Recipe for Life: September 2010

Once again, it has been a while since I posted anything on this Blog.

Since April, we have been through many exciting Spring & Summer activities.

We got out in the motorhome, Harry Hurricane, early in May to Holland State Park. Holland State Park has a Beach campground on Lake Michigan. We were anxious for a warm Spring. However, we were hit with 45 MPH winds and being sand blasted. It was cold, wet, and windy.

We ended up going home after one night;the weather was nicer on the home side of the state.

Our next excursion started the Wednesday before Memorial Day. We set out for a couple of weeks. We had the holiday weekend at a campground near Frankenmuth. It was a fantastic sunny hot weekend. The campground had a small lake for swimming, and the campground was full. We had Heather's family with us. We had a lot of fun swimming and hanging out at this campground.

After the holiday weekend, Chad, Heather, and the grand-kids went home, and Carolina and I started making our way toward a five day stay at Ludington State Park. I had been trying to get a reservation at Ludington State Park for three years. I was happy the weather was pretty good.

We had a couple days before the scheduled check-in at the state park. On the way, we saw River Ridge RV Resort. A Luxury RV Resort on the spectacular all-sports backwater of the Hardy Dam. In Stanwood, Michigan just 40 minutes North of Grand Rapids.

River Ridge RV Resort is a very nice resort style campground. The campground had just emptied out from the holiday weekend. We were able to stay at the nicest spot over looking the resort, pool, and waterfront view.
http://www.michcampgrounds.com/riverridgervresort/index.php

We stayed at River Ridge RV Resort for a couple days and got our SeaGate inflatable kayak setup and put to use. We kayaked for miles around the backwater of Hardy Dam.

We had a couple great days at this resort before heading further north to Ludington State Park.

Ludington Lighthouse in town.

Ludington State Park was fantastic camping. We had some wet rainy days, but were able to go out on forested trails that kept me mostly dry. Beautiful trails through forested areas, forested sand dunes all the way to the finest beachfront in the world along Lake Michigan and Big Sable LighthouseBig Sable Lighthouse

After five great days camping at Ludington State Park, we headed down to Grand Haven State Park. Grand Haven State Park is another fantastic Lake Michigan Beach Campground.

We were able to stay 3 days on the beach in Grand Haven State Park. I was quite nice early spring weather; it actually felt like summer.

It was in the mid 80's. The campground was full of young teen campers who had just graduated high school and were soaking up the Sun.

I had to work those 3 days. So, I sat in the motorhome each day with my laptop and a cell phone, and worked while parked at the beach. I had all of the comforts of a home, and an office. It was a bit strange having to sit and work while it was so nice outside, but I had to remind myself that it was no different than sitting in an office wishing I was out in the new spring/summer weather.

After our time in Grand Haven, we drove to Eaton Rapids, where my sister lives. She has 18 acres and a place to hook-up the motorhome.

So, we went there and hooked up. I worked the day, then helped my sister prepare for her son's high school graduation party. Will, my brother-in-law, had been smoking Pork to use for BBQ'ed Pulled Pork sandwiches. It turned out wonderful. The Saturday, June 12th, they had the party, and we hung ouot and had a great time. The next morning, Carolina and I headed for home and to get the motorhome cleaned out, back in storage, and to prepare for work the upcoming Monday.

We had left home on May 26th and di not get back home until June 13th. It had been a nice extended excursion and it was nice having the ability to work on the road.

Since early February, I have been traveling for work to Des Moines, Iowa; Denver, Colorado; and Las Vegas, Nevada.
The picture below is some of my co-workers. We were all out to dinner after a long day working at the Crocker Building in downtown Des Moines.