Although this wasn't our first camping trip of the year, there was something about it that kind of made it feel that way. Maybe it was the fact that we stayed three nights at the campground instead of two. Then again, it might have been the fact that school is officially out for the Summer and 
I think mostly, it was the fact that 
Lakeport State Park sits right on the shores of Lake Huron in Michigan just north of Port Huron. This is only the second time we have visited this park, but there is definitely a lot to do and see in the area. Then again, you might prefer to just sit at your campsite and watch the Great Lakes freighters go by.
The only problem with the sites right on the water is sometimes the wind can get quite heavy and in the case of this past weekend even though we were a couple of roads away from the shore, it was still pretty chilly.
When we arrived on Thursday afternoon, the campground was pretty empty. I guess that's probably a relative term. As you can see from the photo above, there were plenty of people there, but I wouldn't consider it "packed". However, by Friday night, the campground had totally filled in and I don't think there were more than a handful of empty sites in the place.
One of the unique things about Lakeport State Park is the fact that it has a camp store near the water in the section where our site was. They sell things like ice, wood, and ice cream which are always handy to have when you are camping. We didn't visit the store since we brought our own wood and ice, but it took a lot of willpower to resist the temptation to get some ice cream!
If you have ever done this style of camping, you know that food is a big part of the deal. Whether you are using one of those new fangled griddles like I have been lately, a grill, or cooking over the open fire, there are always a lot of really great smells floating around the campground. Since I will be sharing a lot of food photos, I am going to leave this post off the worldmappin map, they apparently frown on that and it's part of the reason I have been silently boycotting them.
Of course, along with the regular bacon for me, I also have to cook up some turkey bacon for
As I said before, we've been using the griddle quite a bit for our meals when we are camping. I can run it right off the gas supply for the trailer and not having to load up the grill allows me to throw more wood in the back of the truck for campfires. The first night camping we had asparagus and turkey reuben sandwiches on the griddle. I used traditional rye bread for mine, but my wife opted for a low carb tortilla.
Friday night we had chicken philly sandwiches for dinner which I didn't take photos of, but on Saturday night we had this delicious tortellini, sausage, and vegetable dish that I threw together on the flat top. It was probably one of the best things we ate all weekend and the smells were amazing!
We made a couple excursions while we were camping, but I also spent some time just sitting at our campsite reading this new book. It's been pretty good so far and I will likely write a post about it when I finish it up.
I think most everyone knows, camping isn't really camping unless you spend some time around the campfire. We usually had the fire roaring by about 6 PM each night and we stayed up until around 10:00 or 11:00 drinking, talking, and listening to music (at a respectable level). It was a really great kick off to the summer season and I am already looking forward to our next trip in a couple of weeks.
All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or
