….Way Back Wednesday

I can’t even begin to describe what a good time I had camping with the fam. I love the beach at Meinert Park and the Pines Campground. We’ve been going there only a short while…5 years or so….but it has made me fall in love with the shoreline and the big lake.

My childhood camping experiences took place mostly at Rose Lake Park in Leroy, Michigan. We would head up soon after school let out and spend quite a bit of the summer with Grandma & Grandpa K.

I loved that we always camped at the same site. Loved that we saw the same faces {young & old} from year to year. Loved that the park seemed to never change.

That is, until I became a teenager. I started cheerleading and spending summers close to home instead of with my grandparents. As my trips north to Rose Lake became fewer and further between, the park seemed to change more and more each time I did get a chance to visit.

Our “usual” campsite was no longer convenient for my grandparents and they moved further away from the lake. Once familiar faces could no longer be found amongst the campers {a lot of my summer friends were probably like me-too busy to make it up for the summer}, and the park underwent major cosmetic upgrades {paved roads} that, for me, totally changed the look and feel of my childhood campground.

I haven’t been back quite a while. 10 years, maybe? I miss it. I miss spending warm summer nights sitting at the campfire with my grandparents. I miss fireflies and stargazing. I miss giggly girlfriends and cute boys and the innocence of youth. I miss the anticipation of possibilities.

And I miss
the ability to tan so easily.
And long legs.
And short shorts.
Oh, and ice cream cones without the guilt.

I don’t miss the awful bowl cut.