Camping 2021

 This past week we took our annual Labor Day week camping trip.  This year was a little different.  Darryl and I had a conversation back in July about the simple fact that the pop-up has become so much work.  It's hard to set up, hard to level, and a ton of work to load and unload.  We enjoy the whole camping experience but wish we had a better "home base".  I started looking at a cabins and came across the option to rent a camper.  That really seemed like the way to go so we booked it!  

We took off on Monday and started our trip off right. 

I should have taken a photo of our vehicle because we were packed in like sardines!  It was a super easy drive!! 

We were beyond impressed with our trailer.  It was "deluxe" and it was the true meaning of glamping!  Wow!  We unloaded and unpacked - which was so much easier than the pop-up! 

Once we unloaded, we put on our bathing suits and headed to the pool.  It was actually the last day the pool would be opened so we wanted to make sure we took advantage of it!  We had it to ourselves (but it was a little cold!).  Once we finished swimming we headed back to the camper for dinner.  Dinner was simple - Hot Dogs over the fire, sandwiches, and chips.  

We finished off our night by going to the beach to watch an amazing sunset.  It did not disappoint.  We watched the sun disappear; Darryl, Josh and Nate played some volleyball and I put my feet in the sand and watched the water.  It was amazing. 

Tuesday we woke up to rain.  We were anticipating the weather and planned to hang out in the camper for the day. We keep breakfast simple with just cereal, hard boiled eggs, and muffins. 

We watched a huge storm roll in from the lake.  It was pretty impressive.  

It was a huge hail storm.  I'm so thankful that we did NOT have the pop-up HA!  I'm not sure it would have faired very well in a hail storm!  

We enjoyed a simple lunch of tacos.  I had made the taco meat at home to make it super easy.  

As it rained most of the afternoon we hung out at the camper.  When the rain stopped, we took a walk, the boys all played some basketball and even a game of mini-golf.  I made a new recipe for dinner - pork chops and potatoes in the crock pot.  It was a hit!  So yummy!  

Wednesday - Wednesday dawned beautiful!  Cool and Sunny!  We decided to take off for the day to Lewis Adventure Farms and Petting Zoo after a simple lunch of sandwiches.  

The farm was so very good!!  This donkey was my favroite.  The animals were all so friendly and loved being fed! 

There were so many wonderful activities at the farm from the animals to the slides, to the jumping pillow and games.  We are so glad we went and would go again!  We spent hours there and treated ourselves to cider and donuts too.  

After the farm we headed "home" to cook our traditional steak kabobs over the fire.  We enjoyed an amazing bon fire and smores.  One of my favorite parts of camping - the campfire - did not disappoint!  

Thursday - The day we had to pack up!  It's never fun to pack up but we had to!  It, again, was so much easier than the popup.  Once we were loaded up, we headed into Ludington for a McDonald's picnic lunch at the beach and some time by the lake.  It was a bit chilly but still beautiful! 

It doesn't matter how cold the water is - Nate will ALWAYS go in!  He was the only one daring enough to do it HA!  

Darryl, Josh and Nate took off for a walk down the pier.  I 100% enjoy sitting in my beach chair, with my feet in the sand, listening to nothing but the waives.  The beach was pretty empty so it was so quiet and I was able to just rest my soul for a bit.  It was amazing. 

I wish this was my view every single day but, since it is not, I try to not take it for granted when I do get to enjoy it!!  

This little guy visited me while I was sitting quietly on the beach.  So amazing. 

We finally headed for home after one last stop at Biggby :-) 

It was a very enjoyable trip - more relaxing than past years and much easier all the way around.  We are still talking about what to do next year.  The cost of renting the trailer is more than just reserving a campsite and we have to decide if that price was worth it or if there are less expensive options.  Another agreement we all had is that with such a nice camper (basically a hotel room) we didn't spend as much time outside - even just sitting outside to read - but on the flip side, with the rainstorm on Tuesday we would have been so damp all day long!  So, obviously - pros and cons that we are still figuring out.