Day Two of our vacation adventure started with a hearty camper's breakfast of French toast and sausage and percolated coffee; of course, the first thing we realized is that we forgot to pack coffee cups, and one thing that we love on crispy camping mornings is a hot n' creamy cup of coffee. So my husband made his first trek to the general store. My instructions: "Please just don't get anything with deer or moose on it." I am not really one for your typical "up north" decor, and my husband tends to like "huntermen's gear" with deer, moose, muskrat, etc. emblems on them. Let's just say that if my husband took up hunting and wanted to mount a deer or elk or anything-else head in our home......he would have to hang it in the garage. So, this is what he came back with, bless his little up-north-lovin' heart:
So now I have a special moose-souvenir of our time in Moose Country, Michigan, USA. Cute, but I think I'll keep this one packed up with all the camping supplies to be used only on our camping trips. Thanks, honey, you're the best! (I mean it!).
After breakfast, we worked together to clean up. There is just something that I love about doing dishes while we are camping. Obviously, it takes a lot of time to go and get the water, heat the water on the stove, etc. And I love using the slightly dented garage-sale tin washtubs and beat-up old towels that we take camping with us. It always makes me reflect on the fact that this is how dishes used to be done day in and day out in homes. No wonder women would spend all day keeping house and making meals and cleaning up and caring for their families (of course, not that we don't do that now, too, but just in a different manner). It just makes me a little nostalgic for simpler times and less technological times.
After clean-up, it was time to start communing with nature! We dropped the boat in the water and explored Muskallonge Lake.....how gorgeous and serene and, well, isolated. All we could see on the shores were green trees and just a few little cabins scattered....nothing like the vacation-home-infested character of the more populous lakes. We dropped our lines into the water, Superman pole for Hayden and Rainbow Girl pole for Kennedy. Kennedy was our little "fisher girl" of the week--she was the first to catch a fish, a little 10-inch small-mouth bass. She was so proud---look at that smile! I love your typical "pose for a picture of your fish" photos, but that smile on her face that I captured candidly just after the catch is priceless. During the week, she went on to catch the most fish as well as the biggest fish. I love to see her respect for and love for animals and nature and outdoor activities. Hayden, well, he is your typical almost-four-year-old boy in so many ways and does not quite yet have the patience for fishing. He wanted to reel his line in immediately each time we cast it out, yelling "I got one!". He did manage to catch two fish, but really preferred to play with the worms and minnows we were using as bait. More fishing photos later, including my "smallest catch" photo....
One of our "bonus finds" for the week was a small patch of milkweed that was simply teeming with caterpillars, the kind that metamorphosize into Monarch butterflies. The kids were entirely immersed in exploring the caterpillars and looking for the cocoons; Hayden even insisted that he take one of the caterpillar "friends" on the boat each time we fished. It's no surprise that by the end of the week, one of the little guys met an unfortunately demise and was smeared--fluorescent green guts and all--all over the carpet in the boat's floor. We purchased a "Family Butterfly" book later in our trip and learned a lot about the process of change that caterpillars undergo in their journey to becoming a butterfly, and got to see lots of gorgeous butterflies in the butterfly houses on Mackinac Island in the second part of our trip...more in a later post on that one.
The late-afternoon and evening of Day Two found us making the 20-mile trek to Tahquamenon Falls near a little town called Paradise (literal and figurative). I remember making this trip as a kid....not a lot of details come to mind and I don't have any photos of the trip, but I do remember the nature hike. Matt and I also camped and hiked here in the summer before we were married, so I cherish fond memories of experiencing this gorgeous place while being newly in love. Today, well, let's just say we unfortunately did more bickering than anything else....just keeping it real! You see (some of you might be able to relate), he and I have two different styles of experiencing sites like this. He likes to walk up, look for a moment, and turn around and leave.....been there, done that, on to the next thing. I, on the other hand, like to stand and admire and contemplate and explore and photograph and contemplate some more. So, these two styles clashed a bit as we explored the amazing work of God's hand that is the falls. We were still able to enjoy them, each in our own unique way, despite the bit of conflict we experienced. Every time I see waterfalls, I think of one thing: God's power. God could easily hold that powerful-flowing water back with just one thought or utterance or word, but He allows his power and creativity to be displayed as the water crashes over the rocks. I could sit and watch the water crash and swirl all day, just thinking about God's hand at work all around us. The kids were awed and loved exploring the surrounding forest as we hiked, looking for all the nooks and crannies where they envisioned critters living and hiding food and keeping their babies. After our hike, we had a nice dinner at the Falls Lodge, followed by an ice cream cone in the old-fashioned rocking chairs on the Lodge porch.
Our return to camp was followed by working on our summer adventure memory books. As I was planning our time away, I wanted to help the kids process and learn from our experiences, so I purchased a blank journal for each child and brought along some pens and simple stickers. I also brought my portable printer along so we could print a few photos along the way. The kids LOVED this activity, and it was fun to see them reconstruct the memories and recap the day's happenings. Kennedy wrote about each story, complete with details, and took her job very seriously. What a great way for kids to keep up on their reading and writing skills, while also creating a special keepsake of their summer. All you parents out there, I would highly recommend doing this with kids over the summer. At several points in the week, I walked into the tent to see them sitting together and looking at the pages they had done.....priceless.
And then.......to finish off the day.......tent wrestling! This became a nightly ritual, as my kids tried to get my husband off the air mattress. So much fun....bonding....laughter....energy expended....the perfect way to use up the extra energy and ready for another crispy Upper-Peninsula night in our little tent home. Day Three......on to Lake Superior!
Looking at the map, it appears that Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was only a short drive from our campground. So, off we went. And so began our back-road U.P. adventure. First, my husband decided to take the "quick route" and what should have taken us 30-40 minutes took us 1 and 1/2 hours. Let's just say we took the scenic route. We even meandered back to Newberry, where we happened upon an actual Ben Franklin store, so of course we had to go in to see all the merchandise, much of which looked like it had been on the shelves for 50+ years. When we reached a picturesque little lakeshore town called on Grand Marais, we again looked at the map and picked what looked like the quickest route. What the map failed to mention was that soon after leaving town, the road turned into U.P. two-track. And we are not just talking your typical dirt-road. I mean dirty, twisty, curvy, narrow, through the dense woods, make-you-sick-to-your-stomach dirt roads. And for more than 30 miles, which took more than an hour. Along the way, we caught glimpses of the shoreline, but I think we were all wondering whether this adventurous drive would be worth it. But, as you can see, the shore views were absolutely stunningly spectacular. The waters of Lake Superior have carved into the stone some brilliant shapes and colors. And the water.....so many shades of turquois, I might have thought we were in the Mexican Riviera or the Carribean. Breathtaking. This trip to Pictured Rocks was a bit tainted for us; last year, my husband's former secretary fell to her death off these cliffs, and her husband is being charged with open murder. So the remnants of this tragedy were close to our hearts as we visited this gorgeous place.
After enjoying the amazing views and hiking a bit, we took MAIN ROADS home through Munising, where we stopped and had dinner at a little grille called the Dog Patch. Yeah, it was about as classy as it sounds, but they had a fairly decent salad bar. Our waitress was a true Yupper, saying "Yous" and "Eh" many times in our interactions. We then made the long trek back to camp for some dusk fishing....and boy, were the fish biting! Both of the kids caught fish, though they were small, and it was absolutely peaceful and gorgeous being on the lake as the sun was setting.
