Happy Wife…Camp Near Mall of America!

Destinations

Of course there’s truth to that saying, “Happy Wife…Happy Life!”  Message to all those husbands out there…give your wife the ultimate shopping experience by taking her to the Mall of America! Your RV can give you the best of both worlds for this trip. She has uninterrupted DAYS of shopping and he has  the most comfortable seat while she is shopping… his RV CAMPSITE.

Forget parking your RV and running your generator in the mall parking lot. We found a GREAT campground SUPER CLOSE to the Mall of America…the Lebanon Hills Regional Park Campground in Apple Valley, Minnesota (which is in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area). This campground is only 8 miles (13 minutes) from the Mall of America and is an easy drive to its doors. We stayed there during July into August for 13 nights and we really liked it. The campground has a variety of sites to choose from with full hook ups ($30 night + tax), electric only ($25 night + tax) and no hook ups ($20 night + tax). The placement of the sites offer a nice variety. Some sites had a larger grass/”backyard” area and others on the outskirts, had a nice pie shape with more grass and elbow room. One RV site was notable to us because it was along the road coming into the campground, kind of set apart from neighbors, and faced toward the trees which seemed like a pretty view to us. Other sites are typical parallel sites in a row, but good in size and not too tight. The partial hook up sites had more room between sites. The tent sites were nestled in more private areas, among the trees.

 

Roads into the campground are paved but the sites are dirt/gravel. We stayed in the West Loop, full hook up with 50 amp, which was across from the office and we were happy with our site. After walking around a few times, we decided that on our next visit we will pick one of the pie shape sites that have more surrounding grass.

Our beagle happily approved the walking / hiking trails and we all got some good exercise there.  The campground is located on Gerhardt Lake and we saw some swans in the lake one day.  A mountain biking trail is also accessible. Of course, our beagle’s nose took us on walks outside of the campground and we found a nice, long sidewalk along the outside of Lebanon Hills.

Amenities include picnic table, fire ring, high speed internet on full hook up sites, playground, laundry, restroom, hot showers, office store with basic supplies,  camp hosts on site, and an easily accessible dump station. Nearby stores like grocery stores and other attractions were easy to find. In addition to the ultimate shopping experience at the Mall of America, we went to the Minnesota Zoo which is only 1.5 miles (4 minutes) away and really enjoyed that, too (see photos below).

Overall, our stay at Lebanon Hills Campground was very enjoyable and convenient! The grounds were very well kept and the hosts were friendly. Surrounding trees, trails and lake were nice and relaxing and yet it only took minutes to get to the city areas. We definitely enjoyed the best of both worlds from the quiet campground to the busy and awesome Mall of America, which actually had some husband approved stores… the Lego Store, the Apple Store and of course good food like at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Restaurant!

But I guess for this family, MOST IMPORTANTLY, this campground’s possibilities for EXPLORING were BEAGLE APPROVED!

 

Lebanon Hills Campground Link:

https://www.co.dakota.mn.us


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