Camping Trip!

I have just returned from my camping trip up north in Mackinaw City with Mike, his friend Nick and Nick's girlfriend Natalie. As you can see in the picture, we successfully set up our tent, except for the little black spot you can see in the middle which helps pull the rainfly off the tent.On Friday night I left Holland and made the trek to Macomb to make the final preparations before leaving to go to Mackinaw City.

Saturday we drove the 4 1/2 hr drive to Mackinaw City and arrived at Mackinaw Mill Creek campground around 3:30. We were very fortunate to get a site right on the water and the view was spectacular. We set up our campsite successfully, it took about 3 hrs, and then proceeded to get dinner going. It took FOREVER to get the fire started and the coals hot enough but eventually our meal cooked and it was delicious. It wouldn't be a great camping trip without some funny moments. Our first night camping we made the mistake of forgetting to put ALL the food out of reach of animals, even though it was in a food tent. In the middle of the night, Nick who was having trouble falling asleep got up to get a gatorade and felt something furry pass his leg. In the middle of a dream I heard Nick calling out "MIKE! THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE TENT!!" So we quickly grabbed a flashlight and shined it in the food tent to see a skunk scurrying out of the food tent.

On Sunday, we found one of our paper bags that had held the bread and marshmallows ripped to pieces on the ground thanks to our little smelly friend. After cleaning it up and eating breakfast we spent the day walking around downtown Mackinaw City. I had envisioned a boonieville kind of town, you know the type: a gas station, feed store and family owned restaurant, but to my surprise it was actually a very nice town. We tooled around the shops and ate way too much ice cream. We also spent a great portion of the day driving around Cheboygan (we went to like 5 stores) trying to find a fire pit, as ours was the size of a frying pan. Eventually we just bought some cement blocks and used those for our makeshift fire pit. We enjoyed a night by the fire eating burgers and then looking up at the stars, it was incredible you could see so many and the milky way was so visible it was amazing.

On Monday, we took the ferry to Mackinac Island. It was beautiful, there aren't any cars on the island, just horse drawn carriages, saddle horses and bikes. The first thing we did was travel around and look at the shops and then we headed to Fort Mackinac, it was very interesting. After lunch, we split up and Nick and Natalie rented bikes and rode around the island and Mike and I went horseback riding around the island and then used Nick and Natalie's bikes to go on the other side of the island. It was ridiculously hot, in the triple digits, and after 7 1/2 hrs on the island we headed back to the campsite, but not before having some of Mackinac Island's famous fudge. I have NEVER seen so many fudge shops in one area. After returning to our site we all took a much needed swim in Lake Huron and unfortunately, about 20 minutes after getting changed and dried off I got pretty sick from dehydration and heat exhaustion. Mike being the amazing guy that he is went all the way to Cheboygan to get me some pedialyte and propel water to get me rehydrated. Meanwhile, Natalie and I were talking by the fire when she jumped and pointed to a cluster of trees saying she had seen something over there. I got my honkin flashlight out and found a little skunk scurrying away from the bright light.

Tuesday was spent touring around Historic Mill Creek, the first intrustrial spot in Michigan. It was actually really cool, they had an old logging mill set up and had several demostrations to show what kind of work took place. We then walked around the extensive nature trails before heading back for another swim in Lake Huron and a couple games of horseshoes. Following our escapade we went to Old Mackinaw Lighthouse, which still had the original Fresnel light used and we were able to climb to the top of the tower. Nick had really wanted to go to The Mystery Spot so we went across the bridge to the UP and visited said spot...I have been instructed not to say anything, but I would not do it again haha.

For our final night we built up a big fire, but it only burned for about 2 hrs as it started raining and continued to rain all night and into the morning. Now, if you remember I mentioned that we forgot to stake down all of the rainfly. This little error caused the tent to get a little flooded and as we were getting ready for bed Mike noticed that his pillow was thoroughly soaked through, along with all the corners and the two enterances of the tent. We hadn't paid particular attention to where we put our tent like we should've, for one thing it was slightly downhill and there were 3 rather large roots right down the middle, needless to say they were not comfortable to sleep on. Whoops, live and learn. Well anyway, we packed up the tents but they were soaked from the rain so it was a messy and interesting feat. At around 11:30 we left, checked out and got some breakfast and some last minute fudge before making the long drive back to Macomb.

I had an amazing time and I can't wait to do it again. I realized how fortunate it was that I had worked at the girl scout camp last summer. It certainly helped with my camping skills. I also know how important it is to pay attention to where you put your tent and drink water even if you're feeling nauseas from an oil dunked salad. I was fascinated to see the unusual souvenirs offered at the stores. Along with a ridiculous selection of mood rings and other novelty gifts, there were huge selection of battle weapons like swords, daggers, battle axes, chinese stars and the like. It didn't seem to matter where you went you could find a wide variety of mood rings and battle paraphenalia. But even so, it was beautiful and an amazing adventure.