End of Summer Outings

    

Lake of the Clouds in the Porcupine Mountains, Michigan - 2006

Jodi - 2004

     When our kids were little and we took them on our family camping trip, the week or so before school started, we experienced some great adventures together.  They were the kind of adventures that produced fond memories and monumental photo albums.  Ask me about them sometime.  I can easily sit down and go through the pictures with you; with the same amount of enthusiasm that my sisters and I expressed on evenings when Mom and Dad pulled out, and set up, either our slide projector or 8 mm reel to reel movie projector. Contrary to the stereotyped yawns of boredom often portrayed for such an endeavor, we loved it!  It was an evening of laughter and emotions as memories of past feats were conjured up.  Intermissions were complete with images depicted on the white screen by our hands and fingers in front of the lamp bulb  

Todd - 2004

     While on those family camping adventures, Cindy and I quite often did something individually with each of the kids as well.  If I took Todd one afternoon to do something, she would do something with Jodi and then the following day we would "switch it up".  I've taken them kayaking, fishing, rock stacking in a creek (to create pools) and exploring on islands; just to name a few of the excursions. 

     For the last few years, due to family schedules, I've taken the kids on their own overnight camp-out.  The premise is still the same as Cindy does something back home with one of our kids while I've got the other kid out in the woods.  Typically I try to center our camping around something each of my children enjoys.  With Jodi I usually go somewhere where we can swim.  This may or may not happen as much as we would like depending on the weather.  In addition, we'll catch up on sleep (hard to beat fresh air through a tent screen) and read and/or journal.  With Todd we usually go somewhere where we can play disc golf in route to a campground.  Each of the kids, because of their love for cross country, likes to run the trails of the park we are at.  It's a change from the monotony of running the same roads or routes back home.  Both Todd and Jodi also enjoy the campfire as a centerpiece for cooking and talking.  So even on an overnight trip, where we're hardly gone for 24 hours, we are immersed into a complete, camping experience.

     This summer I took the kids up to Blue Mound State Park in Wisconsin.  As a family we had camped there back in 2008.  It's also been a destination for past individual father-kid outings.  I brought Jodi on a Friday through Saturday trip and Todd on the following day, Sunday through Monday.  It was none too soon as Jodi was starting high school practice for fall sports that week and by the following weekend we were taking Todd to college.

     Both trips were unique and yet both were the same in that I got to spend time with them.  We stopped by our local Aldi's grocery store, shared a packet of beef jerky on the way up while riding in the old Jeep, set up camp, cooked brats and beans for dinner, read/journaled around the campfire, got a good night's sleep, had breakfast, relaxed and then packed up.  

Jodi and I on the East Tower at Blue Mound

     With Jodi we went to the redesigned pool (since this area has no natural lakes, it's the only State Park in Wisconsin with a pool).  It was fun (not deep enough to dive in like the old one) but it was also a bit chilly.  We visited the lookout towers after dinner and then took an evening drive through the hills and hollows; seeing several deer and raccoons while enjoying the beautiful sunset.  

Sunset over the Mound

In the morning we got up early to watch the sunrise; a surprising and ironic twist for a girl who likes her sleep.  She was able to return to her sleeping bag for a few hours afterwards while I journaled and read.  Before our breakfast of pancakes we also jumped on the trails around the base of the mound and ran

Sunrise from the Mound

between four and four and a half miles.  Our trip concluded with a bang when I was pulled over for speeding south of Mount Horeb.  I knew the area had a speed zone where I had to slow down, and was in the process of doing so, but not soon enough as she blinked her headlights at me and then quickly did a U-turn with all of the lights flashing.  I apparently needed to start slowing down at the soccer fields outside of the little town, not at the high school.

 Fortunately the officer actually wanted to hear my explanation and story of what we were doing.  Perhaps it was Jodi sitting cross-legged in the front seat reading, or the smell of wood smoke coming from the camping supplies piled in the back of our Jeep, but she let us go with a warning.  I couldn't believe it and had a hard time not shouting out with joy.  It was a warning I heeded, however, as the penalty would have been severe, and so I stored that in my memory bank for the next time I traveled through so that I could remember to slow down in time.

Todd and I with a sweat soaked trail map after ten miles

     After setting up camp with Todd a day later, we prepared for our long run.  Since early that morning we had been drinking water and preparing mentally for the longest

run we had had all summer.  Using the park's trail map we elected to run the outside edges, which meant we would be following the mountain bike paths.  The hills were so steep in parts that they were designed as switchbacks just to get up them.  At times I'm sure that our pace while running uphill was slower than what we could walk on a level surface.  Yet, it was fast enough that we actually caught mountain bikers who were attempting to pedal the incline...not once, but with two different groups.  It was a blast running and jumping over rocks, roots and ruts.  By the time we had finished running for an hour and twenty minutes (about 10 miles), I had

slipped on some gravel once, and tripped once, sprawling out onto the trail but with no adverse effects.  We were done by that time, mentally and physically.  We vowed to return next summer, however, and complete the entire system; but also decided it would be important to begin in the morning when we would have more daylight and energy to begin with.  We cleaned up, ate dinner, and sat around the fire reading by the combined light of the flames and Coleman lantern to the company of a family of raccoons.  

In the morning, after a breakfast of eggs and potatoes, we packed and headed south to Monroe and Twining Park where we played 18 holes of disc golf.  Todd loves this sport and can explain all of the discs, throws and technicalities.  I used two discs throughout the course and was happy if I could get to the basket in 4 throws.  Todd and his friends always play every hole of a course as a par 3 regardless of what it says it is.  According to our abilities we both played the front 9 holes well, but fatigue from our run the night before crept in, and we struggled down the back 9.  It was still a lot of fun though.  I've never actually golfed with clubs and a ball, and don't really plan to, but I'm guessing the feelings are similar.  You have good drives and putts as well as some near misses, or major screw ups.  Still, it's time in a great environ.

     I could camp out almost any night, anywhere, at any time (with the right equipment).  I love it.  Taking that love and sharing it with my kids on a "Dad-Outing"; and then combining that experience with activities they really enjoy, makes for good times and memories.  It was a good way to finish up Summer Break with Todd and Jodi.

     See you along The Way...