Camping - Day 2

The next morning was chilly as Celeste and I had breakfast and made coffee. The mosquitoes were persistent so we re-lit the fire, which seemed to subdue the bugs a bit. We had soft-boiled eggs for breakfast, with French bread and butter. We set about dismantling camp before Celeste's first nap. By 10 or so, we were on the road--headed the 60 miles or so to Wells State Park.

We stopped for lunch across the border in Menominee, Mich. It was a lot windier there, right along Lake Michigan, but the temperatures were pleasant. There was a playground, and we spent a lot of time at the swings. We got lunch to-go from a little cafe-type place and ate on a blanket in a park along the waterfront.

Wells State Park was only about 20 minutes north of Menominee. Why Wells? I had a faint memory of passing by the park a few years ago and thinking that the section of Lake Michigan coast seemed very pleasant. While only 4.5 hours north of Chicago, it feels like the true north--conifers, birches, wetlands and rocky Great Lakes beaches. The whole setting resembles muskeg.

We lucked into one of the three best sites at Wells. The majority of sites at the park are in a crowded loop filled with RVs. We had reserved a rustic site perhaps a mile from the RV area. We pulled up to our site and encountered a group of friendly people playing bocce in the grass. The site was broad and grassy, with a nice view of Lake Michigan, about 50 yards away. There was a birdhouse in the woods, occupied by house wrens. We set up our things and took a walk down to the lake.

We were determined to have a better bedtime experience, so Kristin took Sonja to get ice cream back at the camp office around sunset. I rocked and rocked Celeste in the tent until she went to sleep. The strategy worked, though Celeste briefly stirred when we all went to bed.