Holy amazing weekend. Well, amazing 24 hours. I drove up to the new family camp on the Dead River with mom and dad to bring the first load of camp gear! Fall in the U.P. is amazing, and I can't believe we now have a cabin we can visit year-round on the river!
We paraded up M-95 with dad in the lead. This is mom with the load of bunk beds. She told me to stop following so closely. I told her to stop speeding up and slowing down. We love each other.
We turned off of M-95 and followed the winding back roads past Deer Lake.
And here is the first glimpse of the camp! This is the garage through my windshield. I may have been screaming with excitement and/or jumping around a little while driving. I think Grandma Karen would say it was ok this one time...
And the cabin!
Mom fished the key out from under the pumpkin and opened 'er up!
We got organized and then had some dinner in the new camp!
Just sitting on the deck of OUR CAMP.
Oh, hey, just hanging out at OUR NEW CAMP.
Checking out the beach. The camera does not do justice to the fall colors!
It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, and we actually could hear the leaves falling from the trees in the woods around us!
Dad, scouting for fish from the beach!
Oh, hey, just a view of OUR CAMP from the beach!
Sauna Aiika!
I found this Suomi license plate in the sauna! Shined it up real nice. Keeping that!
The deer feeding station out behind the cabin.
Dad up in the garage loft. Hi dad! About 5 seconds after I took this he spotted a dead partridge in the driveway. We thought maybe the camp has a magical force field that kills animals who get too close. Then you don't have to hunt for your dinner, you just set your lawn chair up at the force field.
It got chilly outside after we sat and watched the stars on the beach and talked to Kimberly on the phone! Dad made the first fire in the stove and warmed us up!
The basin was misty when we woke up this morning.
It was so peaceful to eat our breakfast and drink coffee on the deck of OUR NEW CAMP!
The water was like glass for much of the morning.
Dad fired up the riding lawnmower and mowed the lawn. Then he found the new lawnmower blade the previous owners had left for us and mowed it again!
We stopped our cleaning and ate lunch on the deck! It warmed up really quickly outside and eventually got to almost 80 degrees!
Mom and I sealed all the wood inside the cabin. I had the honor of using an old dog dish for my sealer bucket. So lucky. Sisters - this is the wall behind the stove after a coat of sealer. It barely looks any different, but it looks fresher and really nice. Not really shiny, but maybe a little bit of a sheen to it. Dad took over sealing for me in the afternoon because I had to leave to come home for work. They have a list of things they'll be working on for the rest of the weekend. Sarah heads up there with them the next two weekends, and hopefully we can get the boys up there before it gets too cold out! They are going to love OUR NEW CAMP!
Side note - the Ishpeming Cemetery is on the road to camp. I stopped on my way home to take some pictures and wander around for awhile. I know Kimberly will be super excited about this! Sarah might enjoy this fact as well!
First weekend at camp was a success!!
