Camping Trip #2

Camping trip #2 is now behind us. There’s at least one more, and possibly two more to go. We have reservations down at Rocky Arbor State Park the end of August. It’s pretty much right next door to Mirror Lake so it will be similar to our first camping trip except that we’ve reserved a 24’ pontoon boat for all day Saturday. Hope for decent boating weather!

Anyway, back to this weekend’s trip. We left home around 11:30 and ran into quite a bit of construction on Hwy 21. Adam was continually frustrated by trucks and slow drivers since it’s a dinky two-land highway. Jill, our friendly GPS voice, guided us through to the campground. We ended up going into Minnesota and then coming back around to the campground from the north. The campsite itself was nice enough. Not really as private as most of the others we’ve been to. There were very few trees and we could see everyone else who was camping around us. Luckily our site was right on a corner so we did have a big tree that provided shade for most of the evening. We were also right next to the shed where they sold wood.

We set up the tent and then headed up to Alba to investigate boats and bait. The boat thing didn’t work out so Adam decided to do some fishing off the shore at the campground. After he drowned a few worms we went back to camp and fired up the grill. My chicken was still frozen solid so it made for some interesting cooking. We spent the rest of the evening vegging out in the camp chairs. Adam got a fire going but it died relatively quickly. He revamped his log piling methods and got another one roaring in no time. We made a few s’mores while waiting for Justin to give a call after he was done at work. He arrived at the site around 10 and we hung out and talked and had more s’mores for about an hour. He had to leave around 11 when the park officially closed. The visit was short, but it was still a good time. After he left we called it a night and headed to the tent. Seems that I forgot to mention that we were also next to a very busy set of railroad tracks. Every five minutes or so a train would go roaring past just beyond the trees with its horn blaring. All night long. We were also about a mile from a racetrack where they were having races all evening. Until 11:30. Followed by fireworks. It was a noisy night, but I think I slept decently.

We awoke (officially) around 6 on Saturday and proceeded to the showers. There are only 3 showers for each gender in the entire park. This is why I was slightly amazed that I was the only one in there for the entire length of my showering and dressing. This is the first park where the showers were divided by gender so Adam and I had to shower separately, not at the same time. After we hung the towels to dry we hopped in the car and headed up to Bloomington. We figured since the day was going to be so oppressingly hot it made sense to try and spend the majority of it inside an air-conditioned building. So, Mall of America it was.

The drive up wasn’t too bad. We actually got there about a half-hour before the mall opened. The building itself was open for mall walkers so we could go inside. Starbucks and Cinnabon were also open so we got some breakfast while we waited for the rest of the mall to open up. We decided to kind of start at the top and work our way down the mall. We got distracted by Marshall’s and spent the majority of the money we spent at that store. Adam loved the fact that he could find lots of good quality, good name clothing in his size for a fraction of the retail price. The way he figured, he got almost $300 worth of clothes for less than $100. And there is no tax on clothing in Minnesota, so it’s an even better deal. Unfortunately the closest Marshall’s for us is down in Milwaukee. We’re already planning a day trip down to visit the art museum, the zoo, and now Marshall’s. We hit a few more stores (cheese, Lindt, Godiva, a toy store) and really didn’t end up spending too much money. I was impressed at my restraint. We ate lunch at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. We totally nailed the Forrest Gump trivia the server did with us. I think we only missed one question. Adam had a plate full of all kinds of shrimp and I had the southern fried chicken with mashed potatoes and a cob of corn. After purchasing a “stupid is as stupid does” t-shirt and investigated a few more stores, we called it a day and headed back to the car. We stopped at a Sam’s club we spied off the highway and bought some more water and ice. We also filled up the gas tank while we were there. It was $2.92 at Sam’s compared to the $2.99 at other local stations. (Yeah, and it’s $3.07 here in the Fox Valley…)

We then headed back to the campsite. When we got back Adam decided to try his hand at the fishing again. This time, while he didn’t catch any fish, he did catch a tree. After he had to cut the hook loose he packed things up for good. It was then he informed me that he had a headache of gargantuan proportions and he wanted to pack things up and go home. While we went back and forth on this subject for about half an hour I ultimately left it up to him. He opted to drive back home. So we packed up camp and headed back to the highway for the drive across the state.

We decided to ignore Jill and take Hwy 54 rather than 21. Never ignore the GPS. She knows what she’s talking about. 54 was one tight curve after another. There was one particular curve that came right at the top of the hill and you literally couldn’t see where the road went from the top. It was kind of scary. After stopping for food in Black River Falls, we hopped back on the interstate and then went the rest of the way back home on the safe, relatively straight 21. We got home around 10:30, unloaded the food, and went to bed.

Adam was feeling better on Sunday morning. We finished unpacking the car in the morning and spent most of the afternoon up in Green Bay. His uncle and aunt (Craig and Marge) were up visiting from Florida so I got to meet a couple more family members before the big influx of them in October. Then we came home and finished cleaning up from camping.

To re-cap – first camping trip was freezing cold and rainy. We packed up the campsite early and spent the second night at the Ramada. Second camping trip was hot (I’m talking 95+ and humid). We packed up early and drove home, spending the second night at home.

Not a good track record. We figure perhaps the third time will be the charm… perfect weather etc. We’re playing the odds here…