Camping in Michigan - The Town

One afternoon, while Syl, Stephen and Julia napped in the tent, Jon, Syndi and Junior made a little trek into the town of Harrisville.
We followed a trail through the woods and into town.
We walked a few miles.

We stopped to take pictures along the way.

You can see Lake Huron at the back edge of the property.

Syndi and Junior had a lot of fun.

It was a quaint little town.

We stopped at a playground along the way.

Every once in a while, I get reminded that I need to get me a shotgun.

We walked to the harbor, which was a really cool place.

We walked the boardwalk...

...posed for some pictures...

...checked out some boats...

...walked the boardwalk...

...and posed for more pictures.

Then the kids convinced me that we had to go into town for ice cream.

We had some difficulty finding the ice cream shop and were about to give up and head back to the campground, and then we spotted it at the last second.

We really enjoyed our huge scoops of ice cream.

Little did we know, Syl had intended to head into town for ice cream, so we later made a return trip to town, and Syl, Stephen and Julia got their cones.

It was a fun journey!

Camping in Michigan - The Fishing

One afternoon we took a trip to a nearby fish pond.
Syndi, Junior and Stephen each got to catch a fish.

The kids loved it...

...and enjoyed having help from Mommy.

Julia was fascinated by these wiggling creatures...

...and did a dance to mimic their flopping.

Daddy had to get the fish of the hook.

Junior wanted to feel the skin.

All the kids watched as the girl gutted the fish, showed them the organs (good biology lesson), and cleaned them out.

It was a fun afternoon at the fish farm!

Camping in Michigan - The Fire

We enjoyed lots of time around the fire while camping.

Here Sylvia can be seen making eggs for breakfast.
We enjoyed meals around the fire...

... and toasted marshmallows at night.

Here Junior works at a favorite Caruvana method of torching...er, toasting marshmallows. It involves complete immersion of the marshmallow in flame. It looks cool and tastes great!

Eating the torched marshmallow means pulling off the outer charcoaled layer and eating it.

Mmmmmmmm...

Stevie quite enjoyed it.

As you can see.

Oh what a mess!

Camping in Michigan - The Beach

We went to the beach a few times in our stay at the campground.
It was overcast, rainy and cold most of the time. The sun came out for parts of it.

The kids didn't mind the cloudiness, and had fun in spite of it.

It was cool to be on the shores of a Great Lake.

It's a different kind of beach...

...where a lot of pebble wash up.

But there was plenty of sand, too...

...and the kids loved playing in it.

Junior loved working on a sand masterpiece...

...just like his father.

It was fun for the whole family.

The kids swam a little, but were shivering afterward.

One day we enjoyed some beach volleyball.

Junior and Jules had fun on a nearby playground.

Hooray for the beach!

Camping in Michigan - The Tent

On Thursday night, July 2nd, Jon flew up to Michigan.

On Friday, July 3rd, Jon, Justin Pouch and Tony Nagle loaded an ABF freight truck with lots of stuff from Dad's house. Jon still can't believe that piano didn't roll back and crush him.

On Saturday morning, July 4th, the Caruvana clan packed the minivan and drove north to Harrisville State Park, where we set up camp.

Syndi had spent the week at camp Barakel, and we would need to pick her up on Tuesday. The rest of us tented for a few days on the shores of Lake Huron. Saturday night we went down to the shore of the lake and watched the fireworks displays. The closest fireworks were from the Harrisville celebration, which we watched as we stood a few feet from the lapping waves and looked to the north. Two other displays could be seen to the south, probably the Oscada/Au Sable and the Tawas Point fireworks. It was pretty cool.
We had fun in the tent.
As you can see, we had a nice view of the neighbor's campground. We could hear the waves lapping on the shores of Lake Huron throughout the night. It was a soothing sound.

After we picked Syndi up on Tuesday, Junior, Stephen and Syndi sqeezed into their sleeping bags on one side of the tent. Julia slept nearby in her pack-n-play. Syl and I slept in our sleeping bags on the other side of the tent.

Next we'll post some pictures of our visits to the beach.