Vehement Solutions for Trivial Problems: 2021 Camping Retrospective

April 23-25, Beaver Creek Valley State Park

It was cold this weekend, getting down into the 30s overnight, and not getting very warm during the day. Fortunately, we had access to electricity to power the electric blanket for the kids and an electric mattress pad for us. We celebrated Andy's birthday with a flask of Wisonsin Old Fashioneds (with brandy, of course), his favorite chicken stew with parsnips and chocolate pie. Braised pork chops the next night were good, too. We got to break in the new dedicated camping cast iron skillet.

May 28-31 (Memorial Day), Temperance River State Park

We'd booked this site a year earlier, in the depths of pandemic despair, and when the state still allowed you to book campsites a year in advance (now it's 120 days). We picked a spot with a nice view of the lake, but no electricity, and there were no water fill stations, either, so everything at camp was with jugs we refilled. We stopped on the way up at the Rush City bakery, and for dinner at the Rustic. We repeated the sausage and peppers for one dinner, and tried a new enchilada skillet recipe (I browned the beef at home ahead of time.) The weather was cool all weekend, but with layers and wool blankets we were really comfortable. The new bath house is really nice, as well. We took some great hikes, including driving up to Judge Magney (Devil's Kettle) and hanging out in Grand Marais for a while. There was interesting people-watching of a multi-family group with high school boys who were obsessed with hitting golf balls in the open areas. We discovered that chocolate cake can still be good if the bottom is a little burned. I was able to climb a tree hanging over the river to free Andy's fish hook. The smell of the forest after a rain was like none other we'd experienced- it was glorious.

June 18-20, Sakatah Lake State Park

We had our 10-year old nephew Caleb with us for his first time camping. The weather was great on Saturday, but rainy Sunday- we ate breakfast early and packed up, leaving the campsite by 9 AM on Sunday. We had skillet-fried hamburgers, corn-on-the-cob cooked in foil, kale salad and steak fries for dinner Friday. I sliced the potatoes before we left and microwaved them 4 min, then tossed in some oil. We used the pie iron to make nutella banana pies- they were good. Watch these closely as the first one had a burned side- aim for no more than about 4 min per side in near the coals. On Saturday, we made fried chicken, sourdough biscuits, ranch beans and coleslaw, followed by s'mores. We went hiking, fishing, and kayaking. Caleb was obsessed with Andy's Swiss army knife, and did a bunch of whittling. We got him his own for his birthday. The post-camping cast iron cleaning went a little better with some Borax detergent added to the dish detergent.

Whittling

Starting the fire

Captivated by the Swiss Army knife

Here's Betty!

On June 26, we finally got to pick up our new 2021 T@B 320 camper in Mankato, having ordered the previous October. Amazingly, we were offered a trade-in value for our T@G Angus for the same price we'd paid 2 years earlier (pandemic economy). "Betty" has an inside kitchen (with a tiny floorspace where the dog can sleep), a tiny bathroom with a cassette toilet, a furnace and hot water heater. We slept in it that first night on our driveway.

July 16-18, Otter Lake, Chippewa County WI

Our first trip out in the new camper. A lovely treed campground with dock access to the lake right from our site. Meg and Ben (and Maisy) joined us. We had skillet-fried hamburgers and chickpea burgers, skillet-fried steak fries, coleslaw, ranch beans and skillet chocolate chip cookies (done in half a pie iron with parchment) for Friday night dinner. Saturday morning we had foil-wrapped monkey bread packets over the campfire, sausage and eggs. Grilled sandwiches for lunch, followed by a trip to the Leinenkugel's brewery lodge for a flight. Dinner was salad with roasted pears, goat cheese and grapefruit vinaigrette, chicken fajitas, Meg made guacamole, and rhubarb crisp (from the garden) cooked in the dutch oven. Sunday morning I cooked banana bread pancakes. The weather was sublime- warm during the day but not too hot, clear, sunny and cooler at night. We slept with the windows open.

Caught a crappie

Labor Day Weekend, Crow Wing State Park

We'd booked this well in advance so we could be at the nearby family cabin for the work party. The Mississippi river was low with the draught, but Andy was still able to get a kayak in. The camp spots were decent enough, but very sandy and we ended up tracking a lot of sand into the camper and car. We got there just as the campfire ban was lifted that day, but ended up doing basic skillet cooking in the camper and skipped the fires.

Oct 8-10, Brule River State Forest, Bois Brule Campground, WI

We booked this location because I was running the Whistle Stop Half Marathon in Ashland (about 45 miles away) on Oct 9. It's about 3.75 hours from the Twin Cities, and we got in on Friday night about 9:30 PM and set up in the dark. I woke up at 5 AM and left camp about 5:45 to get to the race.

Our spot was in a lovely grove of tall red pines, with walking access to the Brule River. There are vault toilets in the campground, but no sinks or showers. The camping spot itself was bare dirt in a depression, and it rained, making it pretty muddy. We cooked our favorite pork chops with mushrooms in cider vinegar for dinner on Saturday and left earlier on Sunday so we could stop for a lovely visit with Max and Rochelle on the way back home.