Wow what a summer. We had 5 camping trips planned and managed to enjoy all of them. We will cherish the memories we made.
We started at Gooseberry Falls State Park. The site was very nice. Unfortunately it rained most of the time we were there. It was my birthday weekend so we did find breakfast and pie at Betty’s pie! Due to the rain we ended up leaving early as it was going to be raining all night Saturday and we were so tired of the rain. We did have a nice time for the time we were there.
Trip 2 was just Ryan and myself and we were at Banning State Park. The park was very nice except for the mosquitoes! They were terrible on every hike. We were able to find a short hike to overlook some falls. Very pretty and very relaxing. Our site was very nice. There were campers across the way that had a guitar and serenade us all evening even until 2 am.
Next trip was Jay Cooke State Park! This one started out with pouring rain. We needed to pull off the road on the way due to no visibility. Found a bank no longer being used and sat under the canopy waiting on the rain to stop. Once making to the campground, we got the tent up another rain storm hit, so we found a dry seat in the car picked up rain coats at the park office and then we went off to Duluth to find supper. Ended up at Pizza Luce’ around 9 p.m. Food was excellent and we were able to wait out the rain, getting back to a wet campsite but no rain coming down we finished the set up of the tent and headed to bed exhausted. Saturday started out with a hike to the swinging bridge. We enjoyed the time even though it was a bit busy. We did take the munger biking trail down to a bridge over the water and it was so pretty. We were able to have hobo dinners in the evening and enjoy some campfire with cards against humanity.
Ryan, Katie and I headed out to Temperance River State Park for the fourth trip. We had been looking forward to this one as we knew we would be close to Lake Superior. It was a hike in site and in the morning woke up to the sound of waves crashing on the shore. We had perfect weather all around not to hot for hiking and the fire did keep us warm. We hiked along the Temperance River and got some really cool shots. It was about a 2 hour hike or so. The scenery reminded me of Colorado a bit it was so pretty and rocky. After our hike we had lunch and spent some time at the campsite. I got in a nap while Ryan and Katie explored the rocks below by the lake. We had a nice puppy next door named Henry who introduced himself a couple times. For dinner we did simple with hot dogs and black beans and rice. The campfire that night and the amazing sky with large moon allowed us to have a little fun making faces in photos. We sure did enjoy this trip especially the location of our site.
Last camping trip of the year brought us to Bayfield then a ferry ride to Madeline Island to say we were excited for this one is probably and understatement. Ryan, Amber, Ren and myself all got our first Ferry ride, which included bringing a car! Going over was an experience they pack you in so you have to bring in mirrors and no-one is getting out. It as dark and there was little to nothing to see. The only unfortunate thing is that it went backward from the way the car was facing so Ren and I turned around in our seats to not get sea sick. Once we got on the island it was time to find the park and our site (in the dark). We did find it a few detours along the way but how do you remember the trip if not for those scary drives in the dark woods? Amber and Ren noticed the Milky Way was visible on Friday night so it was hop in the car and drive again to find a place for photos. Oh and what photos we got! Saturday we decided was explore the island day. That only took about an hour or so. We had coffee at a local coffee shop and drove around the island. The place was very neat. We were told about the town park which had a board walk so we headed there and walked and enjoyed the beach. It was a wonderful place to visit. Unfortunately it started to rain about 7 and so we were unable to have a campfire on Saturday night. We booked a boat cruise to the Apostle Islands from Bayfield and we have all agreed that was the highlight of the trip and we do highly recommend it. Such a fun trip!
Now to get to planning next years camping adventures.