In a week or so I'm going to take the kids camping at Afton State Park (Jonas may or may not join us overnight...he has to work the next day so it'd be slightly tricky, especially with the lack of wifi in State Parks...ha). We're renting a yurt for this experience, which should be a hoot if nothing else. :) After our Lake Mille Lacs trip I learned one basic thing: I'll likely be okay as long as I'm out of the wind in cold months, and have lots of access to wind in warm months...haha. SO, the yurt has no electricity, and no running water, but solid bunk beds, a table and chairs, and a wood burning stove? What more could a city girl need to camp, right?? Another friend of mine has rented the other yurt for the night, and another has a camper cabin nearby, so it'll be a fun homeschool gathering of kids.
A traditional yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger (Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered with skins or felt and used as a dwelling by nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. The structure comprises an angled assembly or latticework of pieces of wood or bamboo for walls, a door frame, ribs (poles, rafters), and a wheel (crown, compression ring) possibly steam-bent. The roof structure is often self-supporting, but large yurts may have interior posts supporting the crown. The top of the wall of self-supporting yurts is prevented from spreading by means of a tension band which opposes the force of the roof ribs. Modern yurts may be permanently built on a wooden platform; they may use modern materials such as steam-bent wooden framing or metal framing, canvas or tarpaulin, Plexiglas dome, wire rope, or radiant insulation.
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| Not exactly "roughing it", right?? |
I'd like to continue doing some monthly camping with this friend, so we'll likely use camper cabins from here on out, as our trips will all be just one night. There are lots of camper cabins available for $50 a night at many MN State Parks. See examples below:
PERFECT, right?? Simple, but those camper cabins do have electricity, etc. It'll be so fun to experience some MN State Parks with the kids this year. They're finally old enough where thinking of doing this is not super stressful for me: we have arrived!!! Yaay!
Stay tuned for our ACTUAL pictures of the overnight in the yurt, coming sometime soon...
