After leaving Ash River we traveled a short distance (less than an hour) to the most western side of the park about 30 minutes south of International Falls. Our campground was called the Pines of Lake Kabetogama and their website boasted that it was a nationally ranked campground which of course has us all wondering just what exactly it would be like.
As is our way, we'd booked our campsites a year or so out (the moment they became available to book) so we landed some really good premium sites which as it turned out was exactly the right move. The campground was build on basically two levels, the water level and then maybe 20 or 30 sites up top on a ridge of sorts. The path up was nearly straight up and down depending on if you were driving or walking but the view from the top was amazing! Our three sites were positioned right on the point and looked out to the lake. Mom and Dad's site even came with a golf cart to get around the campground and up/down the big hill. It sure came in handy for moving people, chairs and coolers!
In addition to Mom/Dad and Dan in their campers Tom and Carolyn also rented the "glamper" that the lake had onsite for people who didn't own campers to use. Turns out the glamper site was right next to Mom and Dad's site so we had all 4 of us all lined up in a row. It couldn't have worked out more perfectly if we'd have planned it (which, we did...lol!). The only thing we wish we could have changed was the weather.
If we're all really honest with you, the weather on this trip sucked! It rained every single day we were in Minnesota. We lucked out to get one good boat day while we were at Ash River, but even that evening it rained. The weather was no different at Lake Kabetogama and it really made us get creative about how we were going to spend our days.
Our one boat day at this campground couldn't be refunded so we took the pontoon out in the rain and took it across the lake the the Elsworth Rock Garden (pictured above). The place was totally empty when we arrived (probably had something to do with the rain) so we had the entire place to ourselves to explore. We saw signs at the local gas station that the National Park charged $60 per person to ferry you over, give you a tour and take you back home again. If that's the case, our boat rental was totally worth it! I'm here to say don't spend $60 to go if that's your only option to see it. We went, we saw, it was ok...not worth $60 per person though. Our return boat ride was less enjoyable than our way out. Our way there was drizzily, but the way back we were in a full on rain storm and we all looked the worse for wear because of it it!
But, you know what the rain is good for? Fishing! And, thanks to all that rain, Abby caught what she'll probably always remember as her first fish just as we were pulling into the dock to go and dry off and get warm again. Tom was trying to dock the boat, there was a lot of commotion going on, and all of a sudden I heard Ryan yell that Abby had a fish on the line. It turns out she caught a 18inch (or so) Northern. It's a fun fish to catch because they fight and pull on the line and dive deep to try and get away. Ryan was able to net it and Abby was so proud of herself for catching the ONLY fish our group caught the entire trip. Ron and Carol caught 2 other fish at Ash River, but for a place known for fishing, we didn't catch much. Though, we weren't really there just to fish and we probably didn't try hard enough to be truly successful.
We celebrated Haze's 8th birthday while we were on vacation - complete with a perfect "camper cake" that turned out a little higher on one end than the other because the camper wasn't totally level. Mom and Dad organized a special birthday scavenger hunt for the girls, that ended with Hazel coming to me to get her birthday present from the entire family - a bunny!
Hazel has been relentlessly hoping for a bunny for 2+ years now and after 2 very successful hamsters we decided we'd give a bunny a try. His name is Ned and he's a baby holland lop. I'll do a full blog post to introduce him later but so far he's been a great addition to the family.
We had to get pretty creative with how we spent our days while we were here because of the rain but we did what we could when we could get outside and away from the mosquitos. We played cards and games and figured out how to watch Netflix in the camper for the first time ever (thanks to campground wifi) - the kids loved that! We visited International Falls and spent an afternoon looking around their local town museum (not the most fun for the kids) and a museum for Bronc Negerski (a former bears player and maybe the only famous person from that town.
That day in international falls DID lead us to a fun restaurant/bar where we got light beers on tap, listened to a juke box, at cheese curds and tater tots and watched the kids put too many dollars into a claw machine. A good ol' "Wisconsin" afternoon.
The rain stopped us from exploring a little bit, but this summer has been filled with draught and burn bans and fires in Canada whose smoke travels all the way down to Chicago and New York so, in the end, the rain was good for us all. And, it led to some beautiful sunsets (when we could get them), a first fish story that Abby will remember for years and lots and lots of cocktails and card games!
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