Looks Like We Made It

Her we are at our cozy protected campsite which would become our home base for the rest of the trip. Turns out we spent at at least part of every day at this campsite. The whole time we were in the wilderness we saw three people; two from a distance and one who nodded at us as we hiked past.


...and our journey into the dunes begins with crossing the creek.
And this is our site on the dunes. We were allowed to camp anywhere in the dunes as long as it was west of the tallest dune. That means we had to climb a few hundred feet up some very steep sand hills with backpacks. We were content to pitch our tent as close to the edge of our allowable camping area as possible. Climbing the dunes with packs was not our favorite part of the trip.

Don't we look hopeful here?

Kinda windy at the top...

Maybe the wind will calm down toward sundown.
But it keeps getting worse....

We decided to climb back down to avoid being sandblasted.

Back down to the safe camp and our favorite watering hole....

The next day we tried a different hike. Looks quite peaceful doesn't it.

Until the storms rolled in with lots of lightning, thunder, rain, hail.....

Here is a shot of the dunes after the rain.

Next day we took the road back to our "home camp," thinking it would be easier than walking through sand. This is me crossing on the road. It came to my knees at one point. Looked like it would be fun to drive a four-wheel vehicle through.

We tried again to drag ourselves up the dunes....

Set up camp in the same spot minus the gale force winds....

Climbed up....

Still windy at the top....

The view atop a 500 foot sand dune....

Finally a chance to photograph the sand without eating it.

Got some good light to play with....

This is yesterday morning at sunrise. Shadows on the other side....

We woke up this morning to this sight....

All in all it was an excellent adventure. We did several more things we've never done before (sandblasted by 60 mile an hour winds, hiking in a hail storm, camping in the dunes with awesome view of the stars... our first hike in the mountains) It was great, and we will gladly tell you more later.
Love, Mom and Dad....

Beautiful Day

Day #1: August 14, our 4th anniversaryFinally, a post for you of our anniversary trip to the U.P. a month ago! We drove the 6 1/2 hour drive up to Munising on our anniversary. That night we stayed at a really cozy bed & breakfast right on Lake Superior. The had an expansive deck and garden area that we really enjoyed. We walked around on the beach, then headed out for dinner. Later we enjoyed the sunset while drinking a bottle of the Cabernet that was served at our wedding!
Take note that the land you see in the distance in this sunset picture is an island that is FOR SALE! :) We had fun dreaming about that.

Day #2: August 15.... We had a leisurely breakfast at our lodge and then went to the spot where a shuttle picked us up to drive us to our drop off place in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore backcountry. We had a nice hike that day through the woods, then by a peaceful lake (we were wanting our kayaks at that point).Reuben reviewing the map while waiting for water to heat up at our lunch spot.

We got to our site pretty early that day, set up camp, and relaxed on the beach the rest of the afternoon. Lake Superior was great to swim in! Later on we came back down to the beach for a great sunset.
Campsite #1Day #3: August 16.... This was our longest hiking day, and also the most spectacular. We had amazing views around practically every corner!
Reuben wanted to take this picture of me below to show the trail and the steep, cool drop off right next to it.
After our hike was done that day, we again swam and relaxed on the beach. Then later on we came to this rocky beach to play card and watch the sunset. I loved the way the evening sun was hitting the lines in the rocks. It was another great sunset too. We had such perfect weather.... and only ONE black fly this time!

Campsite #2Day #4: August 17.... Another long day of hiking took us more into the woods, but we still found great beaches. We ater lunch at the one below and Reuben filtered us some more water.
Campsite #3
This last campsite was called "Cliffs" which lived up to its name. It was high up from the water completely in the middle of the woods. We were the only ones at that campground that night too.
So this was our sunset instead of a beach one, complimenting Reuben's fire well. :)
The next morning we hiked the last 5ish miles back to our car without taking many pictures as it was pretty much completely in the woods with no great views. We drove home pretty much immediately. It was the perfect weekend though and we really enjoyed being out hiking again with just each other, a deck of cards, and a few books to occupy us. We had great conversations and time together.... just what you need for your anniversary!

remember when....

Happy Anniversary parental unit!

I remember your seventh anniversary so well: Mom spent it in the hospital, there were nectarines on the tree in the yard, Reuben was mad at mom, and I was almost a c-section. Those were the good old days!

Happy Birthday Sam!

Hope you had a great day Sam. We won't get into the "on the day you were born"...
Well, just a little: I remember how you were almost a c section, those big eyes of yours, and nectarines on the tree in the yard, and how Reuben was a little upset with me....
Happy Birthday!