Camping in Redwood Falls at Alexander Ramsey Park

Olivia, Minnesota. The Corn Capitol of the Universe (or something like that)

Hiking to the Falls. Yes, they know I hate suspension bridges. Yes, they jumped up and down on it to terrify me. Yes, I survived.


The Falls

There were cool dudes like this carved into the benches and fence posts.

I've got a tank and some Twizzlers. What else does a boy need?

On the way to Redwood Falls, we stopped in Olivia, where my Grandpa Hank Vosika was from. I'm a sucker for giant monuments like this. Darren is still annoyed about a detour we had to take in Iowa to see the World's Largest Frying Pan. Hey, I'm willing to go to FRANCE to see the Tour. You can deal with an occasional giant ball o twine, right?

Apparently you can camp in the shadow of the giant cob. I think we'll pass. Saw the first signs of the Forest Tent Caterpillar here in Olivia. They like to fall on your head. Want to see me freak? Plop a caterpillar on my head.

Forest Tent Caterpillars are a natural part of the ecosystem (according to the MN DNR) and we love getting close to nature, just not that close. Later on in the trip, we all independently discovered that they have an alarming tendency to pop with a gag inducing snap when you smash 'em. They did bring in lots of woodpeckers and we enjoyed watching big guy D get the Heebie Jeebies.

The Vosika family Port-a-Pottie dynasty was somewhere around Olivia. We'll save that for another trip, but if you're the owner of said dynasty, I am a long lost cousin, leave your email address and phone number in the comment section and we'll have to get together.

We had a great time camping! First trip of the season! We always go North when we camp, so we decided to see part of Southern Minnesota on Memorial Day weekend. There were a number of places we've been wanting to visit and figured it's always chilly on Memorial Day weekend, it would be perfect to go South.

Ahh Minnesota. Temps were in the 90s Friday and Saturday. Dry heat my butt. Hot is hot. Thankfully, we arrived Friday night with just enough time to set up camp and explore the park. The sun soon set. Too hot for a campfire, so we headed into the camper to read, sleep, and avoid more plopping caterpillars. The temps dropped quickly into blissful sleep zone and we enjoyed sleeping in and waking to the birds singing.

It was a nice place to stay, surprisingly quiet, although it was full. They have a small zoo, gorgeous trout stream, and lots of places to explore. I think we're more State Park people, but the site we had was very private (#25) and we survived the bath and shower rooms which were, um, really gross. I'll never travel without our Stinky Pete (shower tent) again. (Last minute, I tossed it out of the camper, "there are showers there." Yes, there were.)

More tomorrow.