready to go. We loaded up late Tuesday evening and did our best to balance the load in the trailer so we could still drive at normal highway speeds, but regardless of how we shifted the load, we just couldn’t find the right balance. So most of the trip was spent at top cruising speed of less than 50 mph. I guess it didn’t really matter what time we got there, as long as we arrived with everything intact and no trailer malfunctions.

When we finally pulled into the campground, we found that we had it all to ourselves – every single campsite was empty! We were the first guests to arrive for the week, and ultimately stayed the longest. We unloaded our gear, set up the tents and explored the campground. We even took the kids swimming at the empty beach before the next campers arrived – my brother and his family. 

When we finally got around to setting up the air mattresses, we discovered that my little power inverter – which worked fine last time – wouldn’t do the trick this time. The nearby town was a populous village of about 1,900 people and even though the internet said the hardware store was open until 6:00 – that proved to be not true. So in order to get air into our mattress, we moved our tent and pulled the vehicle up as close as possible so we wouldn’t need to use an extension cord. That worked for the first night.

My brother and his family finally arrived, and after they set up camp we all went out to celebrate our first night of vacation at a pizza restaurant. 

This was the first time on any recent camping trips that we were able to sleep in – and by that I mean we didn’t wake up shivering at 6 a.m. This time, I don’t recall getting out of the tent before 8 a.m. on most mornings, and when I did, the kids (usually Abigail or Nikolai) already had a fire going.

The second day was spent taking our time leaving camp, driving around the National Wildlife Refuge and touring a museum where we got to see – of all things – Paul Bunyan’s boat anchor! It was an especially large piece of granite that every Minnesotan’s favorite lumberjack surely tossed with ease. 

That evening my brother, my wife, Abigail, Nikolai and two of my brother’s kids set off in two kayaks and two canoes for a 12-mile ride downstream. I was apprehensive about taking such a lengthy journey; while the lake looked very peaceful, I didn’t want to paddle that far. Besides, someone needed to drive the vehicle back. On the way back I looked for spots where I could pick them up should the weather turn, or if they just got burned out. 

I found that there was only one public access between the two points; the rest was all private residences. We probably should have done a little more homework;  the trip that we expected to take 2-3 hours, if they would’ve gone the distance probably would’ve taken over seven hours, which meant they would have been paddling the last four hours under the moonlight (perhaps not the smartest move on unfamiliar waters with a bunch of inexperienced paddlers). As it turns out, three miles was enough. My wife called me and said, “Come get us,” so that’s what I did.

We ventured westward into South Dakota on Friday. There was not a lot to do or see in that part of the state, but it was fun to drive around. My brother and his family took off back to the campground, while we went to do some geocaching. A few hours later we were back at the campground, too. The kids played in the lake and did some kayaking around the swimming area, and after S’mores and playing with my cousin’s family, who had arrived to camp with us, they headed off to bed.

On Saturday, sadly, it was time for my brother and family to head for home. This was the first time in the several joint camping trips we’ve taken that they’ve had to leave early. Their departure was bittersweet – they are our favorite camping partners and we really enjoy our trips with them – but my cousin and his family had just arrived, and we had a geocaching outing planned, which was something my brother’s family wouldn’t have enjoyed as much.

We said goodbye shortly before noon, and then headed out on the open road for some geocaching. We crossed the border into South Dakota again and spent a good portion of the afternoon on backroads geocaching the countryside. Eventually we crossed back into Minnesota to do more of the same. 

We found the 45th parallel – halfway between the equator and the North Pole – along with the Lutefisk Capital of the United States in Madison, MN. We had lunch in the park there and headed off in search of more geocaches enroute back to our campground. We decided that when we got back to the campground, we were going to grab our swimming gear and chairs and head to the other beach and let the kids swim.

We made it back at about 8 p.m., and the kids played in the water, barely taking time to eat until 9:30 p.m. Finally we forced them out of the lake to help haul stuff back and get back to camp. The kids crashed right away; the adults visited until about 1 a.m. before hitting the hay ourselves.

On Sunday, we packed up and headed for home shortly after 10 a.m. We arrived back at home close to 7 p.m., and after unpacking and getting settled, we were ready for bed.

It was a great vacation, probably the most fun we’ve had or will have all summer. It makes me wish that we had time for one more camping trip as a family before school. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Please remember to watch out for the buses that are carrying our most precious cargo. Also, snap a photo or two to preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Feel free to drop me a line at cltimes1@arvig.net or stop by the office for a visit.