As I mentioned in an earlier post, I went camping a couple of weeks ago. And I actually lied in that post. I have been camping before. Well.........not exactly tent camping. But in a very nice camper. You know the kind with comfy beds, a full bathroom, full kitchen, and of course AC. The family I babysat for in high school would take me along on their camping trips. We always had so much fun! (If you count that, then I have been camping. Just had to get that off my chest.)
Lee and I went to
Indiana Dunes State Park. Sunday-Wednesday....July 4th week. The campground was very nice. Lee and I spent the Saturday before we left shopping for supplies. (Although he already had most of it.) Thanks to us both being madly organized, we didn't forget a thing.
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| Me driving up 65. Traffic was horrible! We took the scenic route home 3 days later. |
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| Lee packed this car PERFECTLY. I mean not an inch to spare. Go, go, Kia Soul. |
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| Not one inch to spare! |
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| Parking tag |
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| Campsite #85 |
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| Just after we got set up. Lee did most of the work. I'm not going to lie. I assisted where I could. Really putting up the tents took no time at all. And the screened in 'kitchen' area took only 1 minute. |
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| Our campsite |
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| Our kitchen area. The screened in area was nice to protect us from the rain. But it did not keep out mosquitoes or raccoons. They would get trapped inside. More to come on that! |
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| Our tents. |
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| My sleeping quarters. |
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| Lee's tent |
See the building behind our campsite. That was the bathhouse. It was nice being so close. My biggest fear was using the bathhouse. Didn't know how clean it would be. (I don't care much for
public restrooms, period.) It actually wasn't that bad. Really just
took me back to the days of living in the college dorm and sorority
house.
Our first night there around 3am, I hear "MEGAN, MEGAN!!! Did you close the screen all the way? There are raccoons in there." Scared the living daylights out of me. (I couldn't figure out what a raccoon was I was so out of it. LOL!) A Mama raccoon was trying to get in and rescue her baby inside our screened in kitchen area. Lee had to chase them away. Turns out the raccoons at Indiana Dunes State Park are as friendly as the staff. They came to visit us each night, were not afraid of anything, and made themselves right at home. We could hear them inside the trash dumpster. They stole our neighbors marshmallows right off their table, while they were sitting there. They sniffed another neighbor's foot, who thought it was her dog at first. They were quite characters. Not afraid of anything!
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| I have sleep apnea. I am hear to tell you just because you need a
CPAP machine to breathe at night, does not mean you can't go camping.
Lee ran an extension cord from our power source, right in to the side of
my tent. Worked like a charm. This was my teeny, tiny side window where my extension cord came in. I loved peaking out it. (Don't worry I had bigger windows at the top.) |
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| Had such a terrible time getting a fire going. The wood was terrible. Lee worked and worked! The first batch of firewood we bought was wet. Second batch was just no good. It was a bummer we never really had a good fire. At least we were able to cook our meals. | |
Let me talk about the dunes and the beach. So maybe I am spoiled by the white sandy beaches of the Gulf. But I wasn't really that impressed by the beach. (Hello I grew up on Lake Erie. What did I expect?!) Facts are facts. The beach was dirty. Like in cigarette butts and other human trash left behind. I won't tell you what I saw the first day we went to the beach. (Still making me gag and I want a tetanus shot.) The beach seriously needed to be cleaned up. It wasn't as horrible as I am making it sound but it needed some work. We had a really nice day on the beach Tuesday.
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| Lake Michigan. It was cold but we did go in. |
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| The beach. Lee and I really enjoyed watching the lifeguards. They were a riot. They did secret hand motions to each other and we tried to figure them out. They would take off on a 4 wheeler to go yell at people. Obviously I should have been a beach lifeguard and not a pool lifeguard. |
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| The beach and a dune. |
On the last day Lee and I went on a hike/walk and he decided to climb a dune. For about half a millisecond I considered doing it, too. Then I thought, no one wants to see a fat girl roll down a dune. So unladylike. LOL. Lee did it like a PRO!
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| Lee climbing a dune. |
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| I stayed down here and waited. |
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| HE DID IT!!!! |
Would I suggest going to the Dunes? The campground is really nice. Very well maintained. They have lots and lots of great hiking trails if that is your thing. The beach leaves a lot to be desired. One thing you should know about Indiana Dunes State Park......it is alcohol free. That is right. No booze.
So would I go camping again? Absolutely. I really would. I wouldn't even mind going more off the grid. (Although I have to have some electric for my CPAP.) I enjoyed being outside and spending quality time with Lee. It was nice to kind of unplug from it all and just enjoy doing nothing. (Time moved slow when we were camping. And I liked it.) It was good for the mind and body.
