Catch Up, Change Plans, Be Happy

July 4, 2022

Happy Independence Day, America!

We celebrated American independence by sleeping in, eating a delicious camp breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, fresh fruit, and the most glorious cup of coffee my Keurig mini could provide.  Admittedly, we were running on empty from two long days of travel and the most exciting day of our lives.  I don’t know how Rob stayed awake drinking beers and talking with Brian.  I stumbled off to bed after a quarter of a red Solo cup of rose, leaving them to catch up.  I knew Rob was tired and punchy (from exhaustion, not from the beer) because he was loudly pontificating on the economy and how he was a valuable member of ours, both providing a service to others an an employee, but also as a consumer, purchasing items like our RV (do you know how many people it takes to make something like this?).

Leelanau Pines campground is beautifully situated along Lake Leelanau, about 20 miles outside Traverse City.  It is a small campground with only about 200 sites, but it is well maintained, peaceful, and rustic.  Our site faces the lake, which is small compared to Lake Michigan, but actually covers about 166 acres.  To get to the campground, we passed through the small town of Cedar which looks very quaint and has an ice cream shop that we will definitely be trying.

After breakfast, Rob rented a paddleboard and a two person kayak.  We spent the middle of the day floating in the lake, switching among the kayak, paddleboard, and the inflatable tubes we brought with us from CT.  The water was refreshing and it was time well spent doing nothing except being together.  I love being on the water and floating.  You forget where you are sometimes and it’s a great time to clear your mind – no electronics, no phone, no music, just the splish-splash of children trying to get your attention while you try to pretend you can’t feel the cold droplets on your hot skin for as long as you can.  

After a quick lunch, the weather began to turn breezy and drizzly.  We spent a couple of hours playing board games on the picnic table under the awning while we thought about our next move.  We had big plans to head into Traverse City for the Fourth of July fireworks over West Grand Traverse Bay, but the weather only got worse.  To be honest, no one was truly devastated when we abandoned our trip downtown (although I was a little sad to miss our on the Tesla concert at the Cherry Festival).  The girls fed the camp ducks (renamed Bob and Jeff) and swung on the swings in the rain while Kai, Rob and I hung out inside.  We had a truly patriotic dinner of tacos and fell asleep to the Goonies.  Happy Birthday, America!

In short, we have decided to stay here at Lake Leelanau and use it as our home base for day trips and activities rather than to push onward, hopping from campsite to campsite.  On our trip out to Montana last year, our biggest takeaway was that we needed to be still for longer periods of time to get to know a place deeply rather than jump see as many places as we could.  Sure, we won’t see as much the the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (in fact, there is a good chance we won’t make it there at all), but we will get to know this corner of northwest Michigan pretty well. It’s a relief knowing that we won’t be packing up and changing sites until the end of the week.  Of course, we will be exploring the area, but in a way that actually feels restful and enjoyable.  

So friends, if you were hoping to get to know a ton about UP, sorry to disappoint.  We are sticking around Lake Leelanau.  We do plan to hit the Sleeping Bear Dunes and head into the Cherry Festival, and I have a couple of other ideas floating around my brain, so there’s still a lot to look forward to on this Michigan adventure!