I love Lake Erie

The youth girls' camping trip to Lake Erie could not have gone more perfectly.  The weather was beautiful the entire time... not too hot and not too cool.  It didn't matter if we forgot our hoodies, because we didn't need them anyway.  Since we had thought to bring plenty of kindling, the campfire started quickly every time.  No one was injured the whole trip long.  The life guards were so sweet and let us swim wherever wanted to on Presque Isle.  The coons never ventured near or tried to steal our food or rip our tents open.  We had the perfect amount of food and drinks.  And the mosquitoes didn't even bother us!

Well, maybe that's how we wish it would have gone... but honestly, our camping trip was the exact opposite. It rained. No, that's an understatement. It poured.  It was cool in the evenings and those who forgot a hoodie got really cold.  The campfire took two hours to start the first night, one hour to start the next morning,  and a little less than that that evening.  I'm not exaggerating.  We had no kindling and no hatchet... only a hunting knife.  We worked hard to shave kindling off the chunks of wood we had bought.  Maybe we worked too hard... at least 4 people cut themselves on the knife.  The life guard whistled at us for being too far away from him.  A coon crept around our camp site in search of food.  During the night, a critter (which we assume was that horrid coon) entered the tent that had all our food and trash in it.  It scattered the garbage everywhere and left some junk of its own.  The tent wreaked and was a huge mess.  We had an overabundance of food.  And the mosquitoes... o, they were horrible!

Yet despite all of this we had so much fun! and we made so many memories! O yes, it was soo worth it!  And I think if I had an option, I would choose the second scenario.  Please excuse the horrible pictures of this weekend.  I forgot the battery for my camera so I used my sister's camera... until that battery died.  So here are a few of our exciting experiences...

When we got to the campground, it was raining really hard... the sunbrella was one of the best things we took along... Here we were piling our firewood and coolers onto the picnic table and covering them with a tarp.

(not my picture)

After it stopped raining, we found a place without puddles where we set up both tents. 

   

This awesome snack was an amazing idea... chips, cheese, and salsa all melted up in a cast iron skillet... it was so good!

Watching the sun set over Lake Erie was awesome! Aaahh... it was so much fun.  Last summer I went camping at this same campground with my family.  I fell in love with the place and especially with Lake Erie.  I promised myself that someday I would come back.  And now, just a year later, I was back with my girlfriends.  It all made me so happy.

We drove to Presque Isle and spent a fun, relaxing day enjoying the amazing weather on the beach.

 

We woke up in the morning wet. Very, very wet. Soon everyone started stirring in our tent and we all realized that there were puddles all over the tent.  About three people had a dry place to sit.  A few took the electric griddle into the restroom and started frying breakfast... genius, really.  The rest of us slept in the van.

 

(not my picture)

After eating breakfast in the restroom, we decided that we had no choice but to start packing up.  So we rolled up the sopping wet sleeping bags, collapsed the dirty tents, folded up the dripping tarps, bought plastic bags at the camp store to put the wet things in in an attempt to keep the van from getting to wet, and washed the breakfast dishes... all in the pouring rain.  And yes, we even had fun doing it.  

So no, the circumstances were not all ideal.  But I am actually grateful they were not.  We made so many unique memories and had fun doing it.  I loved it so much and hope that someday I will go back again.

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Never settle for less!