SK Lee Stories: Camping at Sibley State Park

This is the earliest in the season we have ever attempted camping. Because we were not sure what the weather at night would be like, we decided to give the "camper cabins" a try. This is simply a very small cabin with 2 sets of bunk beds and a small table, but more importantly a roof and an electric heater. We arrived at the park at about noon, had some lunch, unpacked and were on the trail by 1pm. What a treat to have no tent to set up. We did the loop up to Mt. Tom. It is about a 3 mile loop. We brought the backpack carrier for Madelyn, because we were not sure how she would do hiking. She started out asking to be carried quite a bit, but after we insisted she walk at least the first half, she did eventually give up. She not only made it half way (to the top of Mt. Tom), but she made the remaining half of the loop also. All 3 miles on her own 2 feet - what a big girl! This was a nice hike with a cool observation deck at Mt. Tom. We got back to the cabin and the kids wanted to tackle geocaching, so we headed down by the lake to do that. They are getting really good at this, and hardly need any help from mom and dad at all! We had a bonfire, roasted hot dogs for dinner, and of course had smores. Got in a little playing catch, before settling in by the fire just in time to see a couple deer run right through our campsite. It was so cool. We went to bed in nice warm beds, and all slept pretty good. We woke up to rain and more rain. We spent the entire morning and afternoon playing games, listening to music and reading books. It was a very lazy day and lots of fun. The kids said their favorite part was sleeping in the camper cabin on the bunk beds.