Owatonna and Baseball Playoffs
I have played baseball with the Pine Island Pioneers since 2000, and I am not planning on stopping anytime soon. This year, baseball playoffs were at Darrts Park in Owatonna, so we took the opportunity to make it a camping trip. We made our reservation at River View Campground just south of Owatonna.
The Journey
After work on Friday, we got the camper loaded and jumped in the truck and headed south for the short drive to Owatonna. Once we arrived at the campground in Owatonna, we got checked in and were shown to our campsite. However, someone had their truck parked in our site (that’s two trips in a row where this has happened) so we had to locate the owner and wait for it to be moved before we were able to get parked.
Once the owner of the illegally parked truck was located, setup went smoothly and we were able to grill some burgers for dinner. After dinner, we sat around the fire for awhile before the rain came and we had to call it a night.
Some of the sites backed up to the river, we pulled through parallel to the river. We could lie in bed and watch the river flow by — very relaxing. The odd part was that we pulled in, while the fifth-wheel next to us was backed-in and we had tent campers directly behind us. The tent campers were friendly, but they were right on top of us! I think there was plenty of room for them to have pitched their tent a little further away, but overall it was fine.
The Campground
River View Campground is just off of the junction of US Highway 14 and Interstate 35 just south of Owatonna. It is on the Straight River which flows through the Owatonna area. The restrooms were very clean and nicely decorated, which is a plus for those who don’t have a bathroom in their unit. The staff was very friendly and helpful with things. River View also has a lot of family organized activities at the campground, on Friday, they had bingo and on Saturday, they had a comedian perform. The sites were fairly large and a lot of them had concrete pads which made parking and leveling very easy. We would most definitely recommend River View Campground when visiting the Owatonna area.
Baseball Saturday
Toby and Buddy at the Game
On Saturday morning, we got up and ready and headed into Owatonna to Darrts Park, the site of the amateur baseball regional tournament for the 10 AM game between the Pine Island Pioneers and Owatonna Aces. Sam had the dogs and watched the game from beyond the outfield fence. The game was a battle through the first six innings until the rain hit. During the rain delay, Sam and the dogs got a nice walk along the trails at the park.
Going for a Walk at Darrts Park
3 1/2 hours later the rain had stopped and the field had been prepared for baseball again and the game resumed. We ended up losing 9-3 ending my 19th season with the Pioneers. After the game, we headed back to the campground so I could get showered and ready to have dinner. We then headed back into Owatonna to go have dinner at El Tequila Mexican Restaurant as we had a coupon from the campground. It was a pretty small restaurant in a strip mall but it was pretty tasty. We would give it a take it or leave it rating. After dinner, we headed back to the campground to sit around the fire and have a few beverages. We did get a message from my friend Travis (remember him from our Labor Day trip last year) saying he would come join us in Owatonna that evening for beers around the campfire. I mentioned how close the tent campers behind us were, Travis assumed we had for some reason brought a tent and it was our stuff … We had a good time sipping beers and having some great conversation before Travis had to head home to Rochester around midnight and we decided to turn in.
Sunday Trip Home
On Sunday morning, we slept in a bit and walked the boys. We then grilled some brunch then began our tear down process. Once torn down, we made a quick pit stop at the dump station to empty our tanks then we made the short drive home ending a fun camping trip to Owatonna. Only a couple more weeks until Okoboji!
