Today, I’m debuting a new version of the Gypsy Scorecard – The Weekend Edition! This scorecard is solely reserved for places I believe are great weekend getaways, but they aren’t necessarily somewhere we would stay long term. The Weekend Edition of the Scorecard will only be used occasionally as we typically stay places long-term and always ensure they are work-from-home friendly. Occasionally, we’ll hit a weekend getaway to get off-the-grid a little bit (because who doesn’t love a weekend on the lake without cell phone service?).
Elks Campground at North Sterling State Park was also our first experience with the whole state park, first-come, first-serve to get a camping spot. We got super lucky as when we pulled up the sign said the campground was full, but we decided to drive up to the gate to make sure this was true. We lucked out and it wasn’t – in fact, most of the campground was empty and they hadn’t removed the full sign from the night before. We got our pick of spots and we found a great, large spot with a small walking trail to the reservoir. It was perfect for us to walk our paddleboards right down to the water.
On a side note – while I’m not judging cell phone service on The Weekend Edition of the Scorecard, this area has very little to no cell phone service at all. It was nice for us, but if you aren’t into that, you’ve been warned. If the kids must have Netflix, this isn’t your place, but if they’re cool playing down on the beach and in the reservoir, you’ll have a gem of a weekend.
Don’t you love this awning over the picnic table below? It was super unique, but really great! We loved how it covered not only the roof but one of the sides, too.
The below is an indoor space which is great for eating, hanging out, escaping the weather, or anything else. It is just a large open space for campers to use.
Ok. How many people have experienced this (see below)? Is this how State and National Parks are with their showers? This was our first State Park experience so we weren’t sure if it was normal or not. Let me tell you, paying for minutes of a shower with quarters is challenging. You realize how long of a shower you actually take and when you run out of time, there’s no warning. The water just shuts off.
And, the sunsets were just gorgeous.
On a completely separate note, when we left Elks Campground, we found a farm selling sweet corn right out of the field. We drove by saw the sign and did a u-turn (with a fifth wheel!). We pulled into the corn field and watched as they brought fresh corn they had just pulled off the stalks. Seriously, $5 for a dozen fresh sweet corn cobs is a killer deal. We were grilling fresh corn for the entire next week!
Freeway Gypsy 