Beth | Change Is Hard

September 18, 2025
by dawnkinster 24 Comments

Camping continued

Well! Following those interruptions, let me show you how we spent our last day camping at Cloudland Canyon State Park in northern Georgia.

We’d been noticing signs for Lookout Mountain, pointing north from the road our campground was on. We pictured a big mountain with wonderful views and figured that could be interesting.

So on our last day of adventuring we decided to find it. I put “Lookout Mountain” in my gps and off we went. Along the way we saw very large homes perched on the edge of the canyon and we wondered what would happen if you happened to be playing catch on the deck or your basketball took a bad bounce.

Somewhere down there, we were sure, were a whole lot of lost balls.

Anyway, after about thirty minutes my gps said we were there. But where, exactly? The streets had become very narrow and curvy. The houses were large and likely built in the 30s or 40s. They were beautiful.

But where, exactly, was Lookout Mountain? More on that later.

We saw a sign for an Incline railroad going down to the valley floor, so we parked and went to investigate. It was a tram, of sorts, that ran on a rail way down into a town.

I’m not sure what town, but they said we could see downtown Chattanooga so maybe that’s where you ended up. The woman selling tickets said a very wealthy man who owned a bank down there, and a house at the top of the mountain didn’t like having to walk to work, so he had the incline built.

I tried to do some research and all I could find was something about a worker, building the incline in 1886, being killed. But at least that give us some idea of the era the original incline was built. I thought when I was there that there should be a whole display about the history of the area and the incline. But it’s just about impossible to find out anything.

We stood on the observation deck and watched one tram go down the steep incline and then the other tramp came up.

It looked kind of fun, but not $22.00 worth of fun, so we bought some fudge and wandered the neighborhood.

There was a big empty lot next to the Incline tram where obviously there used to be a home. What a view it must have had!

We were amused by a sign on a tree by the road that must have been there a long time. I guess it was the place to be if you wanted to picnic back in the day!

Wandering further down the street we enjoyed the fences….

….and gates along with the gardens.

Eventually, at the end of the street was another state park, this one dedicated to a battle during the Civil Warm. We went inside the park building and talked to the ranger who finally enlightened us about where Lookout Mountain was.

It was right there. We were standing on it. The entire ridge was Lookout Mountain and in fact our campground was on Lookout Mountain too! He pulled out a 3D topographical map and showed us how it all fit together.

And then we went into a big room which described the civil war battle that had been waged there so many years ago. The huge painting was fasinating in it’s detail.

We explored more that day, looking for a local potter who’s sign we had also seen on the main road. After making a couple wrong starts (and almost ending up in a private home accidently) we headed down a beautiful shaded road…

…which took us to a corner with another sign pointing the way.

Unfortunately the potter wasn’t around when we first arrived, so we explored the outside of his studio where there was plenty of interesting stuff.

Lots and lots of interesting stuff.

More stuff outside than what was inside we learned, when the potter arrived. He hadn’t been making anything for awhile, so we just explored the outside a bit more and then moseyed along.

We ended up at a local diner for lunch/dinner. I think people have misconceptions about camping. Yes you can bring all your food with you, and get ice for your cooler every day, or have a camper with a fridge…but you can also go out some of the time…which we have done on previous trips too. It’s a nice break and you often meet interesting people.

Our four day Georgia mountain adventure had come to a close. In the morning we packed up, glad that it hadn’t rained at all and everything was dry.

We stuffed it back into our vehicles and said goodbye at our now empty site. It’s always a little sad to wrap up a good camping trip. But for me, well, I had two days of driving through farm country ahead.

And you know what that means!

Stay tuned.

September 13, 2025
by dawnkinster 24 Comments

Still camping

In case you’re wondering what people do when they’re camping but not hiking up and down mountain ravines, let me show you!

*We had a fire nearly every night. Here Beth is taking a picture of the engineering of the fire pit.*

You might decide that you’d like to take a stab at a camping weekend somewhere beautiful near you. We’d love to be the inspiration if you decide to make the leap.

*This is your typical bundle of firewood purchased from the park. $7.00*

Or you might already be a camping sort of person and just want a new place to visit. If that’s the case, we’re your girls!

*We roasted the obligitory marshmellows.*

Personally, I like campgrounds where there’s some space between sites. Preferably some trees and shurbs that give you some illusion of privacy. Because let’s be real, when you’re camping you just don’t have much privacy at all.

I’m OK with that. I have no problem sitting in my chair next to my fire reading a book as people walk by with their dogs, waving hello.

My experience has been that most people that camp are really nice.

*Our next door neighbor. 4 kids and two parents.*

And there’s always something close by to explore. Just get in your car and drive and see what you find.

We were camping at this park in the hopes it had a dark sky at night so that I could try to do a little photography. We ended up with one cloudless night, and we headed out to the park’s disc golf course to see what we could find.

*Comfy on a chair, working on the settings to catch the stars.*

There wasn’t much in the way of a foreground there, so I mostly focused on the stars and didn’t worry about it.

*Even with the light polution you can see the Milky Way.*

But then I thought maybe I should at least try to put the truck in the shot.

*The adventure truck beneath the Milky Way.*

I think I need more work on that sort of image, but it was fun. A cool night, but not cold. No bugs to speak of. No scary noises, nobody else around to worry about.

And we were back in our tents shortly after midnight!

Can’t go wrong when you get to sit out under the stars!

I still have to show you what we found when we went out exploring. Guess there’s one more post in this series of photos!

September 12, 2025
by dawnkinster 21 Comments

Camping memories

Way back in August, before the US Labor Day holiday when campgrounds across our country are filled to capacity, I met my sister at a Georgia State Park to camp for four nights. It took me two days to drive there from my home in Michigan and along the way there were, of course, barns.

It was a last minute decision where to camp when we realized we didn’t have time to drive all the way to South Dakota like we had planned. For her, driving two days to my house and then two days to SD just didn’t work.

We are determined to do a better job of planning next summer.

*The main view from Cloudland Canyon State Park.*

Anyway, she found this state park in northern Georgia, right at the Tennessee state line. In fact we weren’t far from Chattanooga. But you wouldn’t know it when you were in Cloudland Canyon State Park.

We had a great campsite, big enough for two tents, with a whole other space housing the firepit. We had a fire almost every night, toasting the obligitory marshmellow and enjoying the warmth as the evenings were just a little cool.

This park sits on the top of Stone Mountain, a high ridge, part of the Appalachian Mountains, with a wide valley that overlooked part of Tennessee. And there were plenty of hiking trails with overlooks.

*People way over there on a trail looking at us way over here.*

The ranger at the park store where we checked in told us to do the yellow trail. It was a four mile loop that, he said, we could pick up right from our campsite. He said it had the best views of any of the trails and we’d see the two waterfalls that everyone comes to visit when they’re in the park.

Well. The first evening, though both of us had driven all day, we headed right out on the yellow trail. We figured we’d see at least one of the waterfalls and have a nice walk.

Turns out the trail was full of tree roots and we never saw any part of a river though sometimes we could hear it. After awhile it was getting dark and we decided to turn around and figure it out tomorrow.

In the morning we drove to the ‘main overlook’ which was technically closed due to hurricane damage. But we could still see the amazing view, for which the park was named. And at one end of the parking lot was a sign for the falls. So off we went.

The trail moved down, down, down into the canyon. It wasn’t smooth, there were roots and rocks and holes and some railings that had seen better days.

*This rock is holding up the stairs we climbed.*

There were lots of stairways, curling around and around and down and further down too. We saw lots of pretty things, and as we finally got down close to the bottom of the canyone we could hear the waterfall.

The waterfall was beautiful and we stayed there quite a long time. It was well worth the walk down. (And in the back of our mind we were already contemplating the walk back up!)

*A beautiful place to sit and contemplate.*

Then we walked back along the path to where it joined with another trail to go to the second waterfall. Nothing easy about that walk either!

We met several people along the way down into the canyon and everyone said the same thing: “Nobody told us this trail was this strenous!” We looked at the trail map and on the back was a small paragraph that waid it was a difficult trail. But seriously this was a really difficult trail! We were glad we brought water!

Anyway, down more steps, along more cliffs, and we finally got to a deck overlooking waterfall #2. Also beautiful.

And it had a bench to sit on while we enjoyed the peaceful spot. I even ate half of the now smushed banana I had in my pocket.

After we sat there for a good long time we faced the fact that the only way to go was up. And so we started.

*Beginning the long climb back to the top.*

My quad muscles were already sore from all the stairs down. And it turns out my calf muscles were too. Going up was slow, with lots of breaks to examine interesting things in the rock walls.

Or just to sit on a landing and talk to people going down. Everyone was so encouraging. Some people had their dogs with them. I never would have asked Penny to walk down all those stairs, which were made out of grating. I think they said there were over 600 steps.

Just think how uncomfortable that would be on their feet. And if they decided they weren’t going to go back up, then what? Are you going to carry your dog up 600 steps?

There was a couple with a very young girl too, on their way up when we were going down. She was already whining and they were negotiating how far she’d have to climb up before they’d carry her for awhile.

Nope, I would not advise bringing any aged children down into that canyon. No dogs, no kids, there should have been a sign at the top!

Anyway, we slowly climbed back up to the top, resting when we wanted to, stopping for interesting things, even stopping for uninteresting things. Just stopping.

*Even split rocks help hold up the wall.*

And it turned out it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared, though I was really glad to finish. At the top was a young couple, she clearly very pregnant, just starting down. We showed her pictures of the rock strewn trail, the seemingly endless miles of stairs. She smiled and said she thought she could do it even though she was 7 or 8 months along.

We told her the first waterfall was prettier than the 2nd and if she didn’t go to the second she wouldn’t be missing much. We told her it would be ok to decide to turn around, the trail was beautiful and she’d still have fun.

I bet they went all the way to the first fall, but I hope she turned around there. It was already afternoon and I sure wouldn’t want to do that trail with fading light.

*Luckily we didn’t see any falling rocks.*

We were glad we did it, but neither of us suggested doing any more trail hiking the next two days!

*There were lots of rhododendron, this would be beautiful in the spring.*

We did do a little exploring in the surrounding area the next few days but those pictures will have to wait for another post.

Wordless Wednesday Birthday Wishes

February 5, 2025 by dawnkinster 6 Comments

September 8, 2024
by dawnkinster 30 Comments

Camping in the UP

The last week of August my sister and I planned on traveling to South Dakota for a little vacation. Why South Dakota you ask? Well…I have a friend there who lives on a ranch and the skies are really dark. Exactly the perfect sort of place for night sky photography. So we arranged to spend a few days there, watching the sky by night and exploring the area by day.

*Our campsite had lots of shade. And mud.*

But the title of this post is “Camping in the UP” you say? How does that relate to South Dakota?

Well, sometimes life gets in the way of plans, and it turns out we needed to be closer to home this year. Luckily Tahquamenon Falls State Park in Michigan’s UP had just reopened after some bathroom renovations and there were lots of open camp sites.

I snagged one and we adjusted our plans.

*The upper falls and late summer goldenrod.*

There’s so much to see in the eastern part of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, so we used the campsite as a home base and set out exploring. On our very first day we stopped by the Tahquamenon Upper Falls AND Whitefish Point!

*Lots of people out at Whitefish point at sunset were looking for Yooper Light rocks.*

And that’s after driving all the way up there, across the Mackinaw Bridge and deep into the northern woods. It was a long day, but we had beautiful, hot, blue sky kind of weather.

*The next day at Whitefish point the weather was decidedly different.*

And in Michigan you know not to waste a second of it! It could all change tomorrow! And of course it did.

*When it was cold and windy outside we did the museums instead of the beach.*

It was still cold and windy the third day when we visited Grand Marais. Usually the stone picking there is spectacular, but it was so windy we didn’t stay on the beach long.

*There were people out there looking for rocks. We were not those people.*

We did end up at the local diner for some lunch.

*A nod to nostalgia on a cold afternoon.*

And on the last full day of our trip we explored the coast of Lake Superior, heading east along the Byway to Sable Falls…

*The short trail back to Sable Falls includes over 300 stairs. Just a heads up.*

…and Point Iroquois Lighthouse.

We had a beautiful day and found some beautiful rocks to remind us of our trip.

*Thursday was a wonderfully warm day, perfect for sitting near the water.*

We explored the back roads and found a unique bakery.

*Wonderful baked goods out in the middle of nowhere.*

And then we had lunch at a sunny little inland lake before we headed back to camp for our last night.

We enjoyed a last fire at our campsite before we turned in for the evening. It would be an early morning the next day if we were to beat predicted rain and get camp packed while things were still dry.

*Of course we had to have one last s’more too.*

And then it was time to head back home.

*Early morning light on our empty campsite. Bye site 171!*

Oh…what about night sky photography? Did we get any of that done?

*Some of the lower falls on the Tahquamenon River.*

Well. I guess you’ll have to tune in to find out. But what do you think?

May 24, 2024
by dawnkinster 20 Comments

Hey! What about me?

Penny here. Geeze people, here I am having all sorts of adventures and mom and my aunt take off camping for a couple days and get to post about it for years. Ok. For days.

*This is my studious look. I think it works.*

But my point is, do I get to post? No I do not. I have not been given access. Until now, when mom finally gave into my pressure. I told her I won’t sleep in her stinking tent until she posts about all the fun stuff I’ve already done this month!

*We went to Katie’s park for our annual photo shoot.*

I know my friends have been wondering what I’ve been up to and let me tell you I’ve been really busy! And most of what I’ve been into isn’t going to get me into trouble either! Win-win!

*Mom likes a good head tilt, and I try to oblige.*

First off, as most of you know, my sister Angel Katie always had a spring yellow flower photo shoot with mom. Well, she told me all about it and I demanded equal yellow flower opportunity. I’m pretty sure it’s in my contract with my folks. So mom took me over to Katie’s park one day early this month.

Mom says I did really good. I thought it took way too long.

Then when my Aunt Beth was here we stopped near some other yellow flowers and mom grabbed a few pictures. By then I was an expert at being a model, so it didn’t take long at all.

*I think the sun was in my eyes that day.*

My Aunt Beth and mom and I also went on quite a few walks in different parks. We all had the best time with beautiful blue skies and hardly any bugs!

I got to show Aunt Beth several of my own personal parks and especially how well I can sit for the camera. As long as there were treats available, of course.

She was very impressed.

And THEN, the most exciting thing! I got to go on a walk with my Aunt Beth and my Mama S and my mom and even my doggy mom Vivian and her roommate Oliva!

*Mom asked them to walk up this trail to set us up for a photo.*

It was amazing! Three shelties all going for a walk together. I tell you what, we caused lots of heads to turn when we all walked by!

*It wasn’t easy to get the three of us lined up.*

OK, so sometimes I was a little rambunctious, and Mama S had to tell me to straighten up. After all, I’m still a baby…right? Oh…what….no? Not so much?

*Sometimes a girl’s just got to leap for joy.*

Well, I guess I’ll start acting more adult tomorrow, but that day I had so much fun! I got to share one of my favorite parks with my three moms and my aunt!

*Yep we had a great time walking together.*

I’m so grateful that Mama S brought her girls along on this walk! I promised her we’d do it again soon!

*That’s my mom, Vivian next to me (I’m in the center) and her bestie Olivia on the right.*

And then, still in the month of May, I got to go on a play day with my friend Lance! I can’t even begin to figure out how mom and dad managed to get this much fun stuffed into one month!

*My friend Lance on the left, me on the right.*

I think I better rest up for June!

Talk later,

Your playful pup, Penny.

May 17, 2024
by dawnkinster 28 Comments

The third (and last) Harrisville adventure debriefing

So what does a person do while camping at Harrisville State Park once the main mission has been accomplished?

Well. If we’d had another clear night I’d have been out there on the beach getting a second good look at the Milky Way. But we weren’t that fortunate.

*We went to the marina on Tuesday to look at the boats. There weren’t many there.*

Monday, as we were setting up camp under blue skies, a park employee told us that Tuesday would be rainy but Wednesday was going to be nice. We figured we’d get through Tuesday and find something fun to do on Wednesday.

*Tuesday looked like this most of the day.*

We figured wrong.

During the day Tuesday we kept expecting it to rain, but it was just breezy and cold. The rain held off, but we expected it at any time. It was really too cold to enjoy walking on the beach.

We went to the local library to stay warm as we tried to find something to do. I googled “What is there to do in Harrisville Michigan?” Google came back with 5 things.

1. Sturgeon point lighthouse. Been there, it wasn’t open but we got an amazing image.

2. Harrisville State Park. That’s where we were staying.

3. Cedarbrook Trout Farm. Well, I guess that was a possibility.

4. Bailey School. Saw it through the window, it wasn’t open.

5. Sturgeon Point State Park. Well, that’s where the lighthouse is…so…..

We spent a couple hours at the library, reading magazines and hanging out. When we headed back to camp to make dinner it began to rain.

*You can always count on a library to fill a couple of hours.*

So we each grabbed some snacks and our reading material and ducked into our tents.

*Peanut butter on crackers…perfect snack food.*

Fourteen hours later it finally stopped raining. Though I like listening to waves while I sleep I really didn’t need to listen to them for that many hours in a row.

And the kicker was that Wednesday wasn’t really any better than Tuesday had been. Windy and cold. We decided to go to the local diner for breakfast.

*A warm breakfast always helps to make the day brighter.*

There we asked the waitress what there was to do in Harrisville, and she mentioned a couple of stores. One was an art gallery that we had planned on visiting, another was a resale shop with supposedly cool stuff just waiting to be picked over.

We had hope.

*We skipped, reminiscent of the Wizard of Oz, down the city sidewalks. We were still cold.*

But it turns out neither place was open because we were up there before Memorial Day, the official start to summer. Sigh.

We walked around the nearly empty town and then drove back to the library where I skimmed a book and she read another magazine.

And then we decided to pack it in and go home.

*Time to go, even though it wasn’t technically time to go.*

We’d only made one meal at camp. We’d spent way more hours in our tents than we’d planned. It was cold and wet.

We’d accomplished my goal so we could call the trip a success, and sleeping in a real bed in a warm house looked pretty good. It only took us an hour to throw everything in the car and head home.

*Sometimes you have to admit that Mother Nature won.*

Of course halfway home we stopped at a roadside park and the sun came out. But that was OK, we felt good about our decision to bail on our last night at camp.

The sun came out on our way home. *Made us smile.*

After all, there’s always another adventure waiting in the wings. I could tell you what and where, but that would spoil the story.

*This little guy ate better than we did!*

And I wouldn’t want to do that.

May 13, 2024
by dawnkinster 25 Comments

When a three night reservation turns into two.

Six months ago I reserved a campsite on the shores of Lake Huron during a new moon cycle, intent on doing some Milky Way photography. Many years ago Katie and I camped at this state park and I remembered a lighthouse located just a few miles north that might work for night photography.

*This is the Sturgeon Point Lighthouse*.

My sister drove all the way up from Alabama just to go with me on this photography adventure. Last Monday we set out early in the day so that we had time to scout out the lighthouse location for potential night shots.

*My sister noticed this split in color on the lake.*

You see, the weather didn’t look promising beyond Monday night. That’s what happens when you have to book something months out. Weather is always the unknown element. We expected a clear night Monday, but rain and cold Tuesday and Wednesday.

We discussed going back home Tuesday if it was miserable.

And we knew we’d only have one night to get the Milky Way. So we needed to be ready.

The lighthouse was just as I remembered it, standing tall on the shores of the Great Lake. We wandered the beach looking for something interesting to put in the foreground.

*The bench might look fun under the Milky Way.*

Eventually we decided we needed to be quite a bit behind the lighthouse in order to be shooting Southeast where the Milky Way would be. We found a place that might work, tucked low behind a small dune, and made a big X in the sand so we could find the spot in the darkness of 2 a.m., our planned shoot time.

Then we explored other places on the site, including Baily School which wasn’t open, but we got an interesting shot through the window anyway.

We wandered down the beach to the south, thinking maybe the rocks out in the water might be interesting. Even if we didn’t end up shooting there at night, they made a nice, minimal, image in the sunshine we were enjoying.

Eventually it was time to go check into the campground. If all three days were as nice as Monday we’d have a wonderful time. If only.

*Our campsite, right on the shore, was small, but we managed to make it work.*

Maybe the weather forecasts were wrong.

We did note that of the handful of people camping along the shore we were the only ones in tents. Perhaps we were a touch too early in the camping season.

*The view from our camp site looked promising.*

Not to worry, we each had electric blankets and we were confident that we’d be fine. This was not our first spring camping experience.

*Our beach. Though it was too cold to swim.*

So…you might ask…what happened on Monday night? Did we leave our nice warm, snuggly beds to drive up to the lighthouse at 2 in the morning? Or did the waves lapping on the shore lull us back to sleep after our alarms rang?

I guess you’ll have to wait and see.

Wordless Wednesday

August 30, 2023 by dawnkinster 15 Comments

August 26, 2023
by dawnkinster 31 Comments

My adventure, by Penny-girl

Well. You may have noticed that I was not included in any of mom and my Auntie B’s adventures.

*I don’t know how they could have left me out!*

I would like to point out that I am a big girl now and I think I should be included in everything my people do! Don’t you agree with me?

*Don’t you like the way my fur is starting to flow in the wind?*

After all, I will turn 9 months old next week, and that’s pretty old if you ask me. Don’t ask my folks, they still treat me like a baby.

*Well, OK, sometimes I DO still get a little bit scared.*

Anyway, once mom and Auntie B returned home, with plenty of great smells on them I might add, I insisted on going with them everywhere, and a couple of days that everywhere included a local park next to our town’s small cemetery where my aunt could practice her bagpipes for an upcoming competition she will be in.

*This is my Auntie putting in her ear protection. I noted I didn’t get any ear protection.*

She said she hadn’t played in way too long and she needed to practice somewhere. I guess you can’t play the bagpipes just any ole place.

At first I wasn’t sure about the bagpipe sound, but mom urged me to come with her for a walk and we left my aunt to play in the park while we explored the cemetery next door.

I found out there were lots of whirly-gigs and flags flapping over there and I wasn’t too sure about all that at first.

Then I found this little dog and I tried to talk to him, but he was more the silent type.

And then I saw this little boy and tried to play with him, but he wouldn’t move and suddenly that scared me so I went and hid behind my mom’s legs.

That’s ok, right mom? Whenever I get scared I can hide behind you, right?

*I’ll just rest a moment back here, OK mom?*

Anyway, I practiced sitting pretty a lot, and getting my picture taken. My sister, angel Katie, says that’s just part of the game plan when you live with our mom.

*OK, mom, I’ll sit here. But I’m not going to look happy about it.* *Unless you have cheese?*

I’m getting pretty good at it too, though Katie says I need to be more insistent on getting my share of treats for the work I do modeling.

*Sometimes mom gets kinda close, but I’m not afraid of the camera any more.*

I’m getting prettier and prettier by the day now, so I don’t mind showing off.

*Mom says it’s all about the light, but I know it’s really all about me!*

Meanwhile my Aunt played on.

*She played way on the other side of the park. It sounded cool!*

And the resident cranes listened too.

*Mom wouldn’t let me go say hi to them.*

We all had a very good time, both days we wet to this park, and I guess I’ll call this a mini adventure, but I’m telling you, I’m up for something truly epic.

*This was not really adventurous, mom. Try to do better, OK?*

I hope mom’s planning something great real soon.

Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Tag Archives: Beth