This past weekend, my wife and I made our final camping trip of the year. It's always a bit bittersweet when we come back home from this final trip. I like the fact that soon my trailer will be at my parents house and my driveway space will be freed up for other things (actually, nothing in particular), but it's always sad that another year of camping is behind us.
We typically find ourselves at North Higgins Lake State Park for this last trip of the year and that was no exception this time.
Despite the photo above, it actually ended up filling in quite a bit and by the end of the weekend the campground was quite full. A lot more full than I usually expect for this time of year. I was talking to my mom about it and she thinks it has to do with more kids being homeschooled, so families can do more camping later in to the year. That seems a safe assumption as there were quite a few kids running around the campground, so I am going to go with that.
It was cold, but not quite as cold as we had expected. @mrsbozz was freezing, but she always seems to be a bit cold anyway. We kept a fire going pretty much the whole weekend (except at night).
The past couple of years I have been buying firewood from our good friend @a4xjeeper, and it always serves us really well. This weekend we were able to ration the wood perfectly so that we burned off our last piece right before we went to bed on Saturday night.
We made a quick trip to the small town of Roscommon, Michigan on Friday night to get some takeout for dinner. The restaurant we stopped at was right near this historic building, so I thought I would take a quick shot of it from the drivers side of the truck.
However, the majority of our time was spent at our campsite enjoying the sounds of nature and the warmth of the fire. We weren't really even able to take many walks or enjoy the trails because my foot is still hurting a bit from the procedure I had done on it a couple weeks ago now.
During the say on Saturday I had a fire going to the right of me and then I brought a mini projector from work along with our Roku streaming stick and I was able to watch the college football games on the side of our trailer. It wasn't ideal as those black stripes kind of messed up the picture, but it was clear enough that I could watch the Michigan State Spartans lose in epic fashion.
Lunch consisted of hotdogs cooked roasted over the open flame. Turkey hotdogs for @mrsbozz, and Koegel Vienna's for me. They are so delicious and nothing beats cooking them over a campfire. It just adds a little something extra to them. Probably carcinogens...
The weather has been really dry here lately, so the leaves are not doing their usual thing for this time of year. There is still a lot of green on the trees and people are saying that they may just fall off without turning color too much this year. That kind of sucks because it's a beautiful sight when the reds, oranges, and yellows burst out.
We did get a bit of sun on Saturday afternoon, and that night ended up being warmer than Friday night.
As Saturday night rolled in, it became a lot easier to see the projector screen on the side of the trailer. We had the volume relatively low so that we didn't disturb our neighbors and I really can't stand sports commentators most of the time anyway.
My wife was content to sit around the fire and read her book as I tended to it and watched probably more college football than I will all season. It was a pretty amazing way to close out the camping season. Now I need to start planning our trips for next year. The reservation window opens up around Thanksgiving weekend, so I want to be ready!
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A perfect place to get away and camping. 😍 Happy moments of your wife is a peace place like that 😍
Yes, it was quite wonderful! Thank you!
What a perfect close to the season! It looks beautiful there, very similar to Northern Minnesota. My great uncle from Detroit had a cabin up near Cadillac, MI. I'm sure it's strange to pack up for the last time at the end of summer. At least knowing you'll be able to camp again gives you more to look forward too during the winter though.
Cadillac is a beautiful area. We enjoy spending time up there. It's a great place to have a getaway, both during the summer and winter. Cadillac is a whole different place in the winter with parking lots being filled with snowmobiles.
I never made it up there but my parents loved it! They have a few pictures from the late 60's and it looks idyllic. My uncle Tony's cabin was a true log cabin too. I wish that was still in the family.
Oh wow, that does sound amazing. I'd be interested to know the exact location, but it is probably impossible to figure that out now. The Manistee National Forest is up that way, so there is so much undeveloped land all over.
I'll check with my Mom. She might remember. I'm not sure if it was on the lake or not. I've only seen pictures from a few years before I was born. It was really rustic.
No worries! I was just curious. There are actually two major lakes in Cadillac, but then tons of others all around. Not quite as many as Minnesota, but we do have a lot of inland lakes in Michigan.
A weekend full of simple joys and cozy moments.❤️
It was pretty great, thanks!
You're welcome!😊
I’m glad you both made the most of your camping experiences! In years to come you’d come back here to check out these posts when you want to be reminded of all the beautiful memories you and Mrsbozz made this year! Every thing has an end but it was nice to have experienced it.
!PIMP
Funny you mention that because we used to keep a journal of the places we camped, but now I just have Hive to keep track of all of it.
What a beautiful camp ground for what I am seeing in these shots. And the sites are far enough apart for a little privacy. So sad it's the final trip before winterization, but next season will be here soon enough. I'll take a hot dog with out raw onion please hehe.
This park is definitely a bit more spread out than the one on the south end of the lake. That one is like a parking lot and we have never camped there.
Looks like an awesome weekend overall. A shame your foot isn't back to 100% quite yet, but at least you got to get out and enjoy the sounds of nature. The fire kept you're wife warm since you weren't able to get out and wonder some trails. Cooking hot dogs on the fire is always a lot of fun, those looked great, plus with that projector you even got to watch some college football. What a great camping trip, too bad it's the last of the year.
Come Thanksgiving it's time to get those reservations in for next year. It's coming up pretty quickly!
Thanks, we had a lot of fun!
Those fire roasted hotdogs look really good! Nice way to close out the camping season.
They are amazing!
Sounds like a good idea. Nothing beats ending the camping season with good food and warm moments with loved ones before winter arrives. Shared moments are lasting, no matter how simple.
Yes they are! We really enjoy these times we spend together! Thanks for stopping by!
That looks like a perfect way to spend these days :) Provided it doesn't rain!
It only sprinkled a little bit. It was nice to watch football all day, but still be out in the fresh air! Plus tending to the fire kept me up and moving!