A Weekend Away: Camping Edition

Since I kind of fell off the bandwagon with my writing for Brave Love Blog's 2nd Annual Blogtember Challenge, I'm going to try my darndest to post two times a week this month! (Shhh...don't remind me that we're already a week into October...I know.)

Because of this new resolution to writing twice a week for a month, I figured I'd start with our most recent #k2eadventures--a camping trip to a state park! (Yes, it used to be #k2adventures, but then I saw so many other people were using that one...) If you follow me on IG or Twitter, you already saw a few pics, but I did promise a post all about it. So, here we go!

Bear with me...this post might get a little long.
Growing up, my family tried to camp a few times every summer. Usually we would tent and meet up with some friends. Our tent looked something like this:

Granted, this wasn't our exact tent, but it's pretty close. Once our tenting phase passed (it didn't take long), we upgraded to a pop-up camper. Since this is a pretty predictable progression, you're probably figuring out that we moved on to a hard sided camper. That being said, I wasn't a huge fan of camping.

Some things I don't love about camping...

...heat.
...bugs.
...vault toilets.
...dirt.
...heat.
...bugs.

You get the idea.

So after we were married, Kyle asked if we could buy a tent and go camping. I immediately thought about camping growing up. While I do have fond memories of those summer trips, I also remember the heat, bugs, vault toilets, dirt, etc...you get the picture. But...because we were just married and I wanted to make Kyle happy...I said okay.

Under one condition. We had to use the tent at least three times. Three.

And you know what? I didn't hate it. In fact, I really enjoyed it. Since that first camping trip together, Kyle & I have visited a few different sites. Most frequently, we visit MN State parks.

 

We've been to Lake Bemidji, Hayes Lake, St. Croix, and Lake Carlos. It's not an overly impressive list yet, but we plan to add to our list every year. We also stayed at a KOA in Maple Grove, MN and we tented in Montana a few times last summer. 

Once place we've visited every year since we've been married is Lake Bemidji State park. We love the location, the scenery, the convenient distance from home, and the town it's located in/near. Bemidji is a quaint little town--my old stomping grounds from my High School days. 

This year, Kyle and I did not have the opportunity to go camping by ourselves, so this last weekend we carpe diem-d. We took our "free-ish" weekend to spend a few days camping at Lake Bemidji State Park. And it was glorious!

Our sweet little set-up

But our wonderful little getaway wasn't without hiccups. As we were leaving my parents' house, we Kyle realized that he forgot our tent...at home! Oi. Thank goodness for my brother, we borrowed a tent and set it up in the dark. Doesn't it look cute?

 

 

Sometime soon I'll write a post about camping essentials. Maybe that will be my second post for this week. We'll see.

Not only did we leave our tent at home, but we left our coffee (!!) at home too. An awful crime! What did Kyle suggest? That we go to The Cabin. So cute. So tasty.

 

And my sweet husband let me go shopping too. I found a few gems at The Yellow Umbrella & 218 Gift. They're sister stores and only a block away from each other. If you're ever in Bemidji, stop by.

Yellow Umbrella Shop

 

218 Home + Gift

Buy Paul here

Buy Babe here

 

I adore this Minnesota necklace. I've been looking for one like this and even though I'm not a gold fan, this is absolutely darling. Paul and Babe on the other hand, are an iconic landmark in Bemidji. I've visited them many times and when I saw these dudes sitting on the shelf, I fell in love. 

 

Since we forgot our coffee, we needed to get our fix. So, we bought coffee at Dunn Bros and went back to camp to brew coffee in our new mugs from 218 Home + Gift.

 

 218 Home + Gift

And while our weekend wasn't as we planned, we definitely had a lovely time. Kyle and I were able to spend time together and really invest in each other. We had time to bike, read, and genuinely just be together. For that I'll always be grateful.

 

Lake Bemidji

  

Even though I live in North Dakota, Minnesota will always be my home. I love going back and spending time in the wonderful state I hail from.

218 Home + Gift

 

Stay tuned for more photos & the Entzel's Guide to Successful Camping.

 

Follow along here, here, & here to see what we're up to.