Camping, Proud Lake, Michigan

This weekend we did a trial camping run with our new gear, the dogs, and luckily for us, some friends. My friend Kyle and his family joined us for a night in Proud Lake, per his suggestion. It seemed like everyone in the greater Detroit area also went camping at Proud Lake, which makes sense as it was a holiday weekend.  Though the campground was crowded with many other tents, campers, dogs, and families with children who played chicken with cars on their bikes, in a way the "village" aspect of the campground was nice. I don't see (or hear!) my neighbors in Bowling Green with as much frequency as our neighbors at the campground. Perhaps because there are fewer, or at least thinner, walls separating folks, and we're all sharing a lot of dirt and meddlesome storm clouds and beautiful fireflies, some folks were perhaps more friendly than in their normal day-to-day lives. Having our beautiful brindle babies didn't hurt in making acquaintances as Paco and Lola received plenty of attention and the usual "What kind of dogs are they?" question with also plenty of guesses.

It seems as though we figured out the camping thing pretty well our first time around, with only a small list of purchases or items to add to the car trunk before we head out on the road (small broom and dustpan for the tent, plus a mat to wipe our feet, for example). The tent is HUGE! We easily fit an inflatable mattress, a dog bed, our duffle bag and, when it rained, our collapsible chairs, plus two humans and two dogs, and we had room for another dog bed.  The Coleman burner was a dream as it cooked or boiled super fast. The collapsible ice chest was cool looking and a nice size, though the ice melts in a day, which I thought was normal, but Javier said there are some that preserve ice for two days, and I overheard some neighbors talk about their electric cooler (granted, their car battery died as a result of running this electric cooler).

So our roadtrip out west should prove to be a success. While I will miss not having friends with us while we camp--Kyle, Katie, Teddy and Lydia were so much fun to be with--we will get to see plenty of friends in Portland, Seattle, L.A. Tucson, and points elsewhere, and we'll have this camping thing down pat once we return to BG in August.

The Conway/Castillo & Pawlowski/Westfall human and dog family portraits

Dogs on a hill

The Castillo castle

Antics

Javier waiting for his dinner

Proud Lake: dogs not allowed on beaches

Campsite

Teddy and Paco pose for the camera

Lydia not amused with Javier's antics (let it be said that, according to Lydia,  Javier and Lola --who knocked Lydia down in her excitement--are not allowed to visit us at our own house in BG when her family comes to town. Paco an I are welcome, though)

Some serious looking dudes

Lola licking something up from under the picnic table