On our drive back to our home in Big Bear Lake, we came across the small California town of Kingsburg.

Located in the Central Valley of California, Kingsburg has a population of just over eleven thousand. It is currently an agricultural town, and one of my favorite childhood snacks, Sun-Maid Raisins, is headquartered in Kingsburg.

All of this is interesting, but it is not the reason we stopped.

Kingsburg is famous for its Swedish heritage. My two step-children are Swedish, so pretty much anything Swedish, catches our eye. We had hoped to find something unique in Kingsburg that we could share with the kids.

Unfortunately, the town was mostly closed for the day. We arrived late on a Sunday afternoon to find the high street a dead zone. We made the most of our brief stop and took some pictures.

Such as, the Kingsburg Swedish teapot water tower…

And the traditional Swedish Dalecarlian Horse or Dala Horse. We have a Dala Horse magnet from our trip to Sweden!

Swedish immigrants moved to Kingsburg in the late 1800’s and some of their descendants still live in the area today. However, it seems like the “Swedish” parts of the town are mostly kept alive through decorations and events. It is definitely a good way of enticing people to visit, and we might have eaten here or purchased something, if anything had been open.

We saw a black cat that looked nearly identical to our black cat, Slinky!

And finally, I saw this sign that was a good reminder that our summer vacation was quickly coming to an end. I like autumn, but summer is my favorite season.

Our stop in Kingsburg was a nice break from being on the road and we took some fun pictures. Kingsburg is worth a stop, if you are passing through.

A top tip for traveling over holiday weekends: don’t wing it! We wanted to be spontaneous, so although we were traveling over Labor Day weekend, we did not make hotel reservations and it came back to bite us.

After a long day of seeing Death Valley National Park, The Museum of Western Film History, and Manzanar National Historic Site, we were exhausted, and we found ourselves in an area with few options. After calling around to local hotels with zero luck, we passed a highway sign for the Glacier Lodge.

It was the type of highway sign that businesses buy when they adopt a section of the road and they were absolutely thrilled that we called. Apparently, we were the first business that came from the sign. Glacier Lodge is a camp ground nestled in the mountains that offers a handful of rustic cabins. We were fortunate to grab the last available cabin, which had just been released due to a cancelation.

The price for one night in the cabin was akin to a suite at a luxury hotel. Demand was high and the prices reflected it. Still, we were grateful to have a place to sleep for the night.

When we checked-in at the general store to get the keys to our cabin, we were greeted by this intriguing piece of taxidermy.

To call our cabin rustic would be kind. I must repeat that we were grateful, yet, we certainly would never stay here again. We spent a restless night on a springy mattress and left before sunrise. I can’t speak for my husband, but camping definitely isn’t my thing, even camping in a cabin.

The camp was offering a special Labor Day BBQ dinner. I love BBQ and my favorite, pulled pork, was on offer. I chose baked beans and potato salad for my sides. Dan ordered ribs with beans, corn on the cob and a slice of watermelon. We had to wait for about hour for dinner to be ready, so we explored the grounds.

Despite my anti-camping stance, I still enjoyed the beauty of the tall pines and the rushing river. It’s a gorgeous location.

Waiting for dinner…it may have taken longer than an hour. I just remember being ravenous!

Finally, we were given our to-go boxes of bbq, which we enjoyed them in our cabin. The sun was starting to set and we didn’t want to navigate back to our cabin in the dark.

In the grand scheme of life our stay at Glacier Lodge was a memory building experience. We won’t return and we wouldn’t recommend it, at least not the cabins, although it might be nice place for tent campers.

Late Summer Road Trip 2019: Kingsburg

Late Summer Road Trip 2019: Glacier Lodge