Last week I posted about our last years' camping trip, in preparation for this years camping trip. And I mentioned that I was going to book a campsite, but hadn't done it yet. What I didn't mention was that last year I did the same exact thing, I waited to book until the week before, and we didn't get the site we wanted. Frankly, we were lucky we got anything! Lesson not learned... I didn't try to book ahead of time this year either and EVERY. SINGLE. SITE. was booked within an hours' drive of where we wanted to be. EVERYTHING. Oh yea, Lake Michigan is super popular. Dumbass. Moral of the story: Book WEEKS in advance, seriously.
SO. Again, thanks to Hamburger's awesome camping pro grandpa, he happened to know of a nice little secluded area we could just pitch a tent along the Muskegon River on the west side of Michigan. It wasn't a campsite per-se, but it was all we needed. No toilets though and I did have to poop once. So yea...
Regardless, we had a blast, of course.
Hamburger helped set up the tent.
We were just a short woodsy stroll from the Muskegon River.
Where Hamburger enjoyed throwing rocks and splashing
And we both went on our first canoe trip!
As far as food goes we did about the same thing as last year, brought the gas burner for easy food prep and two 5 gallon jugs of water. Last year I made the mistake of feeding Burger overly poop inducing bean soup, this year I messed up with the dry ice situation...
I packed a cooler with food, and now that mister Burger is a toddler he is drinking (raw) milk so I am extra cautious with it and wanted to make sure it was held at the proper temperature. Ice packs probably wouldn't have sufficed for the whole weekend so I stopped at the grocery store and bought two 3lb packs of dry ice. This happened:
Exploding eggs!
Friends, do not just throw dry ice in your cooler... The package says that if you just want to keep stuff cold, put the dry ice at the bottom, if you want your stuff frozen, put the dry ice on top. This is not true, as it turns out, no matter where you put it, it freezes ALL your shit. The remedy to this apparently is to pack the dry ice in Styrofoam. I'll be trying that next time. This time, we had frozen milk and eggs and chicken sausages and fruits! Not the end of the world, everything thawed out, except the eggs. Eggs explode. However, dry ice also coats everything with CO2, which is unpleasant. Again, the Styrofoam will stop that. I WILL figure out this camping food thing... Eventually.
This year I just went to the local health food store and bought some healthyish snacks and organic preservative free hot dogs and chicken sausages for our camping food... Along with Burger's homemade cereal and milk and fruit. Camping is enough work, a few days of store bought food won't kill anyone. But maybe next year I'll try to be more crunchy ;)
That is all the advice I have... Good luck with dry ice.
But we had a fantastic time canoeing
That is all the advice I have... Good luck with dry ice.
But we had a fantastic time canoeing
Meet our Captain. Captain BurgerMan
We brought our own canoe but there are several places to rent canoes, kayaks, and tubes. Many places offer float packages and will pick you up and drop you off. There is also great fishing in the Muskegon river. It's a pretty great place, check it out! Just Google the activity you want to do on the Muskegon River and you are sure to find several companies that will provide you with the service. And everyone is ridiculously nice!
Our sleeping arrangements. If ya know, there was actually any sleeping involved...
The first day Hamburger refused to nap. The second day we wore him out canoeing so much he passed out for three hours. Which was a much needed nap for all of us. Of course, getting up at the crack of dawn was always on his agenda.
Aaah camping
Meet Burger's awesome Grandpa!
Tiny chair! Even tinier than last year... Sniff sniff
Camping is one of my favorite activities, and we definitely don't get to do it enough! Family trips are often so over planned and hectic that you don't even have time to enjoy the company... Although I do love a good road trip! There is definitely something to be said for leaving the highways behind and just hanging out in the woods for a bit. So grab a tent and go make some hot dogs and let your children explore the outdoors. I love watching Hamburger discover the beauty of nature, and you get to rediscover it all over again as well. It's pretty great :) Just don't forget the footy pajamas and blankets!
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