By the Shores of Mirror Lake

The hidden costs of owning a travel trailer is the dirty little secret the salespeople don't mention because the sticker shock would drive away business! But I cannot help but wonder if there is a positive correlation with the amount of money one spends at personalizing all-things-camper with the amount of "fun" people experience. Or, perhaps the more money people dump into their RVs, the more determined they are to make certain that they tell themselves they are having fun. Worse yet, perhaps the reason why so many RVers simply park at a camp site, setup their rig, and just drink under the awning is a) because they're still medicating after realizing all the money they've spent just to drive to sit and drink; b) because they've spent all that money in their RV, all they can afford to do once they arrive at their campsite is to just sit and drink! Interestingly, we are learning what it means to be RVers, albeit we are baby-RVers, at best. But to be an RVer, there is an entire new culture and language we're learning where terms such as "command strips," "rig," and "passenger's/driver's side" have entirely new meaning; meaning that translates into helping Jeff Bezos' bottom line stay in the black, no doubt. I think I'll need to write a separate post just to list all that!

In preparation for trip number-two, Amy spent a week ordering odds and ends from Amazon, packing items, repacking items, making lists, checking items off, organizing the camper, binge-watching her favorite RV YouTube channel for hints, tips, and tricks to the RV Lifestyle. T-Minus two days and counting: "Propane? "Lawn chairs? Check!" "Air compressor? Check!" "Battery-operated fans? Check!" Menu items -- fruit -- pancake mix -- tortillas -- green peppers -- fish tacos --- Check! Check! Check! Given how extensive the list was and how packed the camper's refrigerator became, we were in for a real treat!

We reserved our second camping excursion at Mirror Lake State Park, nestled right outside of the Wisconsin Dells, approximately one mile from Interstate 39. The park is secluded in the Baraboo Bluffs -- just secluded enough to make you feel like you're in nature yet close enough to civilization for any last-minute needs or access to food, water, medical, et cetera to be relatively convenient to obtain. But our second trip was more about one of redemption. If the first trip was all about trying our new camper to begin to learn the ropes of the RV lifestyle, then this second trip to Mirror Lake would be about enjoying the solitude of state park camping while, at the same time, have our first family camping experience. Given our experience in the fishbowl during our inaugural trip, we were looking forward to camping in a state park where we could enjoy the relative solitude and flora. Being our second trip with the camper, there were a few firsts this excursion offered: first time filling our freshwater tank; first time Sydney camping...ever; kayaking/paddle boarding; the first time we would empty our gray and blackwater tanks. But perhaps most important of all, there was a lot of lemonade made during this trip! Let me explain. The old saying, when life hands you lemons, make lemonade resonated a bit because there were several things during the course of the weekend that, contrary to what we expected, that simply went, 'meh,' and some that just didn't seem to work out.

The campsite area itself was in a cul-de-sac, which I appreciated. The RV spot was nice with ample room to maneuver the trailer. The electrical service (30 amp) worked great, too. The tent pad for the kids was large and flat and there was plenty of shade without feeling as if we were in a rain forest. Overall, the state park was busy, but not to capacity. Thankfully, there was no issue renting kayaks and paddle boards. The amenities at the park are what one would expect -- showers, toilets, pit toilets, boat launch, water points, duping station, and electrical hookup for the RV. The restrooms/showers were clean -- the park was clean. The park itself has hiking trails, a paved trail that allows for easy access for everyone, and the views of the lake and bluffs are great. So, what a perfect place for experiencing camping for the first time. We pulled into the campsite and with some effort -- still learning the peculiarities of backing a travel trailer. But Amy and I have begun to develop our own language for communicating how to back-in and so far it appears to be working well enough. Look at it this way -- each time we practice, we get better at it. Amy and I have a procedure for leveling, connecting the power, opening the slide, and all the other tasks necessary for setting up camp. Sydney and Julia worked on setting up their tent as Amy and I worked on the camper. Thankfully, the girls practiced erecting the tent the previous evening, so their practice really paid off as their work was completed without a hitch.

Now, let it be known that Sydney has never camped, and the only reason she agreed to come along was that we had a camper. But since Sydney wanted to bring a friend, she needed to understand that they would have to sleep in a tent because with Amy, myself, Maggie, and Swede, there would be little room for two teenagers in the camper. Reluctantly, Sydney agreed to sleep in a tent on an air mattress with her friend, Julia. Julia, by contrast, is an experienced family camper and a pretty rugged individual who is ostensibly fearless -- the perfect person to balance out at the very least, or cancel at best, Sydney's predisposed tendencies to scoff at the thought of camping. Besides, misery loves company, right? So, after pulling into the site, Sydney and Julia were tasked with erecting their tent while Amy and I setup the camper. The weather was okay -- slightly overcast but very humid and warm. As the camp site came together, I was taken aback by how peaceful this site was in contrast to our first excursion in Milton.

Once the camper, tent, and picnic table canopy were all set, the next task was to build the campfire.

Now, I was a Boy Scout when I was a kid in Oregon (state) -- achieved the rank of Life Scout and only a few merit badges and a service project away from Eagle. I know how to make campfires. I make fires in my fireplace all winter. Making a campfire is an elementary task...until it isn't. For the life of me, I could not get the fire going. While it is true the wood that I had for kindling was rather damp, and while it is equally true that we did not have enough tinder and kindling to establish a good base, which was exacerbated by the damp material, any skill I thought I had seemed to disappear. After several promising but failed attempts, Amy set out to buy some Matchlight so we would at least establish a base for the rest of the campfire. While away, the girls and I decided to play a rather engaging game of Uno under the canopy over the picnic table. Mid-game we heard a "whoosh!" and voila -- a campfire! Not too long after the fire began to roar Amy pulled back into the campsite with charcoal and lighter fluid, apparently the last the local convenience store had in stock! Once we finished our last game, we prepared a quick dinner of campfire pizzas made with some type of folding bread-toaster. Actually, the pizzas were rather tasty...something like a cross between a pizza and grilled a cheese sandwich.

The rest of the evening by the fire was peaceful and the girls certainly saved room after dinner for s'mores. Afterwards, they decided to retire for the evening while I stayed up and realized how nice it would be if I had remembered to bring a fire poker! Time for bed.

I will only speak for myself, but I slept marginally well in the camper. Sydney did a great job of letting us know just how much of a fail the air mattress was during the night as it deflated while the evening soundtrack of nature offered a cacophony of animal noises that would certainly leave her battle-hardened. Julia's stoicism was an entertaining contrast to Sydney's hyperbole. I wonder if she noticed the pea that I put under the air mattress?

For some reason, I was had some inexplicable hip pain that made walking somewhat difficult. But that wasn't going to prevent me from enjoying the day with the family. We planned to go down to the water for the girls to kayak, Amy paddle board, and I would just enjoy hanging with the dogs. The temperature was considerably cooler than the previous day and despite the possibility of rain in the forecast, we were all in good spirits. I made pancakes and bacon for breakfast for the girls to enjoy -- an all-time favorite for Sydney. We were also looking forward to having those fish tacos for dinner! Amy makes a really amazing fruit salsa and we had been talking it up for days! So the day's agenda was pretty simple: eat breakfast, clean up, go down to the lake for a few hours, rest for a bit, and then make dinner.

Mirror Lake is peaceful and picturesque, despite its proximity to the Interstate. And even though the campground and lake are essentially located in the Dells, the surrounding bluffs and trees provide a natural visual barrier. Interestingly, one of Wisconsin's most popular (might I even say, 'historic'?) supper clubs, Ishnala, is on the bank of Mirror Lake just a few meters from the boat landing.

We made our way to the rental station where the kids opted for a two-hour kayak rental while Amy chose the paddle board. I am not a fan of swimming or water sports, but I do enjoy looking at the water as well as people watching. While there was not a lot of people to watch, I did have two dogs to manage. Swede and Maggie are proving to be very good at being "camping dogs," but they do take a while to settle-in to the new environments, especially when their leaders continue to become entangled time and again with picnic benches, fire rings, random trees, and God knows what else. But the time on the lake was enjoyable as the dogs recognized Sydney and Julia in the kayak as they approached the shore -- Maggie seemed particularly excited and even ran her leader to the bank of the lake to greet them.

After about an hour and a half, Amy and the girls traded -- Julia and Sydney would take turns on the paddle board while Amy and I would float the kayak over to the bridge.

I hadn't paddled a kayak before, although I had experience with rubber boats from my days in the Marine Corps -- similar principle, but certainly out of practice in the most novice of ways. That said, and despite not having an affinity for being on the water, we had a nice time...nice enough that I would love to do that again with Amy, but perhaps plan it better so that we have an opportunity to experience Ishnala. Upon our return to the campsite, Julia's mother called to tell her about their dog, Molly, whose health had been in a long, gradual decline took a turn for the worse and was being put down later that afternoon. Devastated, Julia needed to go back to Madison -- her mom would meet us in Baraboo where, if Julia felt up to it, would return to our campsite later in the evening sometime around dinnertime.

I don't know exactly what time we decided to start preparing dinner, but the thought of eating fish tacos, fresh salsa, and guacamole was the culinary treat we had been talking up for days and not were were going to take THAT for granted. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Amy exclaimed, "I forgot the fish!" I thought she was joking at first. But no. In all of the meticulous planning, Amy put "fish tacos" on the list, but unlike other items on the list where each ingredient, condiment, or other necessities were delineated, fish tacos were its own stand-alone item where no one thought to double or triple-check as we packed up. So, to our chagrin, the only prepared items we had for dinner were raw onions, red, and green bell peppers, all making for a nice dinner of sautéed veggies. We had tortillas...they were on the list. Neither of us were compelled to drive into the Dells or Baraboo to buy fish...we were somewhat deflated from such a gaffe and it was getting late. About the time the veggies were finished, Julia arrived. We were glad she returned to stay the second night with Sydney, despite setting the expectation that Julia may not return. While clearly saddened by the loss of her dog, Molly, I could tell that being at the campsite with Sydney was kind of therapeutic for her.

Sometimes what we think will happen and how events actually happen can be light years apart. Take the issue with dinner on night two: suffice it to say that dinner that night was lousy -- I'm not going to lie. The flavor wasn't great, it wasn't very satiable, but that wasn't necessarily the issue so much as all the build-up to having fish tacos; we ended up eating more humble pie than anything else. Be that as it may, I must say that our second trip with the camper was truly a success. What made it successful wasn't that it was a perfect trip. To the contrary, we made lemonade. We made the best of what we had and rested in knowing that we were camping! We were with family! We were together and we were healthy! Even though dinner sucked, we shared a meal together at a campsite outside of our new camper. Even though Julia was sad because of her family loss, she had a friend to support her who understands what it's like to lose a furry family member. Despite the small snags or setbacks, our attitude shaped our experience. Despite all the lemons that were thrown at us, we chose to make lemonade.

As for Sydney, well...she seemed to just barely tolerate it all; Sydney hates bugs. She may never outgrow her loathing of creepy-crawling things, but she's learning how to adapt to novel situations and, hopefully, to appreciate what she has so that she doesn't take them for granted. As we closed down for the evening, I was happy to be alive and enjoying time with the people who matter most to me in life.

The next morning proved to be somewhat uneventful although the main task was to do a short hike on one of the trails before leaving camp. So the plan was to close-down the campsite and pack up our equipment, unhook the electrical, and prepare for the much anticipated emptying of the gray and black water tanks! The hiking was more of a nature trail walk.

Julia seemed to enjoy it --The dogs were well-behaved, as they enjoy walking. However, they have a peculiar tendency to want to walk abreast, so that complicated how we walked them. We'll have to continue to figure that out. After the walk, we loaded up the crew and pulled out toward the waste water dump station.

In the RV world, the term "poopsie" is not one of endearment -- quite the opposite. Let me explain. When my daughters were toddlers and they fell down, dropped something, or made a mistake, we'd exclaim "oops!" Sometimes, we'd say "oopsie!" Well, a "poopsie" is definitely an "oops," but contextual to the raw sewage from the "black" tank. In other words, a poopsie is literally an oops with poop. See? As we pulled up to the dump cap, visions of poopsies of epic, catastrophic proportions swam through my mind's eye. The procedural sequence, the latex gloves, the Clorox wipes -- the Rhino accordion drain pipe with the clear end (clear, so you can see the color of the water...brown...gray...gross) firmly attached to the drain tank. One, two, three -- pull black tank release --- swoosh! There is something to be said about how high-risk incidents can produce crystal clear mental acuity...like skydiving. There's something about knowing that one simple slip-up can have grave results. I played the procedure in my head dozens of times...Amy assured me that poop is no big deal. Oh contraire, poop is such a big deal that it is literally a multi-trillion-dollar industry from sanitation infrastructure to personal sanitation products. I suppose it just Depends on one's perspective. But our perspective are skewed by our experiences and my experience as the perpetual clutz rendered visions of some sort of fecal graffiti that would resemble a Jackson Pollack masterpiece. To my pleasant surprise there were no "poopsies" and simply underscores the teamwork between Amy and I developed. Hence, the period at the end of the Mirror Lake State Park experience was placed and we could leave the area feeling that, despite the way some events turned out, we ended on a high note.

At the end of the experience, we learned that our expectations of what a Wisconsin State Park campsite was all about was certainly spot-on; beautiful, well-maintained public grounds with basic amenities that balance the sense of roughing-it along with some creature comforts. We learned that setting up and closing the camper is a process that allows us to function as an effective team. The experience at Mirror Lake, at the very least, just reinforced that Amy and I truly enjoy camping and, despite the setbacks, appreciate being in nature. At most, the experience imbued a memory that would provide a foundation for Sydney, in time, to develop an appreciation and a deep affection for spending time outdoors -- especially camping. As for Amy and I, the Mirror Lake experience underscored the kind of camping / RV experience we prefer along with providing several moments for bonding, learning, and reaffirming that we are happy with what Amy insists is an impulsive purchase. Perhaps that is a topic for another blog article? Hmmmmmm. : )