This year I was so excited to write more camping and exploring articles with our Vanagon Westfalia camper. While it is our daily driver, we like to keep it stocked for impromptu camping. Some years yield more camping than others. This was supposed to be a camping year. And I was super excited when I found out Kamp Dels would open on time for our June 5th camping reservation¹. Like everything else Kamp Dels 2020 comes with special health and safety precautions. Scroll past my story to get the details.
I need to start this article with an explanation. The #vanlife looks a little bit different in our reality than it does for the 20-something trust fund couple who drives around the country hitting beaches. For one thing, my husband built our first Vanagon from the ground up and we have learned to distrust the “experts” when we need repairs. The thing that made me want a VW Vanagon back in the early 90s was the idea that you don’t need to be an expert to keep your van running. Also, the old adage that “you can fix it with duck tape and a screwdriver” is actually kind of true. For us it is an inexpensive way to get our family from point A to point B with a little more style than most of our other options.
The downside to this kind of fund-it and fix-it yourself vanlife is that sometimes we have unexpected “adventures” and sometimes we don’t get to do the things we were planning. Case in point, we were really looking forward to Kamp Dels — enough that we decided to pay someone else to make some minor repairs that we² would normally do ourselves but wanted done quickly. Unfortunately, last weekend’s “adventure” turned out to be a gushing radiator hose on the way home from picking up our vehicle from the shop and a few too many clues that someone may have taken our baby mudding. Now we are buying more parts and fixing it ourselves and I’m writing about Kamp Dels without actually visiting. There are still quite a few details that you’ll want to know – even without my personal experience added to it.
What IS available at Kamp Dels in this crazy 2020.
- Anything you would normally do at your own campsite.
- Swim! The pool opens today!*
- Play on the playground
- Visit the petting zoo
- Borrow a Paddle Boat, Aqua Trike, Kayak, Canoe or Paddle Board. These are FREE to use. (This is what I was most looking forward to.)
- Rent a motor boat or pontoon
- Ride the tram through the campground.
- Grab a snack at the Snack Shack. If you tire of camp food (what?!), you can get things like ice cream, pizza, burgers, fries, and gooey, deep-fried cheese curds.
- Play sports**. This includes:
- Mini Golf ($4.00/person 5 & under FREE with Paid Adult)
- Driving Range ($5.00/bucket)
- Basketball Courts
- Sand Volleyball
- Softball Field
- Frisbee Golf
- GaGa Ball Pit
- Tennis Courts
- Shuffle Board
What is Kamp Dels Doing to Combat Covid-19?
- *The pool will be running at half capacity to give user’s the ability to distance
- Pool access will be limited for day visitors to allow campers first access.
- Weekend campers will be assigned swim times based on wristband color so everyone has an opportunity to use the pool.
- **Visitors are asked to bring their own sports gear.
- Showers will be available for emergency only. Campers are asked to use the facilities in their campers.
- Laundry facilities will only be open for emergency use.
- Before camping, the Minnesota Department of Health has created a self-screening checklist and anyone who can check any of the boxes with a “Yes” should stay home.
If you are looking for a review and personal experiences, Gianna visited last year, so you can read about her weekend here.
- Here’s the deal. Kamp Dels would have comped my camping trip in exchange for this article. I didn’t go, but I wrote it anyways because I’m a semi-professional like that. Does this count as a paid promotion? You be the judge.
- By “we,” I mean my husband keeps our vehicle repaired while I decide we’re going to live the #vanlife and make camping plans.
- I’m not going to tell you who messed up the cooling system on our van, but I will say we’ve done the rounds of all the Coolest VW mechanics and always end up fixing something they messed up.
- Our new cooling system will be shiny stainless steel, plus we’ll have new everything under there. So give us a couple weeks and we’ll try the camping thing again. I hope to still get out sometime this summer and will update if we do. If you have a Kamp Dels 2020 experience, leave us a comment and share your experience.
