Camping in Michigan

I haven't posted anything substantial in a while, mostly because we haven't done many exciting things lately. Alex has night classes Monday through Thursday, so we definitely don't get to do anything exciting during the week. Last weekend was miserable weather, with 5 plus inches of rain dumping down over the course of Saturday and Sunday so we didn't do much then either. Finally this weekend we managed to get out and have fun. We went camping at the nearby Waterloo State Recreation Area with our friends Rachel and Dave and their cute dog Enzo.

This was our first camping trip in Michigan since we moved here. Crazy to think that it's taken us this long, but the fact of the matter is I've been spoiled rotten living out west. It's so easy to get out and get away from the general public in the west--it takes significantly more effort here. The northern quarter of Michigan and the Upper Peninsula are the best places to go camping or backpacking, but it takes anywhere from 4-8 hours to get there. For a weekend trip, or just a one-nighter, that's a bit too far. In the lower half of the state, camping isn't about getting away from the general public but more about surrounding yourself with a different general public than the one you face every day. From what I can tell, campgrounds down here are typically huge (the one we went to had 136 sites), well developed (complete with playgrounds), and offer little in the way of buffers between you and your neighbors. And, there are relatively few of them. But you know, different as it is from what I'm used to, I found out it's still fun. All you need is good company and a nearby trail (Rachel and I hiked for nearly two hours on a trail--the only trail--that left from the campground without seeing another soul).

We left home around 3:30 and got to the campground around 5:00. It's only 30 miles away, but Rachel and I got a little lost and Alex and Dave biked out. We found the perfect site--only one neighbor and at least twice the room as any other site, including two picnic tables. Alex and I broke out our monster car-camping tent from Kirkhams--you know, the canvas variety that could comfortably house a whole army, or at a minimum, two adults and two big dogs. We used all our car camping gear that hasn't seen the light of day for over two years now. The lantern, the coleman stove, the plastic eating ware, the mismatched pots, etc. Saturday dinner was tinfoil stew, cooked over our carefully cultivated slow burning coals, with biscuits on a stick. Dessert was, of course, S'mores. Rachel came up with a new variety of S'more--a marshmallow and chocolate wrapped in Pilsbury homestyle biscuit dough, cooked in tinfoil. Mmmmm. So good. Breakfast was pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs. I mean, we don't eat that well at home. All in all, I would definitely do that again. Why did it take us so long to do this?

P.S. Sorry there are no pictures. I forgot to bring my camera.