Return from Lake Erie

I am surprised just how much I enjoy our annual camping trip to Kelley's Island. I am typically not an "outdoor" type. I play basketball in a gym -- no more blacktop due to my ankles. (If you have followed my blogging over the years you know how messed up they are). I'm also not big on bugs. Spiders freak me out. I also burn easily. When I go swimming I am coated in sunblock to the point of absurdity. But I love our camping trip.

Let me back up a bit first.

There are various forms of camping -- there's RV camping where you bring a big tank/mobile home and watch TV. That doesn't interest me. There's also Old School where you use a bucket as a bathroom. I'll pass on that, too.

We float somewhere in the middle: Sleep in a tent but with an air mattress -- screw the ground. My back's been battered from basketball enough as is. We cook 100% by campfire -- this year we cooked everything over hot coals wrapped in tin foil. For me, a fireproof tea kettle is of great importance,. I must have coffee. Fill up the kettle and sit it on the fire. Woo hoo. Boiling water! I should go on Survivor.

Kelley's Island has great bathroom facilities that resemble more of a locker room than what you'd expect in a forested setting. Clean bathrooms with showers that contain enough water pressure to blast rust off a truck. -- key for me.

Ashley brought a friend with her this year and they practically lived in the lake -- swimming by 9:30 AM. Lake Erie at 10 in the morning, if you didn't know, is COLD. Not "chilly" but bone chilling cold. The persistence of youth.

Our trip was great aside from a Monday Night Armageddon Rainstorm that nearly blew our campsite away. I have never been outside in such a storm. It was pretty scary...and the kids slept right through it. The deep sleep of youth.

But Tuesday through Friday was great and we have a lot of pics that I'll post tonight or tomorrow. I can't wait for next year's trip. Maybe one year I'll get Todd and the fam to go. Maybe when his kids are a bit older.

Todd -- you're down with sitting by a fire for several hours a day chilling lakeside and playing boardgames while the kids swim, right? I tell you -- best vacation ever.

The best part of the day for me is getting up early...around 6AM and starting a fire -- making a cup of coffee, feeling the cool breeze come in off Lake Erie and just watching the lake as the waves roll up to the rocks. There are very few better ways in which to start your day.