Deckerville, Michigan

August 5th through August 7th, 2005

Friday, August 5th - 84°, Sunny

    We got a late start leaving home, so we didn’t arrive at the Forester Park campground until close to 6:30pm. We were planning on going into the truck-pull held at Wilson Park at 5:00pm, so as soon as we unloaded the truck we headed into town, with Dad & Mom following us. We ate hot-dogs and hamburgers in the park while watching the trucks and tractors do their pulls. Tyler and Samantha really enjoyed watching them, although the time between runs could get a little tedious.

Saturday, August 6th - 82°, Sunny

    It was around 9:00am before everyone was awake this morning. Mom had brought donuts from the Holly Donut Shop for us to eat, so that is what we did for breakfast today. After breakfast we took our turns going up to the bathhouse to get our showers, after which we left the park to head into town to watch the parade. The parade typically consists of police cars, fire trucks, farm equipment, & old cars and this year wasn't any different. The only change this year was that there was no kids near us, so the kids got a ton of candy thrown their way with no competition in picking it up. Sam was a little hesitant to go into the road for any (for fear of getting run over I guess), but Tyler more than made up for that. Once the parade concluded we went into downtown to see the old car show. We saw some nice cars today.

    After walking through the car show, we headed over to Sandusky to take Tyler and Sam to the John Deere dealership (he had gotten a John Deere hat from Grandpa and wanted to go see the dealership), where we got Tyler a tractor set and Sam her own pink John Deere hat. After leaving there we went across town to the Dairy Queen for a snack of ice cream. We next went back into Deckerville for a brief stop to see if there were any more cars at the car show (there was a few different ones there).

    We left the car show and headed towards Harbor Beach to eat at the "World Famous William's Inn" for dinner. We have been eating there for years with my family, as they have great perch dinners (tonight three of us ordered it and got over 20 pieces of fish for only $10.95… try getting that deal near home!). Prior to eating we stopped at a roadside park where we saw the "White Rock", which was an important marker years ago that was used to divide land up between the Indians and the Americans.

    After dinner we returned to the campground. Tyler, Mom & I went for a couple of bike rides on the Nature Trail. Tara worked on putting Drew to sleep (since he didn't really get any nap today to speak of) while Dad and Sam walked the trails looking for firewood. After riding for a while, Mom & I took Tyler and Sam up to the beach near the playground so the kids could play in the water for a while (Mom says that the water was the warmest that she could remember in recent years). I took the kids to the bathhouse to rinse off the sand when they were done before we all returned to the campsite. At the campsite we all sat around the fire having deep philosophical discussions (most of which revolved around two things: the stars, or bodily functions). Sam was getting tired, so we decided to pack up and call it a night. Sam fell asleep quickly, and Tara joined her in the bunkhouse. Tyler and I stayed out on the couch and finished watching "Back to the Future". At that point, everyone pretty much called it quits for today.

Sunday, August 7th - 84°, Partly Cloudy

    Since we had to check out by 1:00pm today, we didn’t make any major plans. After we had the remainder of the donuts for breakfast, I took Tyler and Samantha to the park to play while everyone else took their showers. The kids rode the merry-go-round, the teeter-totters, swings and slides before they had enough and we returned to the site. Once we got back, Tyler took Tara out for a ride on the trails while I worked on loading the Trailblazer. When they got back we loaded the bikes into the trailer, and helped Dad & Mom hook up the truck and camper before heading out. We stopped to pick up some hamburger from Jack & Karen, then some blueberries in Sandusky before stopping at McDonalds for lunch. After getting our food, we began the drive home.

Trip Summary

    We had another fun Deckerville Homecoming weekend. The kids enjoyed the truck-pull and fireworks on Friday, as well as the parade on Saturday. Samantha told me her favorite part of the weekend was walking on the nature trails, and Tyler liked the parade most (my guess was because he got a ton of candy).

    We have been going to this campground for various reasons for as long as I have been alive. From the Fourth of July reunions when the cottage was in the family to now camping for the Homecoming events we know the campground pretty well. We had a nice sized site (#137), but it wasn’t very level. They only provide electric and water, so that means we have to use the bathhouse as much as we can. One of the bathhouses is newer, but that is the one at the opposite end of the park. The bathhouse near us was older, but isn’t in too bad of shape. There is also plenty of roads and trails for Tyler to keep busy on, so that is a positive in this parks favor. I don’t think we could stay for much longer than a weekend, but it works out perfect for Homecoming.