Glamping

So one of the reasons I adore my friend Elyse is that she is ALL IN. 

She had agreed to hold an event this weekend for people to explore some historic caves on the St. Croix — which involved a huge glamping style tent, canoes, a motorboat, gourmet food, and more. 

And then she realized she was going an insane amount of work for them to be there just one night, so invited us, and another set of friends, to come and stay the second night. Patrick was still at home with covid, and Chrissy's husband had to work, but our girls were up for it so off we went!

Heath and Elyse and their boys picked us up at the Osceola boat landing on Saturday afternoon and we boated down to the campsite. Much of the St. Croix there is very shallow (as I know from years spent on the river at a friend's family compound near Marine), so we spent some of the time hopping out of the boat (remember, it's a small fishing boat probably not made for 4 adults, 2 teens, 2 kids and a big dog) and walking the boar through sandbars. I pretty much fell in (fully clothed) right away...

But the campsite was incredibly worth it.

We spent some time just hanging out (Elyse and the girls swum across to the Wisconsin side and explored the rock wall full of swallow's nests!)

Then a fire and dinner and wine and time together.

The tent was lovely, and filled with 4 big air mattresses and rugs and blankets and all sorts of comfort.

Elyse took careful mental notes on the cave trip (led by the amazing Greg Brick!), so this morning we went back so Chrissy, the girls, and I could see it. But first a stop at the fern grotto:

Then we landed at the cave site, scrambled up the hill, steepest hike I've done in awhile, I was proud of myself for making it!), and were rewarded with Knapp's Cave! (also sometimes called "Mondale's Basement" because it's below some land the Mondales owned.)

Several of the group scrambled a little farther up to see the "raccoon cave" featuring a raccoon corpse, but I skipped that particular Blair Witch moment.

We then hung out on the beach for awhile and let minnows nibble our toes before returning to the campsite, breaking everything down, and then hauling it all back upstream to the boat landing. By this point we were all a little sun-addled and goofy. We all hit DQ on the way out of town.

We were supposed to be up at the cabin this weekend to celebrate Father's Day, but Patrick's covid meant that could not happen. I am so happy to have been able to spend this kind of joyful weekend with Beatrix, making great memories and spending fantastic time with wonderful people. I don't know if these families know how important to us they are, but they should. I'm humbled and grateful.