taking the plunge

another peaceful afternoon at campsite 12 down the beach from the sleeping bear dune. the mosquitoes will get you - but otherwise it's about as pleasant as a place can be. it's quiet, cool in the shade, warm in the sun, with a little bit of a breeze. the air is fresh or else smells like woodsmoke.

because people here are apparently completely obsessed with fires. like, that's the reason they go camping. as i walk around in the (remarkably warm!) evening, it is rare that i see any cold firepit (except ours). usually there are people sitting around them in lawn chairs, though sometimes the people seem to disappear into their tents or RVs leaving the fire to crackle at itself. could be because the lawn chair people (and their children) are often making squeaking noises after getting singed.

now, i like looking at a fire as much as the next guy. it can be relaxing. i'd be interested to see an fMRI of someone staring into a fire... i bet you'd see some lord-of-the-flies-ish brainwaves coming out of there, too. but really... either these people have a very dogmatic attitude (as in, it's not camping without a campfire), or else maybe they're storing up extra heat for the winter? because you couldn't pay me enough to get eaten while working hard on a project that will make me hotter.

anyway, we're happy to put up with a few idiosyncrasies from our neighbors... we feel lucky to have a campsite at all in this area with the fourth weekend coming up.

we took a picnic supper out the first night and hiked down the beach to the west. there's a little spit that sticks out into the lake towards two little islands, and on the end of the spit is a solitary dune (the rest of them are away south a few miles). we managed to get up it in time to enjoy the sunset. it's named the sleeping bear dune after a (sad) native american story (mother bear swims across the lake, waits on the other side for her two cubs, who don't make it - they become the islands, she the dune). it was a lovely spot, although a little sad (not only because of the story but also the people who made it up). the mood was broken up by two crazy locals who arrived dressed in white and proceeded to take pictures of each other jumping off the cliffs and striking various dramatic poses against the sunset.

yesterday we managed to hike across the dunes in the morning (abbie derived a maniac kind of pleasure from pretending she was in the desert), cook lunch, nap, and go kayaking.



yes... it's all fun and games until someone falls in. poor sweet abbie. she tried to explain what happened... i'm not sure, but i think she was using her paddle to push off from a fallen tree branch, and the branch used some kind of ninja move on her. anyway, we're still drying out the flip (the little video camera). we'll keep you posted (get it?!) if any footage survived - if memory serves, there was some sunset hike stuff on there, too. lucky for us, the car key is apparently pretty waterproof. the big camera was in my kayak. strange luck there too since anyone would've predicted mine would be the one to tip. i quizzed her, etc. while watching for signs of hypothermia. her main response besides giggling was to get really hungry.

anyway, we're sitting out this rainy day in coffeehouses and laundromats trying to plan our next moves, like maybe visiting some wineries tomorrow. we head north again on saturday morning.

y'all keep in touch. we miss you and love you.