Warren Dunes State Park September 2007

Dates: September 20-22, 2007

People: Mark, Sarah, Luke, Jonah, Mark's Mom & Dad.

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 20

We left home around 2pm today after Mark spent the morning at work and Sarah spent the morning getting a new set of contacts. We were driving solo as the boys were already in Chicago with Mark's Mom and Dad, having spent the last several days there. We made the 3-hour drive along I-94 to Warren Dunes and got in around 5pm. We got checked in and set up the tent. We quickly found out, however, that the mosquitos were going to be bad. We spent barely a few minutes at our nice campsite and headed down to the dunes and the beach. At the beach the mosquitos weren't so bad. Down there we saw the beginnings of a nice sunset. We climbed the dune named "Pikes Peak" (well, rather, Mark did). Sarah climbed up the hill below the main peak and we did some exploring for awhile.

Mark's Mom & Dad along with Luke and Jonah arrived as it was getting dark. Mark and Sarah had just gotten some bratwurst cooked on the charcoal grill and supper was eaten in the dark with the mosquitos slowly disappearing.

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 21

We took a nice relaxing morning at camp. We had pancakes and sausage for breakfast. Luke entertained us by making frequent trips to the water spigot to get water for dishwashing. Around 11am Mark, Dad and Luke headed off for the beach. They found the beach trail heading out from the campground and after about a 100 foot walk into the forest you hit a very large sand dune. The hill takes you up at least a good 50 feet at a fairly steep angle. This was quite the climb for the 3 of us especially when Luke decided he needed to be carried up the hill. Mark got Luke up about a quarter of the hill and Dad took him for awhile. Finally we decided the boy needed to climb the rest on his own. We eventually made the trek the whole way to the beach and found Luke can do some pretty good hiking.

We sat out in the sun by the beach with the boys enjoying the time to play. Only Dad really made it into the cold lake water. We did sandwich lunches in the shade under a pavilion by the beach trying to avoid the bees. By late afternoon we finally went back to camp to get the boys some nap time. It was a peaceful evening back at camp and we had a good fire going. We made pizza sandwiches over the fire (in the dark again!) for supper, they were fantastic.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 22

We spent the morning getting the camp packed up and eating breakfast. We were able to leave around 11am and make the trek home.

The End.