Ah, the great outdoors. Campfires, hiking, and mosquitos. Where a person can test their mettle with the elements howling around the experience.
Our midwestern camping trip was not too extreme, and probably just right for a 4 month pregnant Mrs. We set out for the Michigan Warren Dunes State Park on a Friday afternoon. Much to my chagrin, and because we live in a city, we lack most all of the gear that one needs to camp. We had no tent, sleeping bags, mats, or lanterns. All I had was my trusty pocket knife (purchased at some Scouting expo circa 2003).
Luckily my brother married well and his in-laws were friendly enough to outfit our expedition. A cooler full of food in a trunk full of gear and we were pulling around to the East side of Lake Michigan. Our campsite had another campsite on the one side and nothing but thick woods on all other sides. (Although we could still hear the highway from where we were, but it reminded us of home).
We quickly started setting up camp. The tent wasn't tricky to figure out and we had that up in no time. Next we had to start the fire because I, Mr. Bluth, had made us foil dinners. For as many foil dinners as I have eaten in my life (give or take 30), I'm not sure that I have made more than a couple. Mostly my mom made them and she did a dynamite job. I replicated as best as possible and now I just needed to start a fire; something you don't forget, like riding a bike.
Mrs. Bluth was happy to scavenge for sticks and had a knack for it. She even knew that we needed to "build a home" for the fire to live. In 20 mins we had a raging fire going and were fighting off mosquitos. Lots of mosquitos. I think mosquitos are worse in the midwest than in the mountains/desert I am accustomed to camping in. I've heard that we are close to inventing an effective repellant--it cannot come soon enough.
Anyways, we got a sizzling bed of coals and threw the dinners on. One of Mrs. Bluth's qualities (and it comes from her Public Health background, I presume) is that she does not allow undercooked meat. And especially with her being pregnant I was determined to cook these things well! So, understandably, I burnt them. Mrs. Bluth was a trooper and suffered through it. And everything tastes better when camping. Dessert, an apple cobbler, was terrific.
Settling down was a little bit of an ordeal. We are weak, city-dwelling people that are spoiled with a very comfortable bed. We tossed and turned and thoroughly enjoyed the night under the stars.
The next morning we woke up and so did the mosquitos. It was beautiful to wake up with all of the smells of the great outdoors.
We broke camp (they only had room for us that night) and headed to the dunes/beach. We spent most of the morning just lounging on the beach and sweating. Vacation.
Eventually we got hungry and Mrs. Bluth suggested we stop by McDonald's. A couple of ice cream sundaes later and we were on our way to find a new campground. It was kind of a busy weekend so all of the state parks were full. We checked out a couple of the RV campgrounds, but they were more like trailer parks. More permanent and, ahem, backwoods than we were looking for.
Oh yeah, and at some point we stopped at some outlet mall and bought some baby stuff. Inquire for more details.
Eventually we found Jellystone. The ultimate campground for people with families. We checked in and were directed to our 18' x 30' plot and decided to take a walk. Jellystone is half old-people-with-golf-carts-there-for-the-summer and half families with kids. We wandered over to the pond and took a dip. Then we played a round of mini golf. Pleasant times were had.
Because it was such an immaculate campground, kindling was much more difficult to come by. Mrs. searched high and low and we didn't quite have the critical mass necessary to ignite our bigger logs. Luckily there were some friendly neighbors with some extra plywood. Nothing like a little glue in the fire!
I did not burn the foil dinners this time and they turned out to be quite good. Then we made s'mores until the fire went out. I prefer toasted marshmallows, she prefers chocolate.
The ground was maybe a little softer that night, but was still not quite as comfortable as our bed. But a little tossing and turning and sore muscles didn't make the experience unbearable. The Mrs. is starting to get pregnancy bladder syndrome and needed to make a couple of trips to the washroom between 9pm and 9am.
Experts now at breaking camp, we were able to efficiently pack up and get on our way. With Jellystone in the rearview mirror, and no worse for the wear, we drove home. Happy and healthy and ready to do it all over again.
