Strand Family Reunion, Detroit Lakes, MN

This past weekend the Wandering Weirdos went to Long Lake Campsite in Detroit Lakes, MN for the Strand Family Reunion. My Aunt Sandy (Dad’s sister) and her husband came to visit from Seattle to visit their siblings; spread out between North Dakota and Omaha. And since it is summer time, that means lake time! We’ve been to Detroit Lakes twice last year to visit my Uncle Jim and his family who have a permanent site there.  So since they have their permanent site and we have our tiny home, and my parents and brother live in Fargo, we decided it would be a perfect place for all of us to get together for a nice long weekend.

The Journey

On Friday, we knocked off work about 3:00 to get on the road to head up to Detroit Lakes.  Traffic was typically bad heading north for a weekend out of the Twin Cities so our GPS took us on a bit of an unusual route to get to Detroit Lakes.  It took us awhile to get there but eventually we arrived after almost four hours on the road.  Once in Detroit Lakes, we checked in and began our setup.

The Campground

Since we have stayed at Long Lake Campground twice already, we have already talked about the campground.  I will mention a few things again; the old lady that owns the campground needs to retire and let her son run the place, she’s flat out rude!  The entire campground is pretty dated.  The roads through the site are very narrow and difficult to pull a camper through – and impossible to pass anyone coming the other direction.  The restrooms are pretty dated and not very clean, showers aren’t very pleasant to use.  Also, not enough sites have sewer.  That wouldn’t be a big deal if the restrooms were cleaner. The reason they’re so successful is they are on a nice lake which isn’t overcrowded and they have a nice beach, and in Detroit Lakes without being on the loud, touristy area.

Friday Night

Once we got our setup done on Friday, we walked up to Uncle Jim and Connie’s site where my the rest of the family was hanging out and sitting around the fire.  My cousins, Annika, and her boyfriend Mitch, and Elli were there as well. After all the parents and grandkids decided to turn in for the night, us cousins and significant other sat around the fire sipping beverages for awhile longer.  A little after midnight, everyone decided to retire to their respective campers for the night.

My parents and Sandy and Chuck don’t have campers, so they stayed in a hotel. My parents and the girls had one room so Kyle stayed in our camper with us since there was no room for him at the hotel.

Busy Saturday

On Saturday morning we all slept in since Fridays are hard. Once we were up and moving, Kyle went back to the hotel to help his kids get ready and we had to run into Detroit Lakes and run a couple errands to get a few groceries we had forgotten at home.  Uncle Jim and Aunt Connie rented a pontoon for the weekend and they also have kayaks so we decided to have an afternoon on the water.  Sam and I went back to our site and grilled up some burgers so we wouldn’t be out on the water with empty stomachs.  Once full, we borrowed the kayaks and paddled around the north end of Long Lake for an hour or so while some of the Strands cruised around the lake on the pontoon.  We saw a couple of loons while out on the lake and they let us paddle very close which was pretty cool.

After we paddled back to the campsite, we got on the pontoon with more of the family and took a nice tour of the lake for an hour or two.  There were some very impressive homes on the South End of the Lake.  After we got done with our pontoon cruise, the whole family placed an order for several pizzas to go from Zorbaz in Detroit Lakes for dinner.  Uncle Jim was very impressed with our new truck so he and Connie as well as my dad and I drove back into Detroit Lakes to grab the food.  Zorbaz’s pizza was delicious and there was plenty of it to go around!

After dinner, my cousin Dan who was able to get away from his job at the funeral home for a few hours, came out to see everyone for awhile.  I hadn’t seen him in quite some time either so it was good to catch up.  We took another cruise around the lake on the pontoon which was super nice as it was starting to get dark and the temperature was cooling off nicely.  Once we arrived back at the campground, we started up the fire and began to enjoy some beverages and sit around the fire and have some good conversation.  It was fun to see my Dad interact with his siblings who don’t get together very often.  After some time, the older folks decided to turn in and leave the young kids cousins out sitting around the fire.  We stayed up for a few hours sipping beverages and having great conversation again around the fire.  Eventually, we needed to turn in for the night as we were all struggling to keep our eyes open.

Sunday Fun Day

The girls had s’mores and Toby had opinions

Once again on Sunday morning, Sam and I overslept breakfast.  So we got up and moving and wandered back up to Jim and Connie’s.  We all decided to take the pontoon out for a cruise around the lake before it was due to be returned.  Kyle and the girls, Annika, Elli, Jim, and Connie all went out for awhile and Sam decided she was going the kayak while we were on the pontoon.  My parents arrived back in Detroit Lakes in the early afternoon after having to go back into Fargo in the morning so Pastor Mom could give her sermon and we had more relaxation time at the campsite.  Chuck and I were recruited to help Jim pull the pontoon out of the water so we had to wander back to the lake to take care of that.  Once that mission was accomplished everyone hung out and ate lunch back at the site.  After lunch, Chuck and Sandy had to leave so we said our goodbyes.  Uncle Jim also needed me to help him return the pontoon in case he had to back the trailer into a tight space as I have more experience backing up trailers.  We had some good conversation during the drive into Detroit Lakes mostly about camper ownership.

Once we arrived back at the campground, Jim and Connie had to leave so they could get home to Grand Forks.  My parents and Kyle and the girls stuck around for awhile longer and we drove back into Detroit Lakes to Zorbaz for dinner, once again it was delicious.  Zorbaz is a must while in the Detroit Lakes area.  After dinner it was time for them to head back to Fargo.  However, before they left, they put their names on the waiting list for a permanent site there as well.  They will need to find a camper for themselves now!

Once everyone had gone their separate ways, it was just us at our campsite.  We got the dogs a nice walk then started a fire at our spot.  Annika came down after awhile since she was staying another night as well.  We sat around the fire and chatted and had beverages and S’Mores until the rain moved in forcing us to call it an early night.

Monday Tear Down and Drive Home

On Monday morning, Sam and I were both actually awake in time for breakfast so I made scrambled eggs and sausage on my new awesome grill.  As always, it was delicious.  After breakfast, we began the teardown process.  During the teardown, the crank broke for the TV antenna and the campground owner’s son was able to fix it for us.  After a quick stop at the dump station, it was time to head home ending another fun weekend in our tiny home, even though we did no biking or brewery trips on this trip.