Well, the CTC is now officially "The Camper". We just got back from our first camping trip, and everything went pretty well. We had decided to make the first trip a short one, so we went to Ely, Minnesota, where the town was holding its "Blueberry Festival". We stayed in the Bear Head Lake State Park campground about 20 minutes from town. This is about a three hour drive from our part of northern MN.
This is a lovely state park, with very nice surroundings, wildlife, beautiful scenery, and some amenities. The camp sites are very private and have electricity. There is a water fill and tank dumping station just inside the entrance of the park.
This shows our campsite when we first arrived. All of the sites have a fire ring and a picnic table.
This path takes you around the bay to an area where you can rent kayaks, canoes, and fishing boats.
This is a lovely lake -- it's very quiet because there's a 15 MPH boat speed limit. This lake is about 20 minutes from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, (BWCA).
How did the new camper perform?? Everything went pretty well, but we had forgotten a few items. You can see here that we need to pack a few more leveling blocks!! This was not an ideal setup, but it worked.
I had also forgotten to pack a knife, so had to cut the pizza with a scissors. I know it sounds kind of gross, but I did wash them first.
We were very pleased with how comfortable the beds were, and how much space we had indoors. The air conditioner worked great. The weather was nice, but we had to leave the dogs in the camper while we were at the blueberry festival, so we left the AC running for them.
Overall it was a successful outing and we had a great time. And now we have a state park sticker, which will come in handy with the camper. Minnesota has over 70 state parks around the state, so we've got lots of options for short trips. I'm already thinking about a longer trip -- maybe run down to Florida and enjoy some warm weather over Christmas vacation.
Sounds good!