Vacation Time

I am writing this column early.

For the first time in quite a few years, we will be taking a real vacation when you read this. In fact it will be just about over and we will be packing up to come home again in a day or so.

I know it’s going to be a good week. We are going camping.

We’ve done a lot of that over the past few years, but almost always on weekends, sometimes with an extra day tossed in. This year we have a whole week and two weekends!

Years ago, we used to load up the kids, pack the canoe, the tent and Coleman lamp, stove and various equipment and head out. We took a cooler full of kid-type food and treats. We cooked a lot of meals over the campfire, slept on the ground with mats or air mattresses and sleeping bags, fished or swam every day and took loads of pictures.

That was fun and made for great memories, but I like the camping we do these days much better.

I can’t help it, I’m spoiled. We head up to our 26.5 foot trailer, complete with a queen size bed, TV with DVD and VCR player, radio, CD player, stove, refrigerator, microwave and just about everything else, on a smaller scale, that we have right here at home. The trailer, now several years old, was a great investment and we really enjoy using it for our summer get-aways.

We park it for most of the summer on family property near Roscommon. For recreation, the Au Sable River is just down the road. Higgins Lake is also close and there’s lots to see and do in the area. We have a five mile view, mowed grass and a built in fire pit for roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. About the only thing I don’t have is a dishwasher so, you guessed it, we eat on paper plates a lot!

If it’s rainy, we go shopping, visiting, take naps, read books and watch movies. If it is nice, we go canoeing, for long walks through the woods, take naps and enjoy family cookouts – and we still take lots of pictures.

This year, my brother Jim and his wife Ginny are parked there too, so we will have loads of fun together over a long weekend before they head back towards home on Tuesday.

We will go berry picking and look up some historic old ghost towns and cemeteries around the area, maybe take a canoe trip down the river and do a little exploring.

We will have our cell phones with us, but hopefully not get many calls.

After all it is “vacation time.”