Camping on the Great Lake of Erie

  My wife and I recently took our son on his first camping trip. We had been tossing the idea around for a couple months and finally we pulled the trigger and went.



Corinne watching Ryker doing laps around our modest campsite in the early morning.



It was last Friday at about lunch time that we found a site in Erie close to the lake and we decided we would go right after I got out of work. Usually the drive from our house to Erie is no more than 2 hours which would have placed us at the site pitching a tent at 7:30, no later. Traffic had other plans for us that day and after spending an hour sitting still just north of Pittsburgh we finally arrived at the campground at about 8:30. 

Since we were ill prepared for the trip (being that it was impromptu and we had little time to pack), the plan was for me to set up the campsite while my wife took to the grocery store for supplies so we would have drinks and snacks (and s'mores of course). That is how it went. Dada, Ryker and the dogs setting up the tent in the dark (because someone forgot to pack a flashlight) while Mama made a mad dash for supplies. All was well.

Typically when things go so wrong in the beginning of a journey the journey itself is doomed. Thankfully that was not the case here. I was prepared for us to pack up in the middle of the night searching for indoor life at 3 a.m. due to an unruly child or a storm but we had clear skies, one happy kid and two relatively calm pets. The only dark spot on the night was our campground neighbors and their middle of the night antics. I believe I awoke at one point to howling and bird calls. 

In the morning we walked down (94 stairs to be exact) to the rocky beach and fun was had by all. The dogs fetched sticks in the lake and Ryker got to play in the sand and throw rocks. I tried to teach ryker about the stone age and how some cultures used to use rocks as weapons and tools but all he wanted to do was throw them and laugh when the dogs tried to chase them down. We even went to The Isle of Presque (that's Presque Isle to the layman) to see some boats and do some swimming before grabbing lunch and heading home. 

While I didn't get to teach Ryker how to really rough it for more than a night I think the trip was very good for us as a family. It was nice to live a night without having the T.V. on before bed. We got to sit around the campfire and really enjoy our time together. It also gave us encouragement to know that he really loves to camp. Next time it will be a weekend trip rather than one night and we will be more prepared (hopefully) than having to go to the grocery store at 9 o'clock the night of for supplies. You live and learn sometimes and luckily we learned without having to suffer too much this time around.

Next time I hope I can spend a little more time in the great outdoors and away from the trappings of city life for a bit. Until then I gotta get a new tent, and a lantern, and a camping stove, and a camping coffee maker. Maybe a truck and some fishing gear (who am I kidding I hate to fish) and a little ax and................ oh god what have I started?