A change in plans for family members opened up an opportunity for Gary & I to go camping over the weekend at Whitewater State Park, in one of their camper cabins.
The camper cabins are cute…there isn’t a better word…just like baby animals…baby cabins are cute! The one we stayed in was only a year old. The cabins are like children’s playhouses. Inside are two bunk beds, a small picnic table with two benches, large, screened windows, electric lights and a ceiling fan and extra outlets. Each cabin has a small screen porch attached. Everything is built with knotty pine. The cabins are simple but functional and are a lot of fun to stay in.
Growing up in a kid-friendly neighborhood we had a shack in our backyard. It was a great place to play with the neighborhood gang. This camper cabin, which of course, is larger and much nicer than our backyard shack, brought back some fun memories of playing in, and on top of, the shack.
It doesn’t take long to get settled in to a camper cabin. Soon we were enjoying the great Minnesota outdoors. Whitewater State Park is in southeastern Minnesota, in a valley. The Whitewater River runs through the park, and beautiful, rocky bluffs surround the river and park.
One morning our hike took us up the bluffs with vistas at the top overlooking the valley. As we ascended so did our body temperatures, and at the same time the outside temperatures were climbing… into the 90’s, very unusual for our spring season.
Needless to say, we were very hot at the end of our hike so we quickly changed into our bathing suits and jumped into the spring-fed swimming hole in the river. It felt wonderful. This is something I rarely do anymore, but our bodies needed to cool down. I believe there is something very healing having your body surrounded completely by cool water. We could almost feel our body temperatures lowering to normal as we lingered in the water. Of course, many others in the park were also enjoying the swimming hole, but surprisingly it wasn’t crowded. It seems people stayed in the water just long enough to cool their bodies down.
After we got out of the water we took showers in the shower house and then went out for an ice cream treat.
We found some fun ways to beat this unseasonable heat.
A camper cabin would be the ideal place for someone like me, a non-camper, to stay.
Is it true that there are no mosquitoes at Whitewater? I’ve been there once, for only a brief stop.
They are wonderful but are difficult to reserve. You have to reserve months in advance unfortunately.
I haven’t heard Whitewater is mosquito free but we didn’t have any. However, I wasn’t expecting any so early in the season either.
The “no mosquitoes” is the one big positive I’ve heard about Whitewater, and from those who’ve been there.
When we were in Madison, Wisconsin, this past weekend, the mosquitoes were out in full force.
Thanks for the tip on the reserving of cabins.
It sounds like others have experienced no mosquitoes at Whitewater…that’s good news.
We didn’t notice any there over the weekend, for sure.
My friend and I were in Oshkosh for 4 days and ate outside by the river each night and didn’t feel any mosquitoes.
They must like Madison!
That sounds like so much fun Valerie. Where did you cook? We haven’t been to Whitewater for over 50 years and I don’t think they had cabins in those days. They look really neat.
We brought our camp stove for one meal and cooked over the campfire another night. 😉
I have precious memories of Whitewater. It was always our last camping time in the fall, after each year spending a month long camping trip in the US and Canada. We camped in 46 of the 48 states and all but the 3 most easterly Provinces of Canada.
Whitewater was always cool, bug free , and resplendid with various colors as each tree proudly displayed its best. Kay
I’ll have to take a day trip to Whitewater this fall. It sure is a nice park. Our last time there was over 20 years ago.
wow that looks nice!
It was very nice.