Prairie Adventure: Plum Creek campground

Our days on this epic road journey have been so filled with adventure and mosquitoes and prairie wind and incredible photo opportunities that we are all pretty much walking around in a state of overload.

Everywhere we turn we are finding new little nuggets of fascinating info about Laura and about the prairie and, you know, even about one another.

The kids are out of sync with their regular sleeping routines and we’ve had an excess of hours in a small space called a vehicle.

Kevin has been working as we travel along – masterfully fitting in his job at picnic tables and coffee shops and campgrounds.

Goodness – what a gift it’s been for him to have a job that can go where he goes – and where we go.

In Walnut Grove we stayed a few nights at the Plum Creek Campground.

For a prairie campsite – we were thrilled to see so many trees.

I know they weren’t native to Minnesota but I found myself super happy to see them.

In Wisconsin the trees were few and far between and I missed our hammocks.

The campground was really so pretty. Well planned. With soft green grass for your tent to rest upon. A touch of privacy per campsite. It was on the edge of a cornfield and there was a sweet (and very long) trail that looped around the lake.

The showers were – sort of hilarious. Everything was super clean and that’s always a bonus. But the showers were the push-button variety and I’ve never had the experience of pushing a button to receive approximately eight seconds of water at a burst. It was downright comical to supervise three daughters showering in such a fashion.

But enough about that – right? Hey. I believe in truth in writing. If I’m going to tell you about a place, you might as well know what you’re getting into.

And push button showers are what you’re getting into at Plum Creek Campground.

Honestly, the showers weren’t a big deal and we loved the well designed tent sites and the spacious feel of the campground.

Lake Laura was a lovely little jewel right on the campground.

In a bit of down time I brought out the old Koosh ball from my youth and introduced the kids to the Koosh Ball Challenge Emma and I made up when we were kids.

The challenge is to see how many times you can hit the Koosh ball back and forth without dropping it or catching it – just your basic swatting. I think mine and Emma’s childhood record reaches to the hundred mark. The kids and I felt accomplished when we broke twenty!

The Saturday morning we were at Plum Creek Campground we saw signs at the campsite for a fishing derby to be held right there at Lake Laura.

The kids had already convinced Kevin to strap the fishing poles to the roof you know so Bergen asked if we could enter that fishing derby.

We said sure – why not?

It was a first time experience for all of us. There was a time set and the kids just tried to catch as many fish as they could before the time ran out.

The kids loved it. It’ll certainly be a surprise highlight of this trip for them. (Especially Otto Fox, who pulled in the most for our family with four fish.)

It was a sweet little event with a neat chance to meet several local Walnut Grove residents as it was an event sponsored by the Walnut Grove Loggers – a civic community group like our Jaycees or Lions or Rotary clubs. They were a really kind group of people who seemed to truly love their town.

After time was called and everyone’s fish were weighed, the winners were announced. We didn’t get any prizes for most fish but Piper’s name was drawn at random for a free t-shirt. The participating kids also all received t-shirts (that they don’t want to take off!)
and a bag full of fun fishing supplies.

Otto was pretty stoked to add some new items to his “yure” collection.

Mosely didn’t feel the fishing vibe so she chose to be the official photographer instead. We hung out together and watched the bait fly from hook to hook.

In planning this adventure I tried to leave open time for opportunities we might meet along the way.

And I think a fishing derby was the perfect surprise experience.