Adventures in Caseville: I Was Camping, Yo.

It's been a while since I've been in my own happy Blogland. I was camping, yo. After not enough sleep on Wednesday, and scrambling to get everything together Thursday morning, I finally had the ol' Blazer loaded and was on the road by 1pm to head to Sleeper State Park.

There were stops along the way to be sure. I popped into the DeWitt Meijer to pick up a few food items and a tarp for my tent. Around Laingsburg, I realized I forgot to throw my almost-famous Haystacks in the cooler. I was bummed that we would be without those little bits of Fiber One and Cookies & Cream Hershey bar goodness, but consoled myself by buying ingredients for S'Mores. About the time I hit Lapeer, I realized I forgot to pack towels. Doh! I was forced to stop at that bastion of all things wrong - WalMart. I have mixed emotions about my experience there - I found two fantastic beach towels and a cute little bag, perfect for trips to the beach, but I didn't want to be happy about my finds. I was dismayed to discover that in the great Michigan Thumb, WalMart is about all there is in terms of shopping. I feel sad for Thumb dwellers.

We set up three tents in short order and started our first of many bonfires. The weather was amazing - we had two beautiful days at the beach. I spent a lot of time slathered in SPF-45 for Babies Sunblock, floating on my rainbow-colored inner tube, obtained on a trip to Miami for the Janet Reno Dance Party Fundraiser. It's withstood the test of time over the last 6 years, and has made it to every camping trip since.

So, have I mentioned how much I hate raccoons? I was walking to the bathroom one night around midnight to brush my teeth and take out my contacts. I decided I really wanted to do a bit of stargazing - there was no light from the moon, and it was a clear night. The campground is wooded - there is a lot of tree cover throughout, which is great for camping to protect from the sun and rain, but terrible for looking up at the stars. I made my way to the entrance, where there is a host station, complete with picnic tables and benches, that is in a bit of a clearing. I sat down on a bench that was set off by itself a bit. I found the Big Dipper, which is the extent of my knowledge of astronomy, and innocently sat staring up. I heard a little rustle near my feet, but I didn't want to look down. The rustling got a bit closer, and I finally looked down to see five (yes, five!!) raccoons surrounding me in what can only be described as a war-like maneuver. I of course jumped, and tried to muffle a scream, and fortunately, the scary little mongrels waddled back into the woods, snorting the entire way. I quickly made my way to the bathroom, then back to the site, where I zipped myself into the tent, hoping that none of my ridiculous, irrational fears of raccoons would come to fruition. The next day, to my horror, I discovered an object next to the trash dumpsters. It was a 2" x 6" piece of wood, around 8 feet long, with what looked like small ladder rungs attached to the board. It was labeled, "Raccoon Ladder for Dumpster." I can only imagine the staff has to place the ladder in the dumpster so the not-so-bright raccoons that jump in with no way out can exit the dumpster safely, only to harass and pilfer the campsites some more. Have I mentioned I'm not fond of raccoons??

We took a drive to Port Austin for fireworks that were similar with LAFCU nights at Oldsmobile Park. The pictures are from our Port Austin adventure.

I was struck by the image of the tree against the end of the sunset, waiting for the fireworks to begin. It reminded me of my apartment, when I can see the outline of the trees at dusk that almost look as black as the night soon would be. The people on the RV / trailer just cracked me up. They certainly had the best seat in the house. And yes, that's Danielle, toking on a candy cigarette that Sheryl was dealing.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip.