Casino Camping, St. Croix Casino, Danbury
The Journey
For our final camping trip of the year, we decided to go to St. Croix Casino in Danbury. Sam’s sister has a cabin nearby, so we visit the area often, but this was the first time with our camper. The casino is well loved for their inexpensive seafood buffet! After work on Friday we connected the camper, loaded the dogs into the Envoy and were off for the short 90 minute drive to the RV Park at the Casino. The drive was uneventful but it was a little later than normal when we arrived so we had to check in and get set up in the dark.
The Casino Campground, it’s not great
When we arrived at St. Croix Casino, the office at the RV park was already closed so we had to drive the quarter mile up the road to check in at the hotel front desk at the casino. We got out site assignment and drove the quarter mile back to the RV park to commence our setup process. It was hard to find our site at the park since the numbers were very difficult to see. When we got to our site and got backed in, we found that the electric and sewer hookups were on the wrong side of the camper and our cord and hose weren’t long enough! When I say wrong side, I mean if we stayed in that spot, every time we stepped out the door, we’d literally set foot on the sewer connection. This type of hookup makes sense for a pull through site, but this was a back-in site … WTF??? So we backed into the next site over, where the connections were on the correct side, site and began the setup process. We made a quick phone call to the hotel front desk to let them know what was happening and they told us we couldn’t do that! Needless to say, I was quite angry. They told us which site we could move to so we tore down and moved again and began our setup for THE THIRD TIME! The rest of the setup was uneventful. We complained about this weird set up the next day and were informed each of the sewer connections were Y-shaped, which makes sense, but they really need to do a better job of communicating that. How many people want to walk out their door in the morning and see the sewer hose? Who has cords and hoses long enough for a backwards set up? DISCLOSE THAT SH-T, St. Croix Casino!
Besides some of the sites being backwards, the campground was pretty standard and basic. The restrooms weren’t great, but they weren’t terrible either. The sites were fairly good sized but they were relatively close together. The backwards sites meant that the doors of the campers on sites next to each other faced each other so we were always looking at our neighbors. A fun setup if you’re camping with friends, an awkward set up if you’re next door to a stranger. Our neighbor was friendly enough. Every time we came out the door, he was there and wanted to pet the dogs. They were happy to let him. After all of the issues getting set up, I wouldn’t really recommend the RV park at St. Croix Casino Danbury.
Friday Night (not so much) Fun
Once we finally finished our crazy setup, we were able to finally sit down and relax. Unfortunately, it began raining so couldn’t really sit around the fire. We decided to move inside for the night where we had a couple of beverages in the camper before calling it a night.
Interesting Day of Biking and Seafood
On Saturday morning once we were up and moving and the dogs were taken care of, we made our usual delicious camping breakfast of sausage and scrambled eggs. We then prepared for a bike to beer ride down the Gandy Dancer Trail. The best part of the St. Croix Casino campground is it’s right on the bike trail. The trail is crushed limestone so we needed to bring our mountain bikes for this trip. We started out heading south on the trail for a few miles and we made our first stop at the Gandy Dancer Saloon. It is a pretty cool little small town bar, the beers were cheap but they didn’t have a large selection and they also only accepted cash which can be a little annoying. After a couple of those cheap beers, it was back on our bikes and we continued on into Webster. Webster is about 5 or 6 miles further south along the trail. Once we got into town, we made another stop for lunch at the Tap. They offer standard bar food which is pretty good and they have a pretty good beer selection for a small-town bar. We would recommend making a quick stop in there when in the area. We made one more quick stop on the way back to the campground at the Yellow River Saloon and Eatery also in Webster. It is another small town bar with a pretty small beer selection but they are cheap. The best thing is that it is right on the bike trail. After one last beer, it was time to head back north to the campground.
We had about 10 miles to go to return to the campground so we figured about 45 minutes. The first 8 miles went by uneventfully through the perfect fall weather. When we got to about 2 miles from the campground, I suddenly felt like I was no longer on my bike seat. I had just finished my thought when I hit the ground, hard. I basically belly flopped off my bike. Apparently, the welding where the seat post slides into the frame of the bike broke and the seat fell out from under me causing me to go down. The seat post broke underneath my ass! I was lucky that I didn’t get impaled before crashing. Sam was riding behind me and she said it almost looked like I intentionally crashed. We were able to put the seat back in but not tighten so it was very low so Sam rode my bike the final couple miles to the campground and I raised the seat on hers and rode it back. Hopped up on adrenaline and a sense of humor from the funny crash, I was laughing and only a little achy.
Broken Seat Post
Once we arrived back at the campground, we got cleaned up and ready to go the casino for the Saturday night seafood buffet. I walked the quarter mile a bit early so I could sit in the bar and watch the Minnesota Wild play the Carolina Hurricanes on TV. By now the adrenaline had worn off from the bike crash and I was very sore. I was in obvious pain – when I sat down at the bar the bartender asked me what was wrong, I told her I was in pain because I crashed my bike. She thought I meant a motorcycle crash and was very impressed that I was moving as well as I was! I explained that it was a bicycle crash and went on to have several cheap beers while watching the game. By the time Sam got there and it was time to eat, I was no longer in pain!
The buffet is only $15 per person and they have lots of different seafood choices including crab legs, clam strips, baked and fried fish, etc. They also have several sides. Sam and I try to get there a couple times every year. Since Sam’s sister, Cathy, has a cabin near the casino, we are able to have the seafood buffet even when we don’t have the camper. We finished eating at the buffet with uncomfortably full stomachs and made the quarter mile walk back to the camper. We got back and tried to start a fire but the wood was still wet from the night before so the fire didn’t go so well. After a while, we decided to turn in early for the night.
Tear Down and Journey Home
On Sunday morning, we had another usual camping breakfast and began our teardown process to go home. Everything went smoothly until it was time to disconnect the sewer hose. The threads where the hose attaches to the ground was stuck, and I mean really stuck. It would not budge no matter what I did or how hard I tried. We were lucky enough to have nice people at the site next to ours with two sets of pliers so we could to get a better grip on the connector. With the stronger grip we were able to get it loose and finish our teardown and hookup the camper for the drive home.
All in all, our first camping season in our new tiny home was tons of fun. We learned a lot about RV ownership and created some funny stories and great memories. We can’t wait for next year!
