I swear the ground is softer in Wisconsin
Jul. 9th, 2006 10:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
naomikritzerThe problem from my perspective with holding a con in the summer -- on the weekend right around July 4th, say -- is that cons are always held indoors, in hotels, where you can literally spend an entire day (or at least hours at a time) without even knowing what the weather is like. In March (when Marscon is held) Minnesota is usually still pretty cold and miserable; on Easter Weekend (when Minicon is traditionally held) the weather is at best dodgy (for some reason, it's almost always beautiful on Palm Sunday and then awful on Easter). But July in Minnesota is usually pretty nice.
This weekend, for instance, the weather was gorgeous. Perfect summer weather: warm but not at all humid, clear blue skies, a little breezy. It's been dry so the bugs aren't bad. Do I want to spend weekends like this one in a hotel? Well, it does help that many people I like very much go to Convergence, and other people I'd like to meet are often there, but........well, our summers are also pretty short. I kind of feel like I'd better soak up the sun while it's around. So I did not go to Convergence this weekend: I went camping.
Ed took Molly camping last summer at a park called Sacatah, which is south of the Twin Cities, not too far from Faribault. That's where we went -- all of us, this time. My neighbor saw us packing up to go and we wound up chatting for a little while. She noted that when she was a kid, she loved camping, but her parents did all the work. And that's exactly my experience: I remember how fun it was to roast marshmallows and sleep in a tent, and all the work of planning and packing and loading and setting up...well, you know, someone else did that.
We got to the park in early afternoon on Saturday, had a picnic, and rented a canoe, since the girls were both lobbying (loudly) for a boat ride. We saw a big, funky looking bird: I can't name birds to save my life (okay, I can do robins and pigeons) but having consulted the Google images I think it was a heron. Kiera thought it looked like a flamingo, which I thought was pretty funny; it was a little bit the flamingo shape and posture (long, skinny legs; snaky neck), but not at all pink. Canoeing was fun, except that when we got back to shore I realized that I had badly strained something in my lower back. We moved into our campsite, unloaded, and put up the tent; Ed built a fire and made dinner. During dinner, I managed to burn myself on the hand badly enough to leave a blister, and spent the next hour holding an ice cube and wondering if we were all going to have to drive back to Faribault in search of an Urgent Care.* Fortunately, it quit hurting just in time to roast marshmallows. I know, reading this makes it sound like I faked multiple injuries to get out of the work, but I swear to God I really hurt myself both times. My back felt a lot better by the time I burned myself, at least.
There's a rails-to-trails bike path that goes through Sacatah and leads into town. We'd brought Molly's bike and the jogger, and today Molly rode while Ed and I walked and Ed pushed Kiera in the jogger, and we went into town for lunch and ice cream.
Despite the mishaps, it was really fun. It had been a really long time since I went camping. It probably shouldn't surprise me that the ground was harder than I remember.
* My paranoia about relatively minor burns stems from bad burn I got while in college. Every other time I've been burned, I've held a cold pack on it for an hour or two and its quit hurting. The burn I got from my dining hall waffle iron never felt any better. Also, when I'd put the cold pack (actually, my cereal bowl of unmelted snow) down, as soon as my hand thawed out, the burn would start hurting so much that my vision would start to go fuzzy at the edges. Towards late afternoon, I finally broke down and went to the nurse's office. She scolded me for not having come in immediately, then put this stuff called Silvadene on it. It quit hurting in less than five minutes. I wish Silvadene were available over the counter, it would be really handy to have for injuries like the blister I got last night.
This weekend, for instance, the weather was gorgeous. Perfect summer weather: warm but not at all humid, clear blue skies, a little breezy. It's been dry so the bugs aren't bad. Do I want to spend weekends like this one in a hotel? Well, it does help that many people I like very much go to Convergence, and other people I'd like to meet are often there, but........well, our summers are also pretty short. I kind of feel like I'd better soak up the sun while it's around. So I did not go to Convergence this weekend: I went camping.
Ed took Molly camping last summer at a park called Sacatah, which is south of the Twin Cities, not too far from Faribault. That's where we went -- all of us, this time. My neighbor saw us packing up to go and we wound up chatting for a little while. She noted that when she was a kid, she loved camping, but her parents did all the work. And that's exactly my experience: I remember how fun it was to roast marshmallows and sleep in a tent, and all the work of planning and packing and loading and setting up...well, you know, someone else did that.
We got to the park in early afternoon on Saturday, had a picnic, and rented a canoe, since the girls were both lobbying (loudly) for a boat ride. We saw a big, funky looking bird: I can't name birds to save my life (okay, I can do robins and pigeons) but having consulted the Google images I think it was a heron. Kiera thought it looked like a flamingo, which I thought was pretty funny; it was a little bit the flamingo shape and posture (long, skinny legs; snaky neck), but not at all pink. Canoeing was fun, except that when we got back to shore I realized that I had badly strained something in my lower back. We moved into our campsite, unloaded, and put up the tent; Ed built a fire and made dinner. During dinner, I managed to burn myself on the hand badly enough to leave a blister, and spent the next hour holding an ice cube and wondering if we were all going to have to drive back to Faribault in search of an Urgent Care.* Fortunately, it quit hurting just in time to roast marshmallows. I know, reading this makes it sound like I faked multiple injuries to get out of the work, but I swear to God I really hurt myself both times. My back felt a lot better by the time I burned myself, at least.
There's a rails-to-trails bike path that goes through Sacatah and leads into town. We'd brought Molly's bike and the jogger, and today Molly rode while Ed and I walked and Ed pushed Kiera in the jogger, and we went into town for lunch and ice cream.
Despite the mishaps, it was really fun. It had been a really long time since I went camping. It probably shouldn't surprise me that the ground was harder than I remember.
* My paranoia about relatively minor burns stems from bad burn I got while in college. Every other time I've been burned, I've held a cold pack on it for an hour or two and its quit hurting. The burn I got from my dining hall waffle iron never felt any better. Also, when I'd put the cold pack (actually, my cereal bowl of unmelted snow) down, as soon as my hand thawed out, the burn would start hurting so much that my vision would start to go fuzzy at the edges. Towards late afternoon, I finally broke down and went to the nurse's office. She scolded me for not having come in immediately, then put this stuff called Silvadene on it. It quit hurting in less than five minutes. I wish Silvadene were available over the counter, it would be really handy to have for injuries like the blister I got last night.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-07-10 03:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-10 04:02 am (UTC)Kiera would love roseate spoonbills. They're pink like flamingoes, but their bills are shaped like spoons. There's something rather Wonderland about them.
Camping
Date: 2006-07-11 05:25 pm (UTC)The bird - sounds like a Great Blue Heron. They're majestic tall birds with a pointed bill and are the largest of the Herons in North America. They also come in a white morph, but I've never seen one and I've been birding since I could hold a pair of binoculars. We also have Great Egrets here but they're smaller than the Heron and of course blindingly white. :) It sounds like you had a lovely time though.
Re: Camping
Date: 2006-07-12 01:27 am (UTC)Minnesota parks generally seem to be fairly dog-friendly. You can walk your dog on a leash in practically any park in Minneapolis or St. Paul; we also have lots of off-leash dog areas, including a park with a dog swimming beach on the Mississippi.
Re: Camping
Date: 2006-07-12 07:04 pm (UTC)I have never been to Sacatah. I've heard it is gorgeous though. I totally agree with the leashing policy. It just makes it so much safer for everyone involved, including the dogs.
Kraemer and I have found some beautiful dog friendly parks all over the metro, which is nice. Unfortunatly so many of the overnight camps I have gone to in the past now don't allow it. Apple River and Cannon River spring instantly to mind. Though Apple River is in WI.
I am very fond of the ROMP organization which goes out of its way to organization and purchase tracks of lands for the fur-kinds. I have not been to the beach on the Mississippi as of yet. We go to Rice Creek quite a bit though.
Kris