Each Wednesday (or thereabouts) I’ve been recording a Curiosity Journal to recap the previous week using these tag words: reading, playing, learning, reacting and writing.Care to join me?
Reading
I started a couple of books while we were at family camp last week, but didn’t get far before people or activities pulled me away.
I left my book bags leaning against Adirondack chairs near the lodge as I conversed, kayaked, hiked and snapped photos.
Learning
The family camp we attend is simple, with minimal programming. They feed us, offer waterfront activities, host a square dance, and organize a campfire singalong with s’mores. It’s a week where a person could do next to nothing, or spend hours on the water or in the woods.
The flexible schedule builds in two days to explore the area. We chose to visit Mackinac Island the first day.
We rode on the ferry alongside some sailboats finishing the annual Race to Mackinac (Chicago to Mackinac Island).
Motorized vehicles are not allowed on Mackinac, so people rent bikes to explore the island or simply stroll around town. Due to the influx of visitors associated with the big race, sidewalks were packed with people, and horse-drawn carriages were loaded down with tourists. What a relief to escape the crowds.
We headed out on the eight-mile perimeter “highway.”
I randomly lifted the camera to snap shots along the way.We cut inland halfway around, fighting to make it up steep hills.
High on the island, we parked the bikes and walked out on a platform attached to Arch Rock for some lovely views.
The bicycle rental dude told us that Sugar Loaf, a big limestone rock (the information sign called it a limestone “stack”), was a spot that the ancient inhabitants of the island believed to be the center of the universe.”Really?” I said. “Wow. Must be amazing.””You’ll see when you get there,” promised the dude. “It’s my favorite place on the island.”Intrigued, we wound our way through woods and struggled up inclines, following signs to Sugar Loaf.We finally found it.
We stared at it for a moment, then looked at each other and shrugged.”Looks like a big rock,” one of the kids observed.”Let’s investigate,” I proposed.We ran up the little path and circled around the stack. On the back side my daughter discovered a little ledge where she climbed up to perch for a few minutes. Sadly, Sugar Loaf did not inspire a spirit of sharing or generosity, as she sort of kicked her brother away when he tried to join her.He and I continued around Sugar Loaf, leaving her at the perch. Three-quarters of the way around we spotted this guitar-shaped hole.If only my son could have made it to that little keyhole and squeezed through…who knows what he would have found?
Alas, he is not a skilled climber, so we left Mackinac Island without unlocking the secrets of Sugar Loaf.The other day away from camp, we drove to “The Soo,” or Sault Sainte Marie, where locks control water levels between Lake Huron and Lake Superior, allowing ships to pass from one lake to the other.
Back at camp, the simplest things delight.
Playing
At this campground where we stopped along the way, two of my daughters enjoyed the playground.
Reacting
At the end of the week, on our way home, we found our way to Sleeping Bear Dunes. Sunsets at the Empire Village park inspired us all.
Writing
Write? Sometimes you just have to live.And L-O-V-E.
* * * * *
All images by Ann Kroeker. All rights reserved. You may “pin” in a way that links back to this post.
Two things. One: got to the end of this and sighed, a big deep God breath that filled me as if I’d been there with you.
Two: I think I will join you next week. I could stand to do this exercise. Thatnks, Ann.
Jen, this was a week that breathed life into me, so I’m glad that the Lord used even the retelling of it in you for this moment.
Your Curiosity Journal can be all text, by the way. Mine happens to be photo-packed this week because of vacation. I hope you do join me. I find it’s a great way to piece together snippets of the week that might not otherwise fill an entire post on their own.
What a beautiful area you’ve shared with us.
So glad you dropped by to visit! I was amazed by some of the vistas–I didn’t even include pictures from Sleeping Bear Dunes. Similar beauty. Maybe I’ll slip them into another post!
No wonder you liked it–some of those photos look like the ocean!
And those photos of empty swings. That tugs on the ol’ heartstrings. Kids leaving, etc. Only it makes me think more of me, the girl who loved to swing.
My friend Sharon teases me that I only like to camp near water! You’re right–Lake Michigan is ocean-like, and in summer, it’s lovely, so lovely. Even better, when you come out of the water to dry off, you don’t feel salt-sticky like you do when dripping with saltwater. And no need to watch for jellyfish or sharks. But no shells; only rocks.
So how come you didn’t call me? You went to some of my favorite places. (Last year I fell off my bike on the island. That wasn’t cool.) Where do family camp?
Sandy, I’ll email you shortly.
Ann, your photos are gorgeous! It looks like you had a sweet time on the trip. Beautiful shots. Our vacation has been planned for a while and we will leave a week from tomorrow. Just praying our boys will be well enough to enjoy the trip. But we all need a nice respite–sick or well. Amazing what a little sun and water can cure.
It was great. I tell people sometimes that family vacation week at the camp is a great excuse to do nothing. Some people nap all afternoon, because that’s what they need most. I hope that on your trip you can choose to do just what you need, whether it’s to run and run and run, or walk, or read, or nap, or sit and stare with a cup of iced tea or lemonade on a pretty table next to a comfy chair. Bless you.
Thank you for your special comment and the looping of the sweet potatoes is when you take the long runners and fold them so you have growing nodes at the end of each fold.
You then put these growing nodes into the earth at the top of your mound. (I usually put about six or eight in the mound).
I do hope this explains the looping. If not let me know and I will do a blog post next time I plant sweet potatoes.
I think I can envision it, Greenearth. Thank you for taking time to visit and explain in more detail! I think it’s too late for this year’s crop, but next year, I’ll try looping.
Oh, Ann! Such beauty. What a wonderful place to do a family camp! Was it a camp as such? With speakers? My husband and I really, REALLY want to go to this part of the country and hope to do it in the next year or so. Thanks so much for sharing it here. I’m just beginning to breath cyber air again after three weeks of wonderful distraction and I am grateful to have taken a few deep breaths here.
Diana, this is an InterVarsity camp, and throughout the summer they host family camps, each with a speaker and music and program for the kids. This particular week is unprogrammed–no speaker or music. It’s a chance for families to reconnect and relax, so that the facilities are simply available for use. I did a sauna (wow, I loved that!), took photos at the square dance where all my kids participated, took a double kayak with my husband around a bay and down a creek to a beaver dam, where we got stuck for a few minutes (that took place where you saw the water lilies). Hanging out with people on the porch, chatting, is a pasttime. Reading. Napping. Hiking out into the woods. It’s very flat there. It’s on Lake Huron in the Upper Peninsula.
What a great idea to offer an un-programmed week. We have an IV camp here in CA, out on Catalina Island. I took my kids to family camp twice – my husband refused to give up vacation days to have to sit in meetings and I could hardly blame him. But the kids loved it and two of them met their spouses at that camp. My two daughters & their husbands have taken their own kids every summer for years – until this year, when both families made other plans. So we have a definite soft spot for IV Family Camps.
How about that! Though I mean no disrespect to the Michigan camp, I’ll bet the Catalina Island camp is way cooler. And I hear so many stories of people meeting spouses at IV camps, whether they are attending as campers or students during the leadership training or as staff.
Actually, the camp is somewhat primitive – open air cabins, tent-cabins. But a FABULOUS dining room and the best food anywhere. You can’t travel far – Wednesdays they do boat trips to Avalon, but that’s about it. You can hike up to the center of the island, but the trip back down is dusty and hot and sorta slippery because it’s so dry in the summer and the dirt loosens. I love the place, but it’s not what I would call ‘cool.’ And I don’t know if Lisa will go with her new husband or not – her two older boys are in college now and struggling with faith issues …. and Mark valiantly rallied and they all went together the last summer of his life. Lisa went with the boys only for the next 3 summers, but this year, they’re all in Hawaii together. And my other daughter’s family is doing the east coast trip this year, part of it with our son and his fam. It may be the end of an era – time will tell.
Wow, how about that? I made some assumptions about “an island off the coast of California.” That alone sounds so amazing, so exotic, for someone here in the Midwest. Based on that description, I think Cedar Campus may actually be more amazing! And the food is good and nourishing, but I sure wouldn’t describe it as “the best food anywhere.” So give Catalina Island camp a point for food, and Cedar Campus in the U.P. a point for “cool.” It actually is cool, too, in terms of temperature. Even I, who love summer heat, actually look forward to the break when I wear capris or even sometimes long pants in the evenings up there.
Just now getting here to see all of the fun and wonderful things you did on your time at family camp. Just beautiful. It seems like the perfect vacation.