Mission: to safely arrive in the Porcupine Mountains, set up camp
Wet/dirty clothes count: 1 pair underwear/shorts lost to a wet slide at the rest stop, 2 pair underwear/shorts lost to slipping and falling on slippery rocks into Lake Superior
Critters Encountered: Beety the bug, Lake the dragonfly
Ups of the day: mostly good behavior in the car, Rowan imitating a dragonfly, fascinating geology, including what looked like petrified sand, Rowan immediately dropping his pants to swim as we arrive at the lake, realizing that seeing Lake Superior from a different place is like seeing a new aspect of an old friend.
Downs of the day: Both kids slipping and falling into the lake, a disastrous Rowan bedtime, a not so private campground, the bathroom incident in Ironwood. (Bearing a strong reesemblance to the Hackensack Bathroom Incident.)
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| Beach at Union Bay Campground |
Day 2
Mission: To explore the Porcupine Mountains.
Wet/dirty clothes count: 1 shirt/pair shorts lost to spaghetti sauce.
Critters encountered: Chipper the chipmunk, Catherine the caterpillar, Beauford the blue dragonfly, Judu the beetle, Squiggly the millipede, Charlie the ant
Ups of the day: Lake of the Clouds overlook, sun, sand and surf, a better campsite, staring into water and fire, silent reverence for stars, Aidan singing "ding dong the witch is dead"on our hike but changing the first letter of every word to a "b."
Downs of the day: waking up after very little sleep.
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| Lake of the Clouds Overlook |
Day 3 (Mushroom and tiny critters day)
Mission: To get out on some hikes
Wet/dirty clothes count: 0
Critters encountered: Fearless Freddy the orange spider, Tiny McCuterson the inchworm, Daddapillar the caterpillar, Mr. Squiggly Smalls the inchworm, Nick the impossibly small micro frog.
Ups of the day: reverence for cathedral trees, Rowan is brave climbing the lookout tower, mushrooms galore and Aidan decides to become a mushroom hunter, amazing views, bats, taking showers, the most amazing thhunderstorm that rolled and rolled with echoes across the mountains.
Downs of the day: mosquitoes, the thunderstorm was lovely, but nerve racking.
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| Old growth hemlock forest |
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| Summit Peak Overlook |
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| Nick, the micro-frog |
Day 4
Mission: To get to Pictured Rocks, find Carrie and Corryn
Dirty/wet clothes count: numerous wet things from packing up in the rain
Critters encountered: Stick, the caterpillar
Ups of the day: getting the last campsite...and a good one, good behavior in the car, wild blueberry treasure, Miners Beach, Miners Castle, the Pictured Rocks, seeing a restaurant called Beef-a-Roo.
Downs of the day: driving forever to find an open campsite, lack of sleep due to thunderstorm, packing up in the rain, not finding our friends, making the mistake of watching Road Runner in the car and then taking our highly imitative child to an area with cliffs where he wanted to play "Road Runner."
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| Miners Castle |
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| Sand fun at Miners Beach |
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| Stick, the Caterpillar |
Day 5
Mission: really find our friends, have more fun exploring
Dirty/wet clothes count: 2 outfits from two boys who wanted to "wade" in Kingston Lake
Critters encountered: Squiggles the Caterpillar, and Murphy, our dog, reunited with his family
Ups of the day: finding Carrie and Corryn, WILD waves at the beach, more blueberries, Miners falls, campfire
Downs of the day: none
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| "Hey, I'M FOUR!" |
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| Murphy dodging a wild wave |
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| Corryn, Carrie and Murphy |
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| Miners Falls |
Day 6
Mission: to move to the same campground as Corryn and Carrie, to be in the water
Wet/dirty clothes count: in swimsuits most of the day, 1 pair of pajamas peed in
Critters encountered: 215,786 black flies, deer flies and horse flies, most named "dammit" "son of a bitch" and "f***"
Ups of the day: Possibly the best campsite at Twelve Mile Beach, clear, Caribbean blue water at the beach, white sand, art gallery rocks, Lake Superior sunset, Inukshuk, fun and frivolity with friends, the STARS, midnight skinny dip
Downs of the day: see critters encountered
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| Jiffy Pop over the fire |
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| Aidan's Inukshuk |
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| Sunset |
Day 7
Mission: Head East and explore new parts of the park
Wet/dirty clothes count: not sure, but Rowan is out of socks
Critters encountered: a leech stuck to Rowan's foot, named "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!"
Ups of the day: Discovering dunes and rolling down them, waterfalls, finding fungus amongus with our mushroom book, lazy afternoon at Grand Marais beach, ice cream cones, warm river water at Sable Falls
Downs of the day: Corryn and Carrie went home, Murphy was terrorized by flies all day, kids overtired from fun, sunburned lips, the fact that I will be finding sand in my washing machine for months...possibly years to come.
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| Positively identified as "Artist's Bracket" |
Day 8
Mission: To go home and take the 6 1/2 hour drive easy and relaxed and open minded
Wet/dirty clothes count: none
Critters encountered: none
Ups of the day: lunch at Beef-a-Roo (come on, we HAD to), the cute park in Michigamee, good boys in the car, getting home at a reasonable hour in time for baths.
Downs of the day: vacation over :(
Overall, it was an awesome trip. The boys were BORN to camp, and we came back so rested and relaxed with lots of great memories, sand, a little bit of sunburn, and a mushroom book.
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