One of the main rules in camping is to always vacation in large groups. One of the most boring times my family ever had camping was when we went alone. My mother booked a trip to stay at the "glorious" campground of Alger, West Branch. When my family and I pulled into the grounds we had big eyes as we all saw something we would enjoy doing. My father, brother, and I were like kids in a candy store as we gazed upon the crystal clear lake looking at all the largemouth bass sitting in their beds. We were sure they would be on our dinner plates by the end of the weekend! My mother already in her tanning gear ready to sprint towards the beach and claim the perfect spot with her chair as if she were one of the first pioneers heading westward to mark their property. My whole family was certain that we would have the greatest weekend ever as we embarked on our first camping trip alone as a family.
That Friday afternoon was the highlights of our fishing careers, catching fish after fish. We were out on the boat for hours until dark storm clouds started to dance in the skies above us. Mind you this was years before you could have any radar on your phones. It was still the ages of the dinosaur flip phones. So we had no clue what was creeping up on us. Within seconds after feeling the first rain drops it began pouring buckets on us. We hauled our way back to shore and was quickly met by our drenched mother sitting inside of our little pop-up camper. Our perfect weekend was quickly turned into a nightmare.
We were in the middle of a "Michigan Hurricane", or the equivalent to a Seattle light drizzle. The weekend thunder storm turned us from vacationers to hermit crabs, stuck in our trailer which had now become a storm shelter. Our dreams of a camping trip full of fishing and sun bathing what cut short, way too short. As we all sat around the table our only option was to pull out a deck of playing cards and think of every game possible. Believe me when I say this, it is close to impossible to waste 48 hours when your only source of entertainment is euchre, go fish, and the ever so great company of your pouty family members while you are trapped in a 12X6 foot box. I'm not going to say I don't enjoy my families company but rain can put me and everyone else in a pretty cruddy mood and make for a lousy vacation.
My point to all this is since you never know what kind of weather is going to interrupt your trip. Always have a back-up plan. The best back-up plan of all is other families. Why you may ask? Well put it this way. When there are puddles outside the size of oceans to the eyes of kids there is always an adventure to be had whether it be swimming, riding through on bikes, or body boarding in the muddy mess. For the moms of the group they can easily go find a store to spend all their money, and trust me when I say they love, love, love to do that at the local antique shops. As for the dads of the group, let me just say that they enjoy playing cards all day and betting their money and never paying each other. So have other families join in your camping trips. You will not regret it because there will always be a equally time wasting companion for any age group.
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