I am TRYING to get throught the huge mountain of stinky camping laundry this morning; I reall like camping but everything gets so, so filthy. I think that Hayden--who has a special talent for getting dirty even in everday life--was grubby from head to toe from the minute we stepped into the campground to the minute he hit the pillow last night.
Highlights from day one are fewer, given that we spent a majority of the day making the nearly 7 hour drive to the middle of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. After we packed the truck and boat to the GILLS with our camping supplies and such, we were off! The kids were so excited....they even waited a full 10 minutes to ask "Are we there yet?" for the first time. Seriously, they were real travel troopers.....after we got Hayden a little bag of sour patch gummy peaches, he was pretty content for the rest of the trip.
One of the vivid memories that I have as a kid is driving to vacation in the Straits of Mackinac and catching the first glimpse of the Big Mackinac Bridge. It was so exciting through a child's eyes....and it even triggers excitement and awe as an adult, too. The kids thought it was so cool to cross the bridge and see all the big boats and Mackinac Island in the distance.
After paying our $3.75 bridge toll (I think it was right around 75 cents when we were kids), we began the notorious drive down US-2 from east to west across the UP. I am always amazed by the expanse of the UP. This time, I especially took note of all of the closed-down businesses and run-down "shacks" along the way--the economic conditions in our state have really hit the UP hard. But, there is so much awesome natural beauty there, and so many of the little towns maintain so much quaint charm.
Before the last leg of our journey, we stopped in Newberry for dinner, where I was treated to the best French Onion soup I have ever had. IMAGINE! Gourmet soup in the UP! We also enjoyed the fresh whitefish that so many of the restaurants in the UP serve fresh out of Lake Superior.
We pulled into our campsite right around 9:30 PM, and IT WAS CHILLY! That "breeze" coming off Lake Superior was definitely colder than the ones coming off Lake Michigan, so we all grabbed a coat or sweatshirt and went to work "building" the place we would call home for the next several days. Seriously, I remember that setting up a tent seemed to take hours as a kid, but this one went up in 10 minutes flat. This tent sleeps like 12 campers....it seemed so huge! But we were happy for the space once we got all the bags and two queen-sized air-mattresses arranged. We then added our sentimental "insect lights", a string of camping lights that we hung on our very first tent we camped in after we were married. We made the beds and tucked ourselves in for the night, which ended up being a very CRISPY one...thank the Lord that we brought extra sleeping bags because it was rather BRISK on several nighrs of our camping outing. And such was day one of our vacation.
Highlights from day one are fewer, given that we spent a majority of the day making the nearly 7 hour drive to the middle of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. After we packed the truck and boat to the GILLS with our camping supplies and such, we were off! The kids were so excited....they even waited a full 10 minutes to ask "Are we there yet?" for the first time. Seriously, they were real travel troopers.....after we got Hayden a little bag of sour patch gummy peaches, he was pretty content for the rest of the trip.
One of the vivid memories that I have as a kid is driving to vacation in the Straits of Mackinac and catching the first glimpse of the Big Mackinac Bridge. It was so exciting through a child's eyes....and it even triggers excitement and awe as an adult, too. The kids thought it was so cool to cross the bridge and see all the big boats and Mackinac Island in the distance.
After paying our $3.75 bridge toll (I think it was right around 75 cents when we were kids), we began the notorious drive down US-2 from east to west across the UP. I am always amazed by the expanse of the UP. This time, I especially took note of all of the closed-down businesses and run-down "shacks" along the way--the economic conditions in our state have really hit the UP hard. But, there is so much awesome natural beauty there, and so many of the little towns maintain so much quaint charm.
Before the last leg of our journey, we stopped in Newberry for dinner, where I was treated to the best French Onion soup I have ever had. IMAGINE! Gourmet soup in the UP! We also enjoyed the fresh whitefish that so many of the restaurants in the UP serve fresh out of Lake Superior.
We pulled into our campsite right around 9:30 PM, and IT WAS CHILLY! That "breeze" coming off Lake Superior was definitely colder than the ones coming off Lake Michigan, so we all grabbed a coat or sweatshirt and went to work "building" the place we would call home for the next several days. Seriously, I remember that setting up a tent seemed to take hours as a kid, but this one went up in 10 minutes flat. This tent sleeps like 12 campers....it seemed so huge! But we were happy for the space once we got all the bags and two queen-sized air-mattresses arranged. We then added our sentimental "insect lights", a string of camping lights that we hung on our very first tent we camped in after we were married. We made the beds and tucked ourselves in for the night, which ended up being a very CRISPY one...thank the Lord that we brought extra sleeping bags because it was rather BRISK on several nighrs of our camping outing. And such was day one of our vacation.
Today, Friday, will be a busy day as I finish laundry, clean the house, and prepare for tomorrow, which is my son's fourth birthday. We are going to serve my husband's famous boneless BBQ ribs, corn-on-the-cob, fresh tomato pie using tomatoes from our very own garden, fruit salad, and birthday cake. So, I had better go plan the best pirate birthday party that any four-year-old-boy has ever experienced! Happy Friday....stay cool and find a pool to jump into!
2 comments:
Glad to hear your vacation went great. It was a cool week to be gone, even down here!
I hope Hayden has a great birthday and be sure to post some pics of that awesome party!!
~Heather
So great to 'catch up on you' and so glad you're back! Sounds like a wonderful trip so far. I just *have* to know: where did you get the awesome string of lights and how does that work? Must be a little battery pack or something huh? Well anyway, I'd love to know this oh-so-important info. for our next camping excursion (in a few weeks). Thanks!
~Camille
p.s. So what did God say to/teach you on the trip? :)
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