Port Austin, Michigan

July 3rd through July 9th, 2006

Monday, July 3^rd - 84º, Cloudy

    We left home sometime between 2:30 and 3:00pm for our drive to Oak Beach County Park, which is in Huron County – close to Port Austin and Caseville, though technically it has a Port Austin address. We were supposed to be camping at the county park right in Caseville, but we could never get in touch with the reservation people to get in, so this was kind of a last minute fill in campsite. We had a pretty smooth drive up, without any stops. When we got to the campground, I think that we were the last site to be filled, because the park attendant was waiting for us and knew what site we were going to be at (site number 24).

    The site turned out to be pretty decent considering that we were the last check-in for the day. It had a slight slope to it, but there was a pad available to park on. The only problem that we ran into (literally) was the electrical box. We got ourselves all situated and leveled, and proceeded by running out the slide – smack dab into the electric. We needed to be about 12” further away for it to work – so we had to undo everything and try again. Of course we had one side off of the parking pad at this point, so much more leveling was involved this time as well, but we made it. Our only real complaints with the site are that there really isn’t room to park a vehicle (unless we moved back further, which would have resulted in even more problems with leveling the fifth-wheel), let alone the two that we always bring (and in reality, three this night as Tara drove up after work, but more on that later), plus the campfire ring was located where the second vehicle could go, and we weren’t allowed to move it either. Even worse was that is was about two feet from the roadway.

    Aside from our setup and parking difficulties, the first night went pretty smoothly. Tara is only a month or so into her new job, so she couldn’t stay up the whole time, but she was let out of work early on the 3^rd and had the 4^th off, so she drove up to stay as long as she could. Due to the lateness of the day, we made hot dogs and mac-n-cheese for dinner. We had to eat inside because it started sprinkling while we were cooking, and after cleaning up from dinner we relaxed by watching some TV before turning in for the night.

Tuesday, July 4^th - 84º, Sunny

    We were blessed with good weather today, so no complaints from us. After everybody woke up, we started cooking breakfast – good old bacon and eggs. The table was wet from the rain last night, so once again we were forced inside to eat. We all took turns in getting showers while the rest worked on the dishes.

    With us all smelling good (relatively speaking), we loaded up the truck and moved to Bever… oops, wrong story, we drove into Caseville to check out the campground that we wanted to stay at, and while we were there we let the kids swim at the beach. They had so much fun that we had to bribe them with a stop at the Dairy Queen to get them out of the water. I must say that the great thing about that beach was that Tyler could get out about 300 feet from shore and the water was barely over his swimsuit. It is perfect for the little kids or a game of water football. We wound up back at our campsite after we got our ice cream.

    When Drew went down for a nap, Tyler and Sam went across the road to the beach that Oak Beach County Park is named after to play on the playground with Tara. Since breakfast was late, Mom and I snacked for lunch, after which I joined Tara and the kids at the park for a while.

    Tara had to go home tonight to get ready for work tomorrow, so we knew we needed to eat dinner early. While we were up this way, we decided to go out for perch at the “World’s Famous William’s Inn” in Harbor Beach. This is a restaurant that we have been going to for almost as long as I can remember. We ate our dinner (a buffet with perch, pollack, shrimp, crab legs, and much more) and then Tyler decided he wanted to see where my Grandma Peters lived, since she was the one who we always ate dinner with at the William’s Inn. On our way we stopped at Downing Cemetery to show the kids a few relatives resting places. We got attacked by mosquitoes there, so we made that a very quick stop. Our next stop was the local gas station, where I filled the Trailblazer and Tara filled the Grand Prix before heading back home for the night (around 7:30pm). We drove by Grandpa & Grandma Parrott’s old house, and then went to where Grandpa & Grandma Peters lived. Tom Roberts, who lives there now, was out mowing the lawn, so we stopped to talk for a bit. I took Tyler and Sam for a walk to see the cows while Tom, Dad, and Mom chatted. I showed the kids what Troy and I used to do to the cows when we were little, such as throwing rocks at them (which didn’t seem to bother these cows to much) and running at them to scare them (which always seems to cause a mini-stampede). We also went into the barn to see if any of the calves would allow us to pet them, but just like they did back then they wouldn’t let us. The kids spotted a lot of kittens in the barn, and they thought that it was pretty cool that the cats just lived out there in the barn by themselves.

    After leaving the old homestead, we drove by the cemetery where many members of the Peters Family are buried before heading into Bad Axe to do some shopping at Wal-Mart. After we finished shopping, we headed back to the camper to put things away and turn in for the night.

Wednesday, July 5^th - 70º, Mostly Sunny

    Since Tara had left last night, I got to sleep with Drew, which wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. He only flopped around a couple of times, and managed to sleep in until 8:30am. Dad & Mom were already awake, and Tyler came out after he heard Drew laughing. Sam managed to get another half hour of rest before she rolled out of the bunkhouse. As for breakfast today, we all just kind of helped ourselves. As per my usual, I didn’t really eat anything. Tyler & Sam had cereal, while Drew ate a Pop-Tart and some bagel.

    We spent most of the day hanging around outside of the fifth-wheel today. The kids kept themselves busy playing, either with their new coloring books or with the matchbox cars. That kept everybody busy until lunchtime, when we started a fire and cooked pizzas in the pie irons. This remains one of my favorite camping meals.

    After lunch Mom took Drew inside and laid down for a nap with him while Dad & I took Tyler & Sam back over to the park across the street. They played there for quite a while, keeping busy on the merry-go-round, swings, and the other playground equipment. Once Dad & I got tired of watching/ chasing/ pushing them we headed over to the beach, where they waded in to their knees. Tyler’s favorite thing was throwing rocks into the water. This beach isn’t quite as nice (or busy) as the one in Caseville, but it is a little deeper, and after the initial drop-off it seems to flatten out for quite a while.

    Shortly after we returned to the campsite, Drew woke up. All three kids played around some more before we decided to get dinner started. We made up hobo dinners, the kind with a hamburger surrounded by potatoes and carrots all wrapped up in tinfoil and cooked over coals. Everybody seemed to eat their food ok, except Drew. He ate some of the meat but wasn’t too thrilled with either of the other items on the menu. We also ate corn on the cob. I thought it tasted decent, but Mom didn’t think it was anything to write home about.

    Our after dinner activities pretty much consisted of getting the dishes put away, while making sure that the kids got into the shower. We decided to extend our trip through the weekend, as well. This way Tara could rejoin us for a couple of days of hopefully relaxing fun. We also managed to sneak in some s’mores by the campfire before turning in for the night.

    After leaving the old homestead, we drove by the cemetery where many members of the Peters Family are buried before heading into Bad Axe to do some shopping at Wal-Mart. After we finished shopping, we headed back to the camper to put things away and turn in for the night.

Thursday, July 6^th - 80º, Sunny

    It was a rough morning for Drew, as he woke me up at 7:00am today (way earlier than his normal time at home, and still earlier than his normal wake-up time while camping so far). He was so cranky that he was back down by 9:30am sleeping. The rest of us had cereal and muffins for breakfast before we got ourselves in the shower for our turn at getting cleaned up.

    We kept everything simple today, mainly hanging out at the campground today. The kids kept busy outside this morning with their bikes and matchbox cars. For lunch, we ate sandwiches. The kids all had peanut butter and jelly, while Dad, Mom, & I had tuna fish. After lunch we went for a bike ride down a nearby dirt road to the “Wilderness Arboretum”, where we were hoping to ride our bikes down the trails but were disappointed to see the ‘No bikes or skates’ signs posted. On our way home Tyler & I stopped at a NASCAR store that is across the street from the Campground while Dad, Mom, Sam, & Drew headed back. The rest of our afternoon was spent at the campsite, riding bikes, or playing at the playground across the street.

    For dinner we made tacos, and I know that we ate too much of that. After dinner Tyler & I went for a bike ride. This time we went down the same dirt road as this afternoon, but in the opposite direction. We weren’t sure where we were going, but I figured we could just ride to the stop sign that I could see. When we got there, we found “Thompson Park”, a scenic lookout along M25 directly across the road that we were riding on. The sun was setting of the lake, so we decided to hustle back to the fifth-wheel to get my camera. We rode as fast as we could back to the park to take some pictures of the setting sun.

    While we were gone, Dad was busy taking off Sam’s training wheels from her bike. She managed to ride a little bit, but crashed once ending the fun for tonight. When Tyler & I returned, we joined everyone else at the campfire for a brief period of time before heading inside to bath the kids. While we did that, Dad was busy making popcorn over the fire. With the kids clean, Mom & I worked on making shakes. After everyone had their fill of our favorite bedtime snack, we headed to bed for the night.

Friday, July 7^th - 85º, Sunny

    We actually managed to sleep in today, as the first one of us up wasn’t until 9:00am. We had cereal and muffins for breakfast today (actually, I had a few cheese slices), before we took our turns getting dressed and showered.

    After everybody was ready, we hung around outside the camper for most of the morning. The kids really enjoy playing with their matchbox cars in the dirt, and that keeps them busy for hours (well, Tyler and Sam do, Drew goes from toy to toy, but still is happy to be doing it). By the time we had spent an hour or so in the warm weather, it was lunchtime. Today we had sandwiches – deli meat for the adults, peanut butter and jelly for the kids.

    Dad had taken Sam’s training wheels off of her bike last night, and she didn’t seem too happy about that today. Mom & I managed to convince her to give it another try, and she agreed as long as she could ride back and forth between us. She took off really well today, and after about five minutes or so she was going longer distances. Mom was doing laundry today, so she rode to the bathhouse while I ran along side her. She also made it from there to the store on the corner with me running along so that we could get some quarters. She then rode back to the camper, all the while only needing a little bit of help to get her started.

    For our after lunch activity I took Tyler and Sam over to the park to play catch with their baseball. We played for a short while before they decided that they would rather swing. I took them back to the camper after letting them go for a bit so that they could change into their swimsuits. We went back across the street to the Oak Beach Park to the beach, where we spent an hour building sand castles and playing in the water. During this time Drew was back at the camper with Dad & Mom taking a nap.

    When we returned from the beach, Drew had woken up (a short nap today). We spent the rest of the afternoon either at the campsite or out riding bikes. Sam progressed enough that I could ride my bike too, as long as I could hold her steady while she got started. For dinner we had steak and baked potatoes. We tried cooking the steak over the campfire, but we didn’t have enough coals to finish the job, so they ended up on the grill. Either way it was delicious, and I know that we all ate too much.

    Once the dinner mess was cleaned up and things were put away, we rode our bikes back to Thompson Park, where Tyler and I had taken the sunset pictures yesterday. Sam and Drew rode in the bike trailer, because I thought that it might be a little too far to ask her to ride on her first real day without training wheels. We left a note for Tara explaining where we went. We were hoping that she would be there before we left, but we must have just missed her because she drove into the park less than five minutes after we got there. The kids played in the water until the sunset, after which we headed back to campsite. Back at the trailer we gathered around the campfire to make some more s’mores before heading inside to get ready for bed.

Saturday, July 8^th - 85º, Sunny

    Another early morning for Drew & I. This morning he woke me up at 7:30am, which isn’t normally so bad but was in this instance due to the late nights that we have been keeping. He was in a pretty decent mood though, and stayed pretty quiet to let everyone else sleep in around 9:00pm. We all made breakfast today, pancakes and bacon. Everything tasted good, but I think the kids are spoiled from home where our pancakes usually include blueberries or chocolate chips.

    Once everyone was cleaned up, Tara & I took Tyler & Samantha to the beach to play while Dad & Mom stayed behind to try and get Drew to take an early nap today. Tyler and Sam set out to make a better sandcastle than the one that we did earlier on in our trip, and I think that the four of us succeeded in doing that today. We made a big castle with two canals running up to it lined in rocks that we picked off of the bottom of the lake. We had a drawbridge that we kept from the other castle, and we had a flagpole and flag combination as well. It was very cool and the kids were very proud of it. They weren’t very happy with us when we had to leave.

    Back at the camper, Drew had woken up by the time we got back. Dad, Tara, Tyler, Sam & I all ate sandwiches for lunch again. Once Dad finished eating, he and Mom headed off in search of a grocery store that Mom liked better than the IGA in Caseville. Turns out that they ended up back at the Wal-Mart in Bad Axe after a searching a few other towns. Everybody else stayed at the camper, except for a walk to the store for ice cream.

    When they returned Tara & I went to the park across the road to the park to play with the kids. There was a redneck reunion going on in the park pavilion, so there were lots of kids to share with. Drew really enjoyed riding on the slides, though. He went down the small curved slide first, then the bigger straight slide and finally the spiral slide. He went down each slide several times. Tyler & Sam kept busy on the merry-go-round with a few visits to the slides and swings mixed in.

    We made the hobo dinners once again (at Tyler’s request) with burgers, potatoes, and carrots. Dad & Mom went for a bike ride after dinner was cleaned up, and Tara took Drew for a walk in the stroller while Tyler & Sam played with the kids a couple of campers over. I was left behind to tend the fire.

    The couple with the fifth-wheel behind ours invited us to watch some fireworks, and although we didn’t go to the designated house, Tara, Tyler, Sam & I did drive back to Thompson Park with the hopes of seeing them. It turned out that the fireworks were only a couple of houses away, so we got a good view of them. We went back to the campsite where we had a bedtime snack of popcorn and shakes again before turning in for the night.

Sunday, July 9^th - 84º, Sunny

    Today was check out day. We managed to get ourselves up and bathed; taking turns showering and eating breakfast. Everything went pretty smoothly, for us at least.

    Our real job was getting everything put away for the trip back home. We loaded most of our stuff into the Trailblazer before helping get the rest of the stuff back into the camper. Since checkout time at this campground isn’t until 1:00pm, we decided to make a lunch, opting for hot dogs and chips. Everyone seemed to have enough to eat, at which point we finalized our packing before hooking up the truck and heading for home.

    Dad & Mom went home via M-53, which is the most direct for where they were heading, while Tara & I followed each other (her car was here because she drove up after work on Friday) to Bayport, where we stopped at the Bayport Fish Company to buy some lake perch. From there we headed along M-25, before taking a few turns and ending up on I-75 for the trip home.

    Something that we had been wanting to do for some time was take the kids to Tony’s restaurant in Birch Run, which we decided to do today on our way, since we were passing by anyway. The kids weren’t as awed as we thought they would be, either by my BLT with a full pound of bacon or by the giant sundae with 5 spoons in it (one for each of us). Regardless of that, we left full, and in the end we made it home safely.

Trip Summary

    We were totally in the dark as to what this campground was going to be like. We were hoping to stay at the Caseville County Park, but could neither reach anybody to talk to nor in the end get reservations. Oak Beach County Park was pretty much a last minute fallback plan.

    Ultimately we were pleased with it. First, you can’t beat the $22 per night price for full hookup. The only thing missing was cable TV (ha-ha). Second, it is pretty much attached to two really nice sandy beaches, both within walking distance (although Thompson Park was really more biking distance when you are lazy like us).

    My only real complaint (besides anything mentioned previously) was the small size of the park in general. While this is great for the seasonal people who stay there and get to really know their neighbors, it really limited the areas that the kids, and us for that matter, could ride their bikes. That being said, I really don’t think that we would hesitate to stay there again.