Not Fruitful But Rewarding

I camped at Hoeft State Park last fall and had such fun walking the dunes and picking berries, that I thought I'd do it again. Unfortunately, this year, probably because of the early spring, unexpected freezes and extended summer drought, I couldn't find a single berry.

I left the dunes and continued walking along the shore until I reached a little stream that borders the park. I worked my way up the stream to a shallow, marshy area where I met three unexpected friends. Now, those of you who know me are already guessing that I'm not talking about human friends. I tend to run into more "cool characters" as in the cold-blooded, amphibian type. (It must be the princess in me.) I met three little frogs that let me sit within two feet of them, giving me the perfect opportunity to show off more froggie photos to my long suffering warm-blooded friends.

Lake Huron Shore

My first night out I had planned on staying at Port Crescent State Park, but because of my late start and the busy end of summer weekend, it was full. I checked in at three other campgrounds, but the results were the same---No Vacancy! I didn't really mind; I had a backup plan. 

I stopped just down the road at a great little roadside park and enjoyed a picnic dinner. Sitting at my lakeside table, I watched the sunset while a young couple walked along the shore. After it was dark, I drove onto the expressway and spent a peaceful night at a quiet rest stop just up the road.

A New Adventure

There are some huge changes arriving in my life, most are wonderful and exciting, but some are quite sad. I won't tell you everything right now, because all of the changes won't be happening at the same time. Instead, I will tell you the first item on my agenda is also one of my favorite activities---a road trip! This won't be just any ordinary road trip, it will be as my sister, Kay, calls them, "a Julie Trip". Julie Trips are crazy, outrageous, illogical trips which make no sense to the average traveler. If you just want to get where you're going as quickly as you can you wouldn't want to travel with me. On my road trips I sit behind the steering wheel and let Van make all the decisions. If he notices an interesting road we haven't explored, that seems to be close to the direction we're traveling, I think, 'Why not!' and off we go. If we see a pretty little campsite hours away from where we had planned to stay for the night, we stop. Almost always, after I've set up camp and had time to explore, I've found that these unplanned stops contain unexpected treasures---treasures only found by those who are willing to take the time to explore.

***The picture above, showing me as I check Van's tire pressure, was taken by my sister, Kay, during one of our shared road trips.