Sea Salted Bee: Adventures in Wilderness

A month ago, to celebrate the long Labor Day weekend, we booked ourselves a campsite in the Porcupine Mountains along Lake Superior. We planned 3.5 days of camping, hiking, fresh mountain air and the northern woods of Michigan.

In my mind, I envisioned 80 degree sunny days, splashing around in the lake, bounding up mountains and frolicking in meadows with the dog. Mother-Nature, in all her wisdom, clearly didn't share this vision. As we arrived, the monsoon rains began. The ranger assigned us our mud-puddle of a campsite (that was also happened to be home to a million biting flies and mosquitoes). But we stuck it out and set up camp...and it wasn't bad. In fact, it was a lot of fun.

Though our hiking plans were ruined (miles of mud, that I slipped into, OUCH!) we entertained ourselves with scrabble, cooking, tossing the baseball and frisbee around and lots of naps. Instead of being a super physical weekend, we got to unwind and unplug. Well, unplugging wasn't necessarily voluntary, thanks T-Mobile.

I am told that any weather can be "Camping Weather" with the right gear and good company. And I believe this, though I will never be willing to camp in the snow. Ever.

Our new Coleman Camp stove worked like a charm when building a fire wasn't easy (hello rain and gale-force winds). A good rain jacket and plenty of clothes kept us dry, clean(ish) and warm when the winds picked up. Our solid tent and kick-ass sleeping bags allowed us to sleep comfortably while it poured rain inches above our heads. All. Night. Long.

We ate quite well too. Aged cheddar cheese and crackers, fresh fruit, eggs and toast (thick cut bacon for Ty, that smelled so good, it was the envy of the entire camp ground), Kind Bars, tomato soup with salsa and cheddar, fire-roasted corn on the cobb, scalloped potatoes, of course there were HOT DOGS...and then the Banana S'mores (instructions below).