July 2020

 

Us with the Enedina's kids

Loving boat life

Julia and Delaney

View from Bay Furnace campsite

Beach access from campsite

Bay  Furnace campground

Last trip with the camper

A couple blueberry picking pics in the middle here

Isaac messed with a rooster until it chased him, Isaac was running fast

Sue Shoemaker picked with us

Eating or picking?

Baby bear at Oswalds Bear Ranch

Tahquamenon Falls 

Pontoon ride around Pictured Rocks

Trail went along the shoreline

Pictured Rocks

Chapel Beach- beautiful

Saw this guy on the trail

One of many breaks

We hiked the Chapel-Mosquito Trail, 9 miles

-We enjoyed more time in the boat. Nate took each of the older kids out with friends on the boat. And we have determined to make every boating mistake only once! Like run out of gas and have to swim the boat back to shore (not far), accidentally cut a friend's anchor line with our propeller, or get a friend's tube rope wrapped around our propeller. We also learned that when the boat is not working you can throw your anchor out and pull the boat forward and then keep repeating until land is reached. It's a learning curve, but we are having fun!

-We picked blueberries at the Shoemakers. There were some chickens/rooster in the field getting too close to us so Isaac tried to scare it away. Which then resulted with the rooster chasing him down the field while we laughed. 

-We took our first camping trip in the UP. We camped for 3 nights at Bay Furnace Campground by Pictured Rocks. It was a rustic campground- pit toilets, no electricity. But, it was the 4th of July weekend and we did not want to stay in a noisy state park campground. Bay Furnace had beautiful, large sites and it was peaceful. We hiked the Chapel-Mosquito Trail, which may have been a bit ambitious. The kids were troopers though. We saw amazing views and a bear right on the trail ahead of us! We bought some pasties to try after our hike and ice cream of course. 

-Nate and the older boys went to a mountain bike course while I took the other kids to a local beach. 

-We rented a pontoon boat for an afternoon to tour Pictured Rocks. The kids (and Nate) enjoyed jumping off the boat- the water was freezing! Pictured Rocks reminds me of the cliffs on the Wisconsin River, only with much bluer, cleaner water. 

-We then drove to Tahquamenon Falls State Park and camped with the Gabrielse. We had fun together, but there is not much to do around Tahq Falls State Park. The kids had a great time playing in the falls. We rented a rowboat to get the littles across the water. Karin was having trouble getting the rowing motion down and Lexi piped in- you move your arms like this (and demonstrated) and sure enough she knew exactly what she was talking about! 

-Nate, Carl and the older kids hiked the lower to upper falls trail. It was buggy and not the prettiest trail, but a good workout. Caleb and Jacob then hiked the same trail the next day because they are teens with energy.

-We all went to Oswalds Bear Ranch where you pay to see bears in large fenced areas. It was something unique to do on our trip.

-We decided to head home a day early as we had seen all there was to see in the area. We had a wonderful week in the UP!

-We then sold our camper. Mostly because we have a boat and waverunners, and a camper was just one too many things. We also realized on this camping trip, that our days of whole family camping are coming to an end. Caleb is losing interest and hopefully next summer he will be working full time. We will still camp with the younger kids, just in different ways. It was bittersweet to say goodbye to the camper- we have years of camping memories.