ramblingriggs: Six years and counting...

Site #12 at Stafford County Park • Port Hope, MI

I cannot believe that we have been doing "Cousins Weekend" for six years in a row. I'm super impressed that we keep this going! That says a lot about how important family traditions are.

Apparently, we like going to Stafford County Park in Port Hope, MI as this is third year that we have camped at this park. When Jim and I pulled in with Pod we visited the water fill station. It took FOREVER to fill our tanks. I had plenty of time to refresh my surroundings and kept thinking that this place looked entirely different than I remembered.

Once we were filled and ready, we made our way to our favorite site. Site #12 is right on the banks of Lake Huron and comes complete with the sounds of waves lapping up on the beach all day and all night. Once we got set up on our site, it dawned on both of us why the place looked so different. Every single tree was cut down. Apparently, they had lost all their trees to the emerald ash borer. How sad!

We had a beautiful weekend with our cousins (and added guests Donna and Larry), we stopped in at Heck's Bar in Kinde, MI to check up on some long-distance family members and had a great dinner. Finally, a trip to Port Hope, wouldn't be completed without a stop (or two) to the Chill Zone for ice cream.

I do think its probably time to switch up the Seventh Annual Cousins Weekend and maybe even the time of year, but as long as we keep the tradition alive, I'll be happy!