Friday, August 5, 2022 - Saturday, August 6, 2022
Driving Out West
Thursday, May 30, 2024
Promise You PA State Parks are Incredible
Thursday, May 23, 2024
Dark and Stark
Thursday, August 4, 2022 - Friday, August 5, 2022
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
Burlington: The Town, Not The Coat Store
Tuesday, August 2, 2022 - Wednesday, August 3, 2022 - Thursday, August 4, 2022
"I've got my swim trunks and my flippy floppies"
Sunday, July 31, 2022 - Tuesday, August 2, 2022
Tuesday, May 2, 2023
A Family Affair in the Mountains of New York
Friday, July 29, 2022 - Sunday, July 31, 2022
One of these years, I hope, traveling with two kids will afford me a little bit more time to document in real time instead of months later. But much like our 2021 trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, I have to recap our 2022 trip after the fact. Unlike that trip, though, I hope to be able to finish documenting it. I realize now that I never finished writing up about our stay at a small but cute community park along Lake Huron in Pt. AuGres, Michigan, as well as our final stay in Cuyahoga Valley National Park before returning home.
For now, let's look back at 2022, which took us north into New York and Vermont before whipping back south into Pennsylvania. It was a 9-day, 8-night trip that included five different stops and some on-the-fly decisions about when and where to go.
Our reasoning for piecing together a trip like this stemmed from the fact that the annual Menzel family reunion was set to take place at a state park in upstate New York the weekend of July 29-31. After checking things out, and knowing that visiting Burlington and the White and Green Mountains of Vermont has always been on our list, we figured now would be as good as any to take this trip.
Stop number one would be North-South Lake State Park, which was only three hours away from Wilkes-Barre. So, I guess, technically an overnight stay at the lake would be stop 1a and North-South Lake would be stop 1b. And most of our activities would center around what the rest of the Menzel clan was up to, knowing that the main reunion part would take up Saturday.
As for our campsite, it was located in a fairly large campground, even if it didn't feel that way because of the density of hemlocks towering dozens of feet above you.
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Pretty Rocks and Pretty Hot
"Fill your life with experiences, not things. Have stories to tell, not stuff to show." -Unkown
Saturday, July 3, 2021 - Monday, July 5, 2021
The last major stop on this trip took us east a bit, but still along the shores of Lake Superior. Our destination was the second of three National Park Service-run parks: Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
Much of our pre-trip research told us that the best views of the rocks come from Lake Superior either via kayak or boat. We wouldn't quite be able to pull that off with two young kids and a dog, but we also knew that we'd still be able to take in some different sights and sounds.
The first of those would come from our remote, non-electric campground deep into the park. Little Beaver Lake Campground was nestled far from civilization near the aptly named Little Beaver Lake. There was a small waterway that connected to Beaver Lake. Both of these lakes and the campground itself were just a mile or so from the Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior. And while the lake could be hiked to, it could not be seen from the campground.
No problem.
There's something beautiful about being in such a small campground. We had site 8 of 8 here.
The high humidity and rising temperatures into the upper 80s and low 90s with no ability to catch relief with air conditioning, however?
Problem.
Monday, July 25, 2022
There's Beauty UP Here
"Encourage your child to have muddy, grassy or sandy feet by the end of each day, that’s the childhood they deserve." - Penny Whitehouse
Thursday, July 1, 2021 - Saturday, July 3, 2021
Following a relatively smooth and scenic trip through northern Wisconsin and into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, we arrived at the shore of Lake Superior. We had made it. More than 1,600 miles from home.
We were staying at the Union Bay Campground in the Porcupine Mountains State Park. This campground is located at the foothills of the mountains and close to the visitor center.
Our site was one of the ones closest to the lake, although it wouldn't be a completely open view.
Still, it's hard to complain too much about a sight like that when you're also catching a light breeze, no rain, and temperatures in the upper 70s.