We headed north last week for a camping trip with family that had been planned since sometime early this spring. This is just the start of the pile of stuff we loaded into "Snow White"-- our 15 passenger van. If you look carefully, you can see Chloe. She was ready to go WAY before the rest of us were! She was just making sure that we weren't going to forget her!
The plan was to drive the 5 hours to my Mom's house first, to get all of our camping gear and campers ready to rock and roll. From there we would drive the 45 minutes or so to Tahquamenon Falls, near Paradise MI.......... But on the way up, we stopped at Sea Shell City.
Ok, so funny story.... When I was in 4th grade we moved from lower Michigan to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. At least once or twice a year we would travel down state to visit relatives etc.... and we would pass Sea Shell City. It's a crazy place...a tourist trap right off the highway and they sell sea shells and various other stuff from the ocean, t-shirts, jewelry, fudge--of course and JUNK. I still have no clue why they sell ocean type stuff when they are no where near the ocean!!?? As a matter of fact, they aren't very close to the Great Lakes either?? Um, yeah. Anyway...
So, I would always beg my Dad to stop there so we could see the "Giant Man Eating Clam" but my Dad never caved, so sadly, I grew up never having the privilege of partaking in their "Sea Shell Wonders." So after Todd and I got married, he took me there! It's nothing special, just like I said, sea shells in the middle of nowhere but each time we are heading home from my Mom's we stop there...it's a tradition now. The kids love it, of course....and I don't mind eating the fudge! ;) The funny thing is, my Mom has still never been there! After all these years and all the times she has passed by there. One of these days I'm gonna have to take her there.....
The boys were able to take an early morning fishing trip with their Dad and Uncle PJ while the girls were helping around Grandma's house taking care of the last details for our camping trip. As you can see, they found a "sweet spot" and were able to haul in quite a catch and we all got to have a little snack of fresh fried fish before we left for camp! Yum!
We went to the Blueberry Festival in Paradise MI and then headed up to Whitefish Point to see the lighthouse and to take some pics on the beach. It was raining when we got there but cleared up just in time for us to take the pics and let the kids have some fun.
We camped at Tahquamenon Falls State Park, the lower falls campground. We drove to the Upper Falls and also hiked the mile from our campground to the Lower Falls. We rented a boat and rowed it over to the island at the Lower Falls. Nine of us in one boat....we thought we were either going to tip over or sink....thankfully, as you can see, we survived without any accidents! We walked around the island, played in the falls a bit and took lots of pictures.
S'more making was great fun. We make gourmet s'mores in our family and some of us take this process very seriously! We usually have --regular, strawberry and coconut marshmallows---peanut butter cups and Hershey's chocolate bars----fudge striped cookies, graham crackers and various other cookies---all on hand to satisfy even the pickiest s'more maker!
Want one?
Wishing you a SA WEET day!
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