First Camping Trip '10

Now that New Mexico and Graduation are behind us we can now relax, and what better way to do that than to replace the confines of walls and a roof for nylon and mesh.

We packed up the Grand Am and headed north.

Stop one was at Wilderness State Campground near Mackinaw.

I was successful in my first attempt to start fire with only tinder and flint. Within minutes we had a roaring blaze.

(Hint: if you ever need to make a fire on the beach the dried grass and reeds that wash up on the shore make excellent tinder as they go up in seconds.)

First things first, after starting the fire you must throw as much meat on it as possible. Salt and pepper heavily.

Honestly, meat is best when cooked like a barbarian, over an open fire.

While walking along the Lake Michigan coast at Wilderness I came upon a most peculiar specimen...

The water level is down just enough to see some very cool things including this rock >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
that appears to have been the anchor for the roots of the tree that still surround it. This is a great example of how nature just adapts to its surroundings, if you can't grow your roots through something, grow around it.

The next day we abandoned camp and headed to the Mackinaw City area where we traded our silly currency to the locals for their wares. Among my trades was a Rocky Balboa-esque TapOut sweatshirt from Jacques. A rare find indeed.

We spent the majority of the day searching for a suitable camping site to the south in Petoskey. Once one was  found we quickly made our way to the nearest all you can eat buffet.

Needless to say we crammed a lot of hiking and sightseeing into a day and a half and on the trip home Chelsea was whooped!

Until next time!