When we arrived home Sunday from Michigan, we quickly repacked the RV and went to Bible Memory camp to prepare for the week ahead. Alex couldn't stay at camp, but he set up the RV and stayed for dinner Sunday night. Braylee was a counselor. Beilyn was a camper. I served as the nurse and the little girls just tagged along.
Gramma was one of the cooks.
Watching Beilyn at camp makes my heart happy. The other kids are so kind to her and try to include her.
That's one way to hold the string while you make a bracelet. 😁
The camp directors
Every year, Beilyn is so nervous about the trivia night, but she's getting braver and answered a question correctly!
We started yesterday morning with donuts and pastries in Houghton along the river. Then to split up the long driving day, we stopped in Green Bay, Wisconsin at Bay Beach. It's a small amusement park owned by the city right on the bay with rides costing 25 cents to $1.
Taken by Braylee from her bunk.
Donuts in their pjs.
When in Wisconsin... order all the cheese! 😁 Grilled cheese, ham & cheese sandwiches, and cheese curds.
I took the little girls to the smaller rides.
Then Beilyn joined Alex and the older girls to ride Zippin Pippin. The roller coaster used to be in Memphis and a favorite of Elvis'.
Beilyn wasn't going to let us leave without cotton candy!
We finished the day at the theater. Alex went to Oppenheimer. The 3 older girls watched Barbie, and I took the 3 little girls to Elemental.
We arrived home today around 1pm. SuzyQ received lots of loving, and the RV was quickly repacked for some of us (Bray, Beilyn, Bria, BellaMei, and me) to go to Bible Memory camp this evening!
Some of their school supplies arrived while we were gone. It was a little like Christmas morning with opening all their new stuff when we returned home!
Last year, we debated for awhile on whether to do this experience or not. With 8 people, the ferry cost adds up quickly, the weather could be terrible, and we just weren't sure it would be worth all the hassle. But, wow! It was such a cool experience (even when things didn't go as expected)! We're so glad we did it!
Isle Royale National Park (pronounced like royal despite the spelling) is the least visited park in the lower 48 but has the highest return rate. We can see why! It's so secluded that it's not crowded at all, the scenery is beautiful, and the weather was amazing!
Copper Harbor, Michigan Ready to board the ferry
We settled in for the 3.5 hour ferry ride across Lake Superior.
The little girls played the card game, Golf.
Then we taught the 3 older girls how to play euchre. Brynna is laughing at herself here! She made some pretty funny comments as she learned the ins and outs of euchre. (The little girls were listening to music.)
I read my book and tried to help Brielle with her euchre cards.
Arriving in Rock Harbor on Isle Royale It was cool, windy, and overcast when we arrived. I feared the forecast of 65°-75° and sunny was wrong, making me the bad mom who brought 6 kids out to the middle of nowhere with no jackets. Thankfully, within a half hour, it was warm and sunny!
The girls have stayed in cabins before but the littles were really excited (and proud of themselves for being brave) about the side being a screen where they could see out all night.
The ranger brought tents to our "Group campsite" and helped us get started. We set up 2 three-person tents and 1 two-person tent.
By the time we had everything set up, I was loving our private location but was still a little annoyed that our expectations for the trip had changed. Typical Alex, he remained calm throughout the situation and assured me it would all work out. (He was right! It ended up being better than we imagined!)
We changed into t-shirts & shorts and grabbed a quick snack.
We headed back towards the Visitors Center to start a trail when we saw a sign about renting canoes.
So we did just that! We grabbed paddles and life jackets and took a short hike to Tobin Harbor where the canoes were stacked.
Since we hadn't planned to canoe, we were a little nervous about tipping without our waterproof gear for the GoPro or phones. Plus, the water was a chilly 50 degrees!
But we took the risk of tipping because seriously... so peaceful and beautiful!!
Bria 😁
We took the canoes down the harbor about a mile and then pulled them out onto a dock so we could do the hike to Lookout Louise.
We were on the lookout for moose and wild berries. We found some berries but didn't see any moose.
Raspberries!
This girl was happy! She loves raspberries!
The "trail." Speaking of secluded...we never saw another soul on this 2 mile hike.
Made it to the top! That's Thunder Bay, Ontario in the distance. Our phones pinged, "Welcome to Canada!"
Isle Royale is made up of over 400 islands.
Beilyn says, "It's cooold! Hey Bria, you wanna try to numb your arm hand. I am." But as soon as Bria leans even just a little, Beilyn says, "Bria, don't tip us! Bria, how 'bout no!" 😂
Right as we were making it back to the docks, a sea plane was arriving too! The big girls were a little nervous it would make them tip. 😄 Bria's reaction was priceless! "Whoa! That's cool! Whoa, that's amazing!"
Then my bug-loving girl saw a real life luna moth!
When we returned to our campsite, we all piled into 1 of the tents to eat the dinner we brought - protein bars, beef jerky, turkey sticks, applesauce pouches, trail mix, and cinnamon pretzels for dessert. There is a small gift shop on the island and a restaurant at the lodge if needed. So while the part of the island we were on wasn't "roughing it" as much as we had expected, the part that was roughing it... the mosquitoes! They were relentless! We had to be in the tent to survive. 😂 (My favorite part of the gift shop? Diet Mt Dews for $1! Saved me from a caffeine headache!)
We played Shoot (like Uno) with the little girls. BellaMei was my partner.
We laughed so much through dinner and playing games. I thought, "This is the noise the ranger was worried about." But since we were in our designated Group campsite, we didn't feel the need to hush the girls. ☺️
We found a trail behind our campsite that led down to the harbor where we could watch the sunset, something we probably would have missed if we had been in the cabins on the other side.
About 9:30p, we started getting everyone ready for bed. Braylee had taken the 3 little girls to the pit toilet while Brielle and I had gone in the opposite direction to the water spigot. When I got back, I started heading toward the pit toilet and told the littles to come with me only to find out they had already gone. So, I headed up there alone and was stopped dead in my tracks! A bull moose was standing in the woods staring right at me! Since it was getting dark, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me at first. I slowly backed down the main trail and then ran down the little trail to our camp to get the girls!
He was farther back in the woods when I first saw him. So many thoughts were racing through my mind... I was so thankful the little girls weren't with me when I first saw him. I couldn't believe Braylee and the little girls hadn't seen him or scared him off earlier. Alex wasn't at camp because he had gone down to the water spigot. But mostly, I was thinking, "There is a big moose right in front of us!!" (We had seen a momma moose and her calves in Glacier but we really wanted to see a bull moose.)
The little girls were so good to go back and sit in a tent quietly. Brielle was beside Braylee and I behind a tent. Brynna ran to get Alex and they were able to see him further down the trail. It was the highlight of the day! That "group" site I didn't think we wanted ended up giving us a beautiful sunset and the coolest moose encounter. I can imagine God saying, "See, don't be disappointed with the change in your plans. I had something better in store for you!"
Around 3am, several of us went out of the tents to see the most beautiful night sky! We could hear the wolves howling in the distance.
This morning, Alex walked to the lodge to get coffee and brought me back caffeine too.
Alex showed us the moose track this morning.
Beilyn was determined we hike to Suzy's cave. 🐈
We saw thimbleberries all over the island but none of them were ripe.
The girls climbed through Suzy's Cave, and then we took another route back along the water.
They found some strawberries.
Evidence of those nasty mosquitoes. We used spray, but they were fierce.
We got a pizza from the lodge before we started our last hike to Scoville Point. It was just the momentum the little girls needed to finish out the 8 miles of hiking we did.
Back on the ferry. Beilyn looked at pictures while the little girls listened to music. The others played cards while I read my book.
They were all exhausted though and slept most of the way back.
While they napped, Alex and I went out on the front of the boat, shared a Snickers, and talked about the core memories made on Isle Royale.
The hot showers and amazing Mexican food were the best treat when we made it back to the RV.
