Happy Camper!

This past weekend I went on my third and final camping trip for the year, and I am happy to report that it was my best camping experience to date. The weather had a lot to do with it; the Midwest enjoyed a bit of an Indian summer last week, which meant both Saturday and Sunday were gorgeously warm and sunny days, perfect for hiking the dunes, relaxing on the beach, and sitting around the campfire. Since camping trip #1 was rather frigid, and camping trip #2 was quite damp, this was a marked improvement (even though I did enjoy myself on both prior occasions, despite the circumstances). This camping trip was also significantly better because I was actually able to sleep most of the night, which is far better than lying on the ground awake, cold, and uncomfortable, waiting for dawn to come and put you out of your sleepless misery (my experience on camping trips 1 & 2).

Saturday morning Travis and I left for Warren Dunes in Sawyer, Michigan where we met up with our friends Nate & Bethany and Chris & Jenn. Saturday's activities included setting up camp, going on a hike through the woods and up and over the dunes, lounging on the beach, making dinner over the campfire, and playing Mexican train dominoes by lantern light.

On Sunday we slept in a bit, made breakfast, cleaned up camp, and then had a campfire worship service with Scripture, prayer, and singing. We were on the road by early afternoon, and stopped for lunch at Redamak's in New Buffalo, where guests are invited to bite into a legend, as in the "hamburger" that made New Buffalo, MI famous! I'd really like to know why they feel compelled to put quotes around "hamburger" in their slogan. Is it a hamburger or not? If you're going to put quotes around something, how about "famous"? I mean, is New Buffalo really famous? Regionally renown, maybe, but famous? Anyway, the burgers were tasty, but not so spectacular that I'd consider them legendary. Perhaps my enjoyment of the burger was stifled by my perturbation at the improper punctuation. Oh well, aside from my problem with the signage, the place does have a fun atmosphere to commend it.

After lunch Travis and I parted ways with our friends and decided to take our time and the scenic route home (or at least part of the way home--we cut over to the highway when it got dark and scenic turned to sketchy). We putzed around New Buffalo a bit, then got on the road and stopped at an outlet mall not too long after that, and then stopped at the Indiana Dunes to climb Mt. Baldy (which is actually a sand dune, and not a mountain per se) and watch the sun set over Lake Michigan.