The other important component of my first adventure with my new trailer was family fun.
I’ve already mentioned getting together with my sister.
Later, I got together with sister Amy and brother Craig’s families. Food and fun!
and games!
Here’s Craig’s daughter, Mariel, and Amy’s husband, Steve, playing Connect Four with stuffed animals as proxies.
Here are two-thirds of my nieces, Sarah and Mariel. I wonder where Katie was?
The next day it was time for me to break camp at Evangola State Park. I got hitched up and headed to
It was my first border crossing with the T@b, but hardly my first crossing. With family on both sides of the border, I’ve been back and forth across the Peace Bridge thousands of times.
I took this photo of The Bridge a few years ago when I was on the top of the Buffalo City Hall.
My destination was Long Beach, Ontario.
My cousin, Bill, and his wife, Lori, have a site for the season at Long Beach Conservation Area and Campground. We’d been talking about camping together for a few years. It was time to finally get it done!
It was a very popular campground!
I got my T@b wedged in. More people packed in around me after I got set up.
Lori and Bill had a primo site – right at the shore.
I like this close up photo better. I am really big on cropping!
Amy and Katie came over to spend some time with our cousins, Bill and Wayne. After snacking and hanging out a bit, we went for a little drive. I asked if we were near our Auntie Lo and Uncle Bill’s cottage. We were!
The neighbor on the right was outside, and I got out and engaged her in conversation. After a bit, the current owner came up, and we chatted with him, too. He had just finished renovating it and he insisted us up to see what he had done.
He did a really great job! The floor plan was the same as I remember, except for the bedroom that was to the right of the door. Well, actually, the floor plan of that room was the same, but the amazing bunk beds were gone. Auntie Lo and Uncle Bill had triple decker double sized bunk beds! They could really cram a lot of guests in the house!
They even had couches on the porch facing the lake that people couple sleep on. There were changes. For instance, the beach.
The beach was gone!
As I remember it, there was a good sized yard that we played games on. For some reason, I think we played Jarts. But, I could be mis-remembering it.
The beach was wide. There was a black rubber conveyor belt to make it easier to walk across the rocky beach. The idea was great, except that – boy – did it get hot in the sun!
Really, the beach was absolutely gone! If the owners who came after Auntie Lo sold it in 1976 hadn’t put in a restraining wall, they cottage probably would have tumbled in the lake.
After our trip down memory lane, Amy and Katie needed to be getting back. We had a photo taken by my trailer and said our goodbyes.
That evening, The rest of us, headed to a beachside restaurant in Lowbanks.
A good time was had by all. The sign made me giggle.
In the morning, I got myself ready to hit the road. We thought it would be a good thing to take a photo of me and my cousin, Bill, to commemorate the visit. The wet hair makes me wonder if it really was a good thing.
But, there’s a photo and it so it happened.
Time to hit the road.
Destination: Kalamazoo.