Minnesota- surprisingly, feels like home...

No more prairies as far as the eye can see. I can't express how thankful we are to see trees again. We have stayed in two state parks in Minnesota now, Itasca and Minne Lacs Kathio State parks. There are so many state parks in Minnesota we just drive until we bump into one at the right time of day and stop. However, not all state parks are alike. The first one seemed so promising, as we drove 3 miles down a narrow and unpopulated road in the middle of a forest. Thought for sure we would find an honor box at the end and no one else would be in the whole place. We were wrong. We drove up to the entrance booth and they make you surrender your campfire wood and buy theirs, so as not to infect their forests with pesky bugs and such... We played along and bought three bundles of their wood, only to spend an hour and a half watching Dave throw a temper tantrum over trying to start a fire with green, very wet wood. He got so upset he tried to kick the logs out of the coals and one flew right out of the fire pit at me. Shortly after attempting to dice the remaining pile of crappy firewood he hucked the $6.00 Walmart axe into the woods behind him..forgetting that the "secluded and private campsite" was in fact a sardine can. There were campers on all sides- within close enough range that when Dave realized what he had done his face went completely pale!

"What if there was a person camping alone??? And I....? Oh god."

Everything was fine though in that department, but we couldn't go in after the axe because our whole camp was surrounded by massive amounts of poison ivy.

Long after the sun went down Dave gave up on the wood and decided to go back to the entrance booth and get his wood back. This venture did not pan out either because the booth had closed up and the lady had taken the wood out with her. So we drove down to the little gas station and left $5.00 under the door for a bundle of real burnable wood.

With that bad night behind us we planned to wake up and go canoeing on the lake in the park. However, when we woke up the sky was threatening rain and babies were crying, a dumpster was being emptied and it was only 8 am. We packed up shop really fast and decided to take our day off somewhere else!

This would have been fine if that was the end of it-

We decided to treat ourselves to breakfast in Douglas Lodge in the park. Had great food and returned to the truck to find we had received a parking ticket!

*$!@?*&!

Totally ridiculous!

To top it all off, as if that is not enough... we drove out of the park about 8 miles and realized we left Dave's phone plugged in IN THE LODGE! Gahhh!


Today has been much better though. Stayed at a perfect campsite last night. Had some privacy, a sky full of stars, and a good fire. Oh and bourbon. :-)

I am writing from a car mechanics office in Burnsville Minnesota right now. He and Dave are bonding in the garage over the truck. After this, we are off to the Minnesota State Fair that is like 10 miles from here.

It will be a miracle if I don't weight 8,000 lbs before I return home. This fair boasts of its chocolate covered bacon, tater tots on a stick and pickle-sicles....A "fried food fair..." is what it calls itself. Food is the centerpiece. Wish me luck! (Dave might want to stay... )