Camping 7/28-7/30

I was only back in town for two days and I had the blessing to go on another adventure. This time I was headed just an hour south to Richard Bongs recreation campground. A wonderful place to go alone or with a group. The sites are nice sized with the grounds having clean showers and lots of nice campers. My sister Liz and I went with our friends Milka and Michael, the camping experts. If you want to learn how to camp, spend a weekend with these two and you’ll be set the rest of your camping days. When we arrived, the evening was on the verge of dusk. It didn’t take too long for the campsite to be like an outdoor resort home. Thanks to the sweet touches of the table cloth over the picnic table and little lanterns sprawled throughout our site. Milka learned the cute trick of the table cloth from her mom, Mira. We all brought food to make meals the next few days and decided the dinner that evening was vegetarian sloppy Joe’s. We spent the night giggling around the delicious glow of the campfire. Michael is an expert at forging and found a lot of fallen wood for burning. It was incredibly refreshing to sleep outside, and honestly less frightening with my friends in tents next to me. After we woke it was time for a fantastic tofu scramble, filled with potatoes and veggies. I was finally able to use my Coleman burner, a wonderful gift I received a few years ago from dear friends. It works like a dream and if you like to glamp like we do then you would enjoy using it. When we finished cleaning up we decided to go on a four-mile hike around the lake.

Michael picked up some marvelous books about how to identify different flowers and mushrooms whilst on the hike. The books are available in the nature center of the campsite for purchase. The nature center is a great place to bring children. They have aquariums with reptiles and helpful staff to answer questions about the surrounding nature. We decided to take the blue trail. It proved to be a modest to moderate hike depending on your experience and there are some hills. It is mainly exposed but with patches of shade when walking through wooded areas every now and then. It was such a charming hike, so lovely and perfect weather. You could feel a little warmth from the walk which was nice. We had a fun exploring the vegetation and identifying what we could. seeing the beautiful lake while we walked was a delight. Coming back mid-afternoon we had some tasty veggie dogs before heading to the store for more ice and beer. For dinner Milka and Michael provided their famous camping stew, a recipe they created together. We had another dazzling night around the fire. Started by the fire starter herself, Baby Liz. She makes an excellent campfire. A talent I discovered she had a few years ago when we were at the Koehler Andre campsite. Bedtime came earlier for me, and I woke early to finish up some writing. We took our time and enjoyed the morning, another campfire and some delicious leftovers. Taking down the site was not nearly as much fun as putting it up, but the thought of washing the campfire off me helped.

The weekend was full of magic and adventure found only an hour away. If you ever stay there, it is super close to Renaissance fair. We have done that in the past and if you go the opening weekend ticket prices have been reduced in the past. As I close this piece I have found I enjoy blogging more from this perspective of adventure. I will continue to write about the amazing humans I get to interact with each day. I will have a list of my food and exercise as well. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to spend a little time in mine. It melts my heart and encourages me to keep writing. Love, April