First Time Campers





Toon: I think it’s better to just travel around and we can probably go to the Park tomorrow and have a picnic. We forgot the utensils anyway.
Me: Nah, I think we can still make it, and furthermore, I have booked it for 24 hours and it starts today at 4 pm, so why waste?
Toon: Oh, okay then. (Long Pause) Why don’t we just make some sausages and we can probably grill the rest tomorrow morning so for tonight, we have ample time, and we can go to the Butterfly Museum before going to the park.
Me: Yes, sure, so is it really that good? You have been there in D.C., right?
Toon: Ya, it’s all right, it’s just like a miniature forest inside and butterflies all over you.
Me: Let me check that on YouTube. (Watching some videos) It seems all right, I still would like to buy the utensils, probably some cheap ones as we already have them at home, just forgot to bring, and we can do these after coming back from the picnic if we have time, and I think we will.
                                Above is just a tiny excerpt of the lengthy conversation I had with someone I wanted to surprise. Trust me, it was the hardest surprise I have ever planned. Of course, that happens when the person is that nosy, which we will get to in few more minutes, because this is the last instance just before the surprise. Believe me, there were lot more where that came from.
Finally, we reached the Palisades State Park, Sioux Falls, SD. At the entrance, the attendant asked if we have booked it from before or are we planning to book now?
Toon: We have an area booked for picnic.
Me: No no, we have the night for camping. Here is the receipt. ToonToon, can you pass it to the gentleman?
Her expression was priceless, finally I have been able to give a surprise to the nosiest person in the world (kidding). She just couldn’t speak for a while, probably too overwhelming for her. I think so. She was reliving all the moments that she had the instinct and probably tried to guess a lot of things, however this thought never crossed her mind. So, what was all those details about the Airbnb for the night, the message informing we are gonna be late, all those about? Camping, seriously, camping, you planned camping? And how did you get to know all about what we will need? We missed the Back Packing 101 as well.
We reached our camping spot, spot 16. It was so beautiful. I gave her the key to open the trunk, finally. She had been trying to open the trunk for like the whole day since we stopped at that gas station in the middle of the Highway. Being who she is, she wanted to see if the Propane tanks are all right, as I was the one who put them in the trunk for our picnic, lol. And, of course, I couldn’t let her open the trunk of her own car. Of course, how could I? Now she finally got the chance.
Of course, she never expected to see all the tenting equipment, that too, planned for all necessities. We had a battery lantern for primitive camping. We require something to go under the tent when it rains, we have it, which, of course, was never expected from a terrible planner like me. Yes, Toon is always the better planner out of both of us 😊. And, the whole point of this story, is to just to share the expression I got from her, as below.




  We had a lovely camping in Palisades State Park, SD, and yes, couldn’t have imagined it any better.

                                                                     By,
                                 Sameer Kumar Bisoyi  & Tanaya Datta








Location: Palisades State Park, 25495 485th Ave, Garretson, SD 57030, USA

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