Prairie Island Campground, Winona, MN (Tropical Weekend)

The Journey

This past weekend Sam and I visited Winona and stayed at Prairie Island Campground, in Sam’s old college stomping grounds and home of Winona State University over a very hot and humid weekend.  On Friday, we wrapped up our work day and hit the road.  Unfortunately, traffic leaving the Twin Cities was awful and for some reason our GPS routed us through Rochester then over to Winona so it took us almost 3 hours to get there.  We also had to pass through a storm in the Rochester area.  Once we finally arrived at Prairie Island Campground and checked in, we had to set up quickly so we could have dinner.

The Campground

Prairie Island Campground is run by the city of Winona.  It’s a big campground with some primitive sits and plenty of electric and water sites. The good news is that we could book and order firewood online (bad websites are a pet peeve)!  Another perk was that they offer kayak and paddle board rentals, we didn’t take advantage of this but it could be fun!  Our site was a very large back-in site with a nice view of the Mississippi River and plenty of room on either side of the camper.  The rest of the sites were about the same size and there were also a few primitive sites with no hookups at all that were being used by boondocking campers.  There were no sites with sewer, all RV sites had water and electric only, but they did have a dump station.  This was no problem for us as we were only there for a weekend but it could have been a problem had we been staying longer, we would have needed a portable tank if Prairie Island Campground didn’t have a honeywagon service available.  The restrooms were fairly clean, not perfect though as they looked like they had been used a lot throughout the day without cleaning.  There was no air conditioning in the restroom building which is pretty normal but a quick bathroom break resulted in a VERY SWEATY experience.  It wasn’t the best campground we’ve stayed at but wasn’t the worst either. This trip really reminded both of us that camping in an RV is the way to go versus a tent – we had air conditioning! Did I mention how hot it was?

Friday Night

Once set up was complete, it was time for a quick run to the liquor store and dinner.  I used my new Coleman Road Trip Grill to grill up some cheeseburgers.  We also enjoyed potato salad, chips and dip, our typical camping food.  After dinner, we spent the rest of the evening sitting by the fire as we do enjoying several tasty beverages.  Around midnight we had enough of the heat and humidity and decided to turn in for the night and enjoy the air conditioner in our camper.  We connected our smart TV in the bedroom to the campground’s WiFi to try and watch a movie while laying in bed but the signal was too weak so we just called it a night and fell asleep. One thing about Winona, it’s a railroad town, so there was train noise all night.

Bike to Beer Ride

On Saturday, Sam woke up around 8:00 but I was still struggling with my sleep schedule after returning from our vacation on Maui so I didn’t wake up until 10:30!  I don’t remember the last time I accomplished that feat! When Sam go up with the dogs, Toby somehow managed to get his toenail stuck in the stairs – he broke his toenail and bled a lot. He limped along the rest of the walk and demanded his couch where he licked the half on, half off toe nail. Poor old man refused to get off his couch and leave the camper, full stop.

By the time we got ready, it was too late for our usual camping breakfast so we just made a quick run to try and find a ramp to help Toby get up and down into the truck and the camper but we couldn’t find anything at Wal-Mart or Menard’s.  We were able to get a disinfecting, numbing, clotting medicine for him.  Since we couldn’t find a ramp, I had to carry the old guy in and out of the camper every time.  Talk about the royal treatment for King Toby. His toenail stopped bleeding and did eventually break off all the way. The topical medicine we got for him made a big difference.

Helping the old guy out

We returned home to the camper and I fired up my new (did I mention I really like it?) grill and had brats for lunch, delicious.  After we finished lunch, we hopped on our bikes to brave the heat and humidity and head into town to check out Island City Brewing.  The ride was really hot but only 4 miles long so not too bad.

Island City Brewing was a little difficult to get to because of Winona’s town festival, Steamboat Days going on over the weekend and several streets were blocked off for the festivities.  The brewery building was a really cool old building directly across the street from the railroad tracks and Mississippi River.  It appears to be a converted railroad warehouse building.  They have a small patio outside with beanbags and several tables with umbrellas.  Also, the Winona Humane Society had a dog bath station set up outside the brewery that day as part of the Steamboat Days festivities.  No way Toby or Buddy would go for someone else bathing them, its hard enough for Sam and I to do it!  The inside of the taproom had a small stage on one side for live music and several large tables and a bar.  The air conditioning inside was very nice on a 94 degree day with 80% plus humidity.

Island City Brewing Brew Reviews

And now for the important stuff, the beer!  Sam had the Cellar Bear Blackberry Saison.  I don’t like saisons so we have to go off of her word for it.  She said she expected more berry flavor and it was less carbonated than most saisons.  She gave it a rating of 5/10 and wouldn’t order it again.  I had the Buoylicious Hazy IPA.  Hazy IPAs are cloudy IPA because they haven’t been filtered as much, giving it the cloudy appearance. It wasn’t as hazy as other hazy IPAs that I have had, I could almost see through it.  It tasted like a pretty standard IPA, it had a slightly lower alcohol content making it pretty sessionable.  It wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t great either, I gave it a 6/10.  Overall, I’d recommend Island City Brewing for something to do in Winona but I wouldn’t put it too high on your priority list, it was pretty average, cool building and location, very average beer.

After the brewery, we walked around Winona Steamboat Days for awhile, there was a car show going on which was pretty cool then made our way over to Bub’s Brewing Company, (pronounced Boobs, which still made Sam laugh) also in downtown.  They no longer brew their own beer so I won’t go in depth on a review.  That was one of the places Sam used to go in her college days.  We had a couple of light lagers and a delicious order of fried mushrooms there before jumping on our bikes and heading back Prairie Island Campground.

Once we arrived back at the campground, we took the dogs for a quick walk and got cleaned up as we were very sweaty from the steamy bike ride.  We then decided to skip dinner and take Buddy back into town to enjoy more of Winona Steamboat Days, Toby stayed back at the camper to let his nail heal and to rest his old man hips.  Our first stop was at the beer garden where security told us we could bring Buddy in.  There was only a handful of people there and they all seemed to want their turn to pet the awesome German Shepherd.  One of the bartenders even brought him a bottle of water.  We were there long enough to order one beer when one the officials of Steamboat Days told us dogs weren’t allowed in the beer garden tent and we had to leave.  At least he refunded our beer tickets and allowed us to finish the one we were drinking.  From there we had to get some cheese curds from one of the vendors, and another beer at Island City Brewing.

We left Steamboat days and drove up to Garvin Heights, a scenic overlook on the bluffs with an amazing view of Winona and the Mississippi into Wisconsin below.

After enjoying the view and Buddy trying to herd the goats behind the fence, we stopped by Dairy Queen for an ice cream dinner because we’re adults and then it was back to Prairie Island Campground.

Once we arrived back at Prairie Island Campground, it was time to start our fire.  We sat around the fire and enjoyed a few more beers and S’mores.  We had some great relaxation time before taking the dogs for one last short walk an then turn in for the night and enjoy the air conditioning.

Tear Down and Trip Home

Once again, I slept in on Sunday morning.  Not quite as late, I got up a little after 9:00.  Once we were up and moving, Sam made scrambled eggs and I grilled sausage links on my grill and we had our usual delicious camping breakfast.  After breakfast, we began the tear down process which went smoothly, the only issue was that it was a bit sweaty.  We finished the tear down and made a quick stop at the dump station to empty our sewer tanks before heading back home ending a great trip to Prairie Island Campground in Winona!