We got a later start than usual. A "serious talk" kept us occupied in the a.m. Packing took little time before we headed out. But we had to stop at the Co-op for organic beef hotdogs, organic chilimac, and some Izze drinks. Then a stop at Caribou for road coffee and a quick detour home to pick up a couple things we'd forgotten before *really* heading out. It was noon. A stop at Target in Lakeville for yet another air mattress (this one with built in air pump) and we were *really* *really* off. We were headed for Sand Dunes State Park. Mainly interstate. When we were about 20 miles outside St. Cloud, I asked Lorrie to pull out the Mapquest printout. Oops! We had passed our exit. We're wanderers so we decided to give it a shot without turning back. That was our second mistake. Before setting off further, we stopped in Monticello to share a huge burger and some fries. Then we were ready to find our site. But... as there usually is a but... we were detoured very slightly because I saw one of my trucks in a parking lot. For sale! And unlocked. So we got some photos of that! Back on track... sortof... Birkoff, my phone navigation system, led us very far astray and we ended up in some small city park in Big Lake, MN. I think that's where we were anyway. A police officer, who we agreed was cute, saw us pass by a couple times and then stopped to ask if we were looking for something. We told her and she radioed in for directions. It's a huge park so the fact that she didn't know offhand was pretty telling about how far off we were. Those directions were errant as well. lol Lorrie finally pulled out the antiquated folded paper map and we used that. To find nothing! lol Because it's Sand Dunes State Forest now. So we found that and we found the Reserve that it's a attached to. There was also our back up plan campground, Ann's Lake Campground, which actually did end up being within Sand Dunes State Forest. Very confusing! According to our handy dandy book,
The Best in Tent Camping: Minnesota: A Guide for Car Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos, the campground is open all year. Wrong! Closed until May 1st. Arrgh! All that driving around.
So, on to our backup backup plan. We usually aren't this prepared with backup plans so this is a good thing! Maria Lake State Park was the destination. We used the paper map though still got turned around slightly at one point. We got there safe and sound. It was self check-in and all hike-in/backpacking sites. We drove to the parking area for the site we paid for (B3) and walked to it with Emma Blue. We decided it was way too long for Tori to walk or for us to carry her. So, though we paid for the walk-in site, we set up in one of the group sites near the parking area. Tori was able to walk that distance pretty well.
We got Lorrie's tent set up then she took care of inside the tent (mattress, sleeping bags, dog beds) and I started a fire and dinner. Hotdogs over the fire and then cut up into our chilimac. Yummy! Then we chilled, talked, played with the fire, etc. Seemed like it was going to rain so everything went back to D'Azul or into the tent. 9:30pm and in we go.
An early night after taking about 4-1/2 hours to complete a 2-hour drive today! Crazy!
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