Bluestem Prairie: Tales of Hoffman: Will record reservations at state parks make senator unhappy camper?

Back on July 15, 2011, State Senator Gretchen talked on the Scott Hennen radio show about how the public wasn't missing Minnesota's state parks, since "private sector" camping facilities at county and city parks were better able to Minnesotans' congential craving for being outdoors in summer.

She took notes and planned "to deal with some of that stuff" in the next session.

The Vergas yarn teller may need to re-visit her plans. Winona Daily News staff writer Nathan Hansen reports in State park reservation record more than doubles:

Requests from more than 4,000 people flooded the state park’s reservation systems Tuesday during the first day the services were back online after the state government shutdown began July 1.

When the dust cleared, officials announced a new one-day record: 4,140 reservations, made for a total of 11,489 nights.

“We had 162 reservations in the first five minutes,” said reservation system manager Bill Anderson in a release. “It was by far the busiest day in the history of our reservation system.”

The previous record was set June 2, 2008, when the state recorded 1,761 reservations for camping and lodging — the first day the state allowed reservations to be made up to a year in advance for a location.

Whitewater State Park and Forestville/Mystery Cave state park both received more than 100 reservations, and were among those who had the highest number of park reservations. Itasca State Park received the most with 379.

Contrast Minnesotans' real response to a revived reservation system to Hoffman's deep thoughts, posted on Bluestem in Tales of Hoffman: MN doesn't miss state parks; private sector (like counties) does better job:

Although newspapers across Minnesota reported that families reluctantly left state park campgrounds when the government shut down, Gretchen Hoffman told talk radio host Scott Hennen on Friday that she learned over the course of the Independence Day weekend hat the private sector did a better job of serving campers than state parks ever could.

Never mind that Hoffman included county and city campgrounds in the private sector:

...People were walking into the state parks, but the other thing I did see that was remarkable was every private campground, every public beach, every county campground, or city campground, was packed. The private sector can pick up and do better than what government does.

So I've been taking notes throughout this whole shutdown to see how intertangled the government has become through our private sector, and when we come back next session--this is next January--we're going to try to deal with some of that stuff.

Given Hoffman's apparent reluctance to ever back down from her own bullshit, regardless of matters of fact, Bluestem will see if she picks up her litter and packs it out when she walks away from this one.

Photo: State Senator Gretchen Hoffman.

Related "Tales of Hoffman" below the fold:

Tales of Hoffman: Kvetchin' Gretchen saved billions and billions and billions by holding out

Tales of Hoffman: yarn teller wonders when government got tangled in alcohol & gambling

UPDATED: Tales of Hoffman: MN doesn't miss state parks; private sector (like counties) does better job

Tales of Hoffman: LTE war rages in local editorial pages; Kvetchin' Gretchen missing in action

Tales of Hoffman: "Perhaps it’s Goodwin who should apologize" LTE published June 29

Tales of Hoffman: Scenes from the ideological struggle in Fergus Fall, Minnesota

Tales of Hoffman: Kvetchin' Gretchen tells local paper about nature of threats at state capitol

Tales of Hoffman: "I never knew how poor we were" (and neither did her radio audience)

Tales of Hoffman: Inquiry finds no evidence for supporters' claims of capitol "police escorts"

Tales of Hoffman: Senator's intern writes a letter defending her former boss's ethically challenged tweet