Sunday, July 26, 2009

Three days fairly dry

This morning we drove into Frankfort for mass at St. Ann's, and then to the bakery in town for some donuts and coffee. They've got wi-fi, so I thought I'd do a quick post to update you all on our rustic vacation.

Wednesday, July 22

Arriving back at the campground after our trip to Frankfort, the rain had stopped so we emptied the tents, laying out all the bedding to dry, and turning the tents upside-down to dry.
From 200907_Platte River

The breeze and the sun dried averything out, so we were good to go. Later in the afternoon, we walked the RR Grade trail to Lake Michigan, and all braved the cold water.
From 200907_Platte River

From 200907_Platte River


Thursday, July 23

On Thursday, we awoke to a promising day so we loaded up in the truck and headed to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. We drove through the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, where we saw beautiful bluffs overlooking Lake Michigan. One overlook posted a 450 foot drop down to the lake, where several brave (or crazy) souls made the trip down -- we never did see them make it back to the top!
From 200907_Platte River

From 200907_Platte River

From 200907_Platte River


Next stop was the Dune Climb. The boys made the climb to the top, and were plenty tired when they got back down!

From 200907_Platte River

From 200907_Platte River

From 200907_Platte River


Further down the road, we visited an former Life-Saving Station which is now the Glen Haven Maritime Museum, where we learned how the coast guard used a "breaches-buoy" to rescue sailors from sinking freighters. This particular stretch of Lake Michigan coastline is shallow, and has had hundreds of shipwrecks!

From 200907_Platte River


Back at the campground, we biked down to the Platte Point Beach, about 2.5 miles each way. The Platte River runs into Lake Michigan at this point, and the warmer water of the river made for a nice place to swim.

From 200907_Platte River


We ended the day with brats and hot dogs on the campfire . . . no rain again!

Friday, June 24th

We woke Friday morning, again grateful to have stayed dry! We were just trying to decide what to do, when our friends and fellow-campers arrived! They couldn't get on their site yet, so they parked their camper on our site and we visited while the kids played corn-hole. At 12:30, they could get on the site, so we had lunch while they set up. Afterwards we all took a bike ride to the beach, where the kids swam and buried Jensen in the sand!

From 200907_Platte River

From 200907_Platte River


After hamburgers for dinner, we gathered for a campfire. Around 9:30pm, it started to drizzle, so we bailed out on the fire, and moved into the screenroom to play the dice game, Left-Right-Center. Around 10:30, the rain started coming down harder, and we broke up for the night. It rained most of the night, but we stayed fairly dry in the tents.

More to follow once we get home tomorrow . . .

1 comment:

  1. Gosh...sounds like your haveing a great time! You are all soooo brave.

    ReplyDelete

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