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.
We even ate one each.
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.
We took some goofy pictures too.
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.
What’s in here?
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!
Back to bed for a good night’s sleep.
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!
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.
I had two beautiful days to drive.
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.
Home away from home.
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.
Going for a little walk in the woods.
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.
Following the yellow trail.
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.
We’ll try again 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.
So many stairs.
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.
An interesting place to rest.
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!
Sometimes it was a rocky climb.
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!
Never ending stairs.
Anyway, down more steps, along more cliffs, and we finally got to a deck overlooking waterfall #2. Also beautiful.
Waterfall #2.
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.
So peaceful.
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.
Getting the shot from the best angle.
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.
Trying to hold up the rock.
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?
Watch where you put your feet.
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.
There was so much beauty.
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!
Do you see the whale?
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.
Slow and steady on the way up.
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.
Looking up makes you a little dizzy.
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.
Every summer we are lucky enough to have orioles visit our feeder. They never stay long enough, many adults leave sometime in mid to late August which seems too early.
This lady serves gormet grape jelly!
The juveniles stick around a couple more weeks, eating the jelly as fast as they can.
What do you mean I have to feed myself?
Even though the youngsters are pretty, I always miss the adults.
You’d think the lady would put a roof over our lunch!
But last year and this year, after quite a long break without seeing any adults, I’ve had adult males and on occassion an adult female stop by the feeder in late August!
You shut up! No YOU shut up!
I’m always excited when, long after I think they’re gone, they show up for a few more days.
I need to grab a snack before those two come back!
I guess they’re fueling up for their trip south to Florida, or Central America. That seems like such a long flight I can’t imagine.
I thought I’d check out the finch food. Not as good as jelly.
And it seems even harder to imagine the youngsters being successful at the trip on their own. I wonder if families reunite once everybody is down there or if once they leave they’re leaving their family forever.
You’re not my mom!
I know they’re gearing up to leave me. But I bought a big jar of jelly this week, hoping they’re around long enough to finish it all.
Sometimes I go camping just to have a few days away from everyday responsibilities. Time to nap and read and snack and daydream.
Just one exit up the road from home.
Sometimes I go camping with a specific goal in mind. I’m hoping to get that perfect Milky Way image, or find a new bird to photograph, or see a part of the state I haven’t seen before.
My favorite site at this campground.
Last week, at the last minute, I got to reserve 3 nights in my favorite campsite at the local state park. It’s a spot where Katie and I camped many times. This trip I hoped to introduce Penny to campground noises.
“Did I hear something over there, mom?”
She’d been there for a couple visits last year, but it was all overwhelming to her, and even with her dad and me right there she was pretty nervous about all the people and cars and noisy trucks with trailers driving by.
“Hey! What’s my tent doing out here in the woods, mom?”
This year she’s older and wiser and a little bit calmer. Though she still looked when noisy things including people with their dogs walked by, she didn’t automatically come undone.
“I’ll just stay real close, OK mom?”
She was only visiting me for a few hours each day, and while she was there we took plenty of walks around the campground, letting her sniff the vacant spots…
“I approve of this one, mom.”
…and moving swiftly past those occupied.
“Nothing to see here, just protecting my bikes.”
She even got to walk past a couple of pitbulls and their flustered dad. She was a rockstar.
See them coming around the corner up there? Penny’s tail was already up in alarm and I didn’t notice them until they were much closer. She knew right away. She never barked, she just heeled with me right by them.
We spent about an hour on her second visit inside the tent as evening fell. I think she would have been fine spending the night in the tent if I had insisted. But she was a little restless after an hour and if I’m honest, I wasn’t looking forward to packing up in the morning with her on site.
“I guess this is OK mom. But daddy has air conditioning and a bed. Just sayin.”
It takes me an hour to pack up without the distraction of a curious dog. But next time, if she’s willing I think we’ll spend the night in the tent. Maybe she’ll begin to understand it’s all an adventure and mom’s got her back.
“Umm, excuse me mother, let me be clear. I’m not taking a shower.”
The other reason I jumped at a chance to camp at this site is the opportunity to photograph birds. Every time I’ve been at site 16 there have been birds flitting around. Their images are hard to capture, they’re not like Kensington birds, posing for treats.
A really poor image of a cardinal that swooped in and then out.
These birds are never happy when they stop by and you’re at their site. I sat for hours, still in my chair, camera ready, and didn’t catch a good look at one bird, though I heard redstarts and vireos and wrens all around me.
Mostly I got bird imposters like these brown leaves.
Then this guy bounced out of the underbrush.
A gorgeous brown thrush.
After looking at me he hopped up on a vine with his back to me. In a moment, though, he turned his head to make sure I got the shot, and then he took off.
“Did you get my good side, lady?”
I smiled, at least I got one decent image of a bird!
And then I noticed this little red squirrel looking a bit worse for wear. She skittered around the campsite and then disappeared.
A skinny little red squirrel.
While I’m looking for her, tossing a few blueberries in the direction she ran, a opportunistic chipmunk showed up, very happy with the blueberry offering.
“Hey lady! You got anything to spare?”
Meanwhile Ms. red squirrel, apparently a tired mom, was up in a tree at the edge of the campsite, happily chowing down on a nut.
Nom, nom, nom…
She was happy until she noticed the chipmunk was feasting on blueberries.
A special treat!
That seemed to make her very unhappy. She watched the chipmunk more carefully. I tossed a few more blueberries. She was conflicted.
“Wait! Those blueberries were for ME!”
And then she ran as fast as she could down that tree and back out into the site where she scored a blueberry of her own.
“That chipmunk got one, but he’s not going to get the rest!”
It all made me smile.
Camping generally makes me smile, even when it rains, which it inevitably does at least one day on every camping adventure. At least this time it was overnight. And in the morning the sun rose again.
Another beautiful morning.
Time to get packing and head home. A little fuzzy girl was waiting for me to provide her next adventure. She’s kind of demanding that way. I don’t mind.
Another adventure in the books.
Till next time, site 16. Thanks for the new memories.
Almost a week ago now we had clear skies, no moon, and moderate temperatures. It was all perfect for a Milky Way photo shoot. So a photographer friend and I along with her daughter took a run up to the thumb of Michigan to find somewhere to spend the night under the stars.
Best to know where you are.
There’s a special barn up there, and I’ve always thought it might make a good Milky Way foreground.
This barn is “in” the town of Pigion.
We checked it out, both sides. The owner of the barn must have a sense of humor.
Open to interpretation.
But physically it wasn’t really faced in the correct direction for a Milky Way shoot that night. Maybe earlier in the season when the Milky Way will be further to the east. I’m keeping it in mind So we headed up toward Port Austin, near the point of Michigan’s thumb. We found a little roadside park with a small sandy beach.
The last light illuminates the log resting on the beach.
We decided to watch the sunset from there and then decide what to do. While we were watching the sun a small flock of cedar waxwings showed up, sitting in the dead tree near us and then flying out to catch bugs. The light was low and they moved so fast it was hard to get a good image.
A cedar waxwing keeps watch for a tasty bug.
But they sure made me smile.
There seemed to be an unlimited source of very thin rocks, perfect for stone skipping. So my friend and her daughter skipped stones and I took pictures.
So fun!
It was so much fun.
Meanwhile the sun began to set. And, though we didn’t get a great sunset it was pretty enough for us.
A quiet sunset.
We went back to the car to get our real cameras and when we came out to the beach hundeds of lightening bugs rose from the beach grass. I tried so hard to get a picture of them, but it was hard.
See the yellow fireflies? Now multiply that by 100s.
Just imagine standing there with all these glowing lights flitting around you. It was magical.
And then it began to get dark and my friend told me there was an aurora alert and we should take a test shot to the north and see if anything was happening. And guess what.
A pink dome, supported by a green base with a couple pillars in for good measure.
There was!
So we spent a lot of time shooting the aurora. It wasn’t a spectacular show, but there was plenty of pink and green and light pillars.
Crazy beautiful.
Then we turned our cameras south to see if the dark horse was leaving the protection of the trees yet.
Hiding behind the trees.
It was still, unfortunately, partially behind the hill. We weren’t in a prime location for Milky Way, looking to the south it was behind the trees for much of the night. But the aurora made the site worthwhile.
The aurora was moving out further into the bay.
Across the way you can see retangles of golden light. I think, after studying a map, that must be Tawas, a large town on the other side of Saginaw Bay. I also wondered if there’s a bank of foggy mist out there.
We looked back to the south. The dark horse in the Milky Way was moving further out from behind the trees.
The dark horse is headed west.
So that’s how the night went. Shoot a little to the north, shoot a little to the south. There was something spectacular no matter where we looked.
It was hard to believe we’d gotten so lucky!
The whole night was so wonderful. Fireflies, aurora, Milky Way, stars, a slight breeze, warm temperatures, the lapping of a quiet lake. You can’t beat it. And I felt lucky that we were there.
Milky Way AND firefly!
We left the beach a little after 1 a.m. as the mist from the bay started to move over the Milky Way and the aurora had fadded.
Notice all the light pollution from Caseville.
We had a 2.5 hour drive back home. I smiled the whole way.
Nothing but stars and the tail end of the Milky Way overhead.
A long time ago I promised to show you the shenanigans going on in my backyard. Or should I call it backyardigans?
Waiter! I need a napkin!
These are self explanatory, but if the participants had anything to say I’ll add that as comentary under the offender’s image.
My morning abdominal workout might be offset by my morning snacking.
You will note there is one pictured here that is not like the others. She knows who she is.
I have to ask the help to fill this feeder every single day.
Sometimes I wonder how I get anything done in the house, given all the entertainment just outside my window.
I emptied out that birdfeeder, now my tummy doesn’t feel so good.
Oh wait. I really don’t get much done inside. Please don’t look at the dust covering everything or the dog fur rolling across the floor.
Somebody come help me with these two hooligans!
But I ask you. Which would you rather do?
I’m just going to sit here and watch the crazy in real time.
I thought so.
Me too.Me three.Not me, I’m eating while I can. A mom gets so little time to herself around here!You are so right! Eat while you can I always say!I see you lady with the camera! Could you please leave us more peanuts?She always puts the peanuts at the bottom. Good thing I have short legs.Seriously, I’m going to go crazy in .2 seconds.
Hey Peeps! It’s me, Penny! Guess what, guess what, guess what???! Mom and I went to a Rally trial on Friday and in spite of mom I got my first AKC title!
Where are we going mom? I’m not sure I want to go!
It all started when mom rushed me into the car in the morning. This was unusual and I wasn’t sure it was going to be a good day. I was afraid maybe I was going to the vet. Or the groomer!
But we ended up at my school and I’m always excited there. I’ll tell you a secret. I’m not excited because I get to hang out with other dogs and do fun stuff.
Well OK mom! I love school, let’s get going!
Nope. I’m excited about the cheese. Don’t tell mom, I don’t think she realizes, she still thinks I’m an intellectual dog that’s all invested in learning new things.
Let’s not disappoint her.
This doesn’t feel like school, mom!
Anyway. Mom got us there way too early. We had to wait through a whole lot of people and dogs before we got to go. I mostly sat around and begged other people to share their treats.
She has snacks RIGHT THERE mom!
Mom kept saying NO! Everybody said I was cute and they all wanted to share but mom was a meanie. Except once when we were all done she let me have a tiny salmon liver thing. OMG! Mom’s cheese is nothing compared to salmon liver!
Your snack skills are severely lacking, mother.
Anyway…once it was my turn I was a very good girl and followed mom all around that course. There were lots of circles which are not my favorite but I stuck pretty good, even though mom thought I was lagging behind sometimes.
We had to wait for almost all these people to do their thing first. I’m in Rally Novice B.
And we ended up with a 99 out of 100 and first place! And since that was my third leg (you have to get three qualifying runs to get a title) I got my first title too!
Me and my first place ribbon and my TITLE RIBBON!
Mom and I went in the back and got our pictures taken with my ribbons.
Me and mom. She said she was very proud of me.
But then I found out mom had entered us for a 2nd run. Mom called it insurance in case I didn’t qualify in the first run. But it meant waiting all that time all over again until it was my turn!
I decided I’d take a nap in my crate while we waited.
GEEZE mom, this is not fun.
But then my breeder, Mama S, showed up and I was sooooo excited to see her. She’s one of my favorite people, right up there with daddy and mom and she came to watch me! And then we waited and waited and waited…and I was soooo bored. Mom tried to keep me occupied but all I wanted to do was nap.
While we waited mom studied the map of our next run.
And when it came my turn, finally, I didn’t want to play the game anymore. I decided to protest by not sitting when she asked me to, until she asked four or five times. I also decided I wasn’t going to circle left at all. And I was going to walk reeaaaal slow. So mom had to keep trying to get me to move along.
I found the whole thing totally boring.
If that comes with a snack I’ll take it!
Lucky for us the judge was a nice lady and didn’t disqualify us. I think if we weren’t doing beginning rally we would have been kicked right out of the building! But we got an 89 and qualified and even got a third place ribbon (cause there were only 3 of us in that group) and mom was relieved.
Three ribbons!
We went in the back and got our pictures taken again, even the lady judge posed with me!
The lady judge was very nice.
And then mom drove us home. We were both very, very tired. Mom and I took a nap when we got home and today mom’s going to go back to the school to watch the obedience trials. She says we’re going to try that next month! She says I can stay home and rest up.
I know. It all seems quite a long time ago when I traveled over to the western side of the state to camp and watch for stars.
This seemed too perfect not to stop.
You all know the star thing didn’t work out. And that it rained a lot. And that my last day there I drove up to Northport to meet with friends about a new book.
One of my favorites, I park up the road on a side street and walk back down busy M-22.
But on the drive back to camp I did wander a bit, looking at pretty stuff. Of course.
On a random backroad that I took to turn around for another barn..
Because why be up there at all if you’re not enjoying all the pretty stuff!
It’s not always about the barns.
Many of these barns you’ve seen before, but I’d have to say it was a long time ago.
I hope to get the Milky Way over this barn someday.
And some of you are newcomers so this will be your first glimpse of the beautiful rural landscape that sits along Lake Michigan in the upper part of our lower peninsula.
I parked over by the house in a bike path access parking lot and walked the bike path to get this image.
I feel like I’m jabbering too much. Maybe I should just show you a few of the pretties and let you decide for yourself if they were worth me stopping to grab the image.
This is a famous barn on M 22. Lots of people have shot the Milky Way over it. Maybe someday I will too.
I kind of think you’ll be in agreement with me that it was worth turning around and even driving around a really big block to capture some of these.
Near the bike path parking lot. I liked the vintage car, the vintage house and the famous barn all together.
Sunday evening, the last of the long, hot, 4th of July weekend, a couple friends from our community band and I were lucky enough to attend a Detroit Symphony Orchestra concert held outside at Meadowbrook Hall.
A few minutes before I left home to meet them for a quick dinner before the concert, the skies opened up and rain poured down. It was the first rain all weekend. I was discouraged, but figured at least we’d have a nice meal together and we’d see about the music later.
But even as I walked out to the car it began to clear.
So it was with high hopes and a bit of excitement that we arrived at the venue and found a place to sit in the grass high on the hill overlooking the stage. Of course just as we began to settle in the rain began again.
But once again it blew right through, and with a few gusts of wind the sky began to brighten. Then the music began.
What a wonderful evening! The crowd was happy and appreciative. The weather cooperated. The music was, of course, wonderful. Celebrating John Williams, it was filled with the scores of his many works and as the conductor talked about each piece you could hear the audience anticipate which one would be played next.
We were usually right.
As I listened I thought about Shelley, our community band music director who passed away this past February. She would have loved this concert. What’s not to love? The Detroit Symphony, a group she had season tickets for, a beautiful summer night, families enjoying the music, a beautiful sky overhead, and John Williams.
Perfect.
Toward the end of the program a lesser known score was played, the theme from Far and Away. The movie starred Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman and the music starts off similar to a lot of his movie scores, fast and furious. But the last minute of the 3 minute piece, those last moments, those are sweet.
I smiled because in those moments, with fireflies twinkling and the music soaring into the evening sky, I knew somewhere maybe right overhead and not so far and away, Shelley was smiling too.
And I bet, in fact I’m 100% sure, she enjoyed the concert just as much as we did.
Change Is Hard 