Lake Superior Photos

 

Blessings sometimes come unaware

 The Lord is spectacular and amazing. Sometimes He blesses us with things we didn't even know we needed, or were a blessing at the time, or didn't realize the blessing until a later date.

Sometimes you can't miss the blessing. This trip was a true blessing. We went on a whim to try to camp at a township park right on Lake Superior. It was called Ontonagon Township Park. 

                                                                    

Ephesians 5:20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ESV

You can't make reservations for this park. It has running water and electricity but no sewer at the sites. There is however a dump station. This campground is beautiful as you can see. We were only going to stay for a couple days and then try another park. But when we got there it was so calming, relaxing, and gorgeous we decided to stay there the whole time, we were going to go visit other parks but decided to just stay put. It is like being at the ocean. When you walk out of your camper and you are just a few feet from the beach, that can't be beat.

                                                        View from camper steps

                                                                            

                                                          

                                                                View of camper from the beach

Jeremiah 16:21 Therefore, behold, I will make them know, this once and I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that my name is the Lord. ESV

We had one terrifying night while we were camping here. The Lord showed us His power. The wind came up late in the evening waking us up, without warning, that was so strong it flipped our awning up on to the roof of our camper. My husband ran out to see if it was destroyed then began pulling it in with the button. The dogs started whimpering. And... I started praying. Please God keep us safe and help us to not have fear. I said to my husband, "did you roll the lights and the whirl-a-gig into the awning." He said, "Yes they're probably destroyed." We just looked at each other for a moment in silence. I said, "I pray those girls in the tent got to a safe place before it got really bad." My husband said, "Their tent was completely flat but they got into the showers." Thank God!! I bet they thought they might meet their maker that night.

Praise the Lord! When we got up in the morning my husband unrolled the awning nothing was destroyed. The awning needed a little pounding out and he went and found the light covers across the street and in the woods. Sometime God needs to remind us of His power not only in what is going on around us but also in how He protects us. That could have been a very different outcome had He not been protecting us that night.

Town is a little over a mile away so you could walk to town but we drove. We visited a couple of places and hunted out a gas station to fill our rig. We went to a rock museum/store that had some beautiful stuff that is on the main drag Island Rd. We also stopped and picked up pasties for lunch. Can't go to Michigan without getting pasties they are known for them that is like going to Wisconsin and not getting any cheese. We stopped at Syl's Cafe it's on River Street they had great pasties and the bakery items looked really good but we were there for lunch. I will definitely go there again. The pasties were so big we split one for lunch.

                                                    

We collected some gorgeous rocks for my crafting off the beach. There was some really nice rocks and flat rocks to paint and wire wrap.

                                                

                                            

There are no words that can truly explain the beauty that we were able to enjoy while we were there. I will post a few photos here but then I will post another post of only Lake Superior photos from this trip to Ontonagon, MI.

Walking on the beach. This was the dogs' first time on a large lake shore.

                                                                                

It was absolutely beautiful to see this sail boat and others on the lake with this background

One of the many beautiful sunsets we were blessed with on this trip

If you ever get the chance to get to Lake Superior or any of the Great Lakes take advantage of a campground to see this incredible creation.

https://ontonagontownshippark.com/

The cost for lakeshore sites with water and electricity is $41 per night

But see below for price break downs

                            

Sour Dough Pancakes for Breakfast

 

Camping Sourdough Pancakes

 

One of our favorite foods when we camp is Sour Dough Pancakes. You can see the bubbles on this photo as the dough is actually feeding. You start with a sourdough discard 1 cup. Then add 2 cups of a good quality flour (wise to use something not generic, like King Arthur, as we did a generic brand and they did not rise properly when cooked) and 2 cups of buttermilk or sour milk (in case you don't have these items, see below). Whisk these together really well, cover and let sit overnight. In the morning you feed this beautiful mixture with 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 eggs, 1/4 cup oil ( we use grapeseed oil), 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda. Whisk this up really good and let it sit for 15 minutes. This will actually grow the batter. Start frying the pancakes as usual. This recipe is adapted from the King Arthur Flour Baking recipe that came with the sour dough starter. 

https://shop.kingarthurbaking.com/items/classic-fresh-sourdough-starter        

                                                

                               They cook well on the stovetop, camp stove, and the black stone. 

 

 

                                                        

 

These are not only gorgeous but the fermentation is delicious and so good for you. We enjoy them with pure maple syrup and strawberry freezer jam.

 

***How to make sour milk put 2 tablespoons white vinegar into 2 cup measuring cup and fill it the rest of the way with milk up to 2 cup line. Let sit for 10 minutes then add to the mixture.

Just an update.....

 Hello everyone

I know it seems like I forgot about you all summer then suddenly I'm posting a large amount of stuff all at once. Sorry about that. But I have had a very busy summer. We've had more than 30 overnight camps which is quite a bit and most of them have no cell-phone service or very limited service. I'm now trying to let you see just a portion of what we've experienced I couldn't possibly show you all the pictures. 

For those who don't know I am also a writer and my first book has now gone to typesetting. So hopefully I can tell you about that soon. Book two is in the editing phase before sending to the publisher and book three is half written. There are six in this series, my daughter is illustrating for me. In the next series of books, photos from camping trips will be used.

My daughter and I have created an Etsy store front with out craft projects.  There is quite a variety of stuff on the site including jewelry, games (coming soon), dish rags, coasters, paper weights, and much more..... My daughter has even started Christmas decorations so look forward to that coming soon.

We now have an Instagram account.

And as if that isn't enough.... God provided me my dream job once again. It seems like when doors are closed He throws the next one so wide open that you can't miss it. We completed our first week of school at our new Christian school where I am the lead teacher. Boy God is good!!

Psalm 100:1-5 ESV

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

To see what I've been up to go to any of these places

https://sirencovenantchurch.com/the-bridge-christian-school/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61564141912426&mibextid=ZbWKwL

https://www.etsy.com/shop/CreativeInTheMidwest

https://linktr.ee/creativeinthemidwest?utm_source

May God Bless you today and always. 

Tracy

**Please feel free to comment in the comment section and let me know if there is anything you want to see more of and any helps you would like to know about.

God Never Ceases to Amaze

August 23-26, 2024 

Namekagan 

        God never ceases to amaze me. There is as much beauty around and He totally allows us to be in and close to nature. 

Genesis 1:31

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, on the sixth day. 

We are also blessed with so many good options to eat and cook. some of our favorites are chicken skewers and tuna steaks from Aldis. We enjoy sour dough pancakes from scratch when we camp as well. I make the starting of it at home and bring it with so we can have it set up and ready to go while we are camping. Check the recipe tab to find out how to make your own!

This trip I found some local sweet corn to cook over the campfire, soak it in water for two hours then cook for about 20 minutes over the fire. It's been too warm to do any cooking in the camper. 

We love to have salads with all these lunches and suppers.

If you like to camp, this campground is great and it's currently $18 a night. The sites 12-34 have electricity. At this point that isn't higher priced either. 

https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/233760

Off Grid & On Grid

 August 2-3, 2024

Black Lake Chequamegon National Forest

    Changing out your interior bulbs to LED bulbs and changing out your batteries allow you the ease of camping off grid or on grid as you prefer. 

    However with Black Lake there is no camping on grid. These sites are free of power hookups and you won't find much for cell coverage either. Its the perfect place to find the peace and beauty in nature allowing you to get away from the world.

Psalm 37:37

Consider the blameless, observe the upright; a future awaits those who seek peace. 

    Sometimes when you camp you end up at multiple campgrounds. This trip is exactly what we did. When we left Black Lake we drove to Solberg Lake County Park. This was going to be on grid camping once we arrived there. 

August 4-7, 2024

Solberg Lake County Park

Phillips, WI

Revisiting Old Memories

    Remember when I talked about how not every camping trip is perfect, or goes as planned, well the second half of this trip was no exception. Coming back home for this trip was bittersweet. There was some beautiful memories made, as well as things that caused some sorrow. 

    

    This campsite had electrical hookups for us which allowed us to enjoy the creature comforts and assisting our fellow campers who came to camp with us. We even found they had tables at the campsites to fillet any fish you catch  My parents joined us in this camping trip and it was a fun adventure to have together. We were able pass on some of our camping knowledge we had learned over the years and spend some good quality time together. As well as we all got to have other family members blood or not come to visit us at the campground.  

    I made a new friend while we were camping this trip, turns out she is a fellow author as well. It was really nice to create new connections. I can't wait to see her new book when it comes out!

   

     We also rekindled an old friendship as well. It was nice to reconnect and catch up on life, the good, the bad, and the ugly. 

    We live a long ways away from here now, so going home for a few days made this an exciting trip. I had been to this lake as kid to go swimming and we had brought my kids here too when they were young so I could share some of my happy memories with them as well. 

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 In between all the ups and downs we still enjoyed God's beauty that was all around us. Being by the water, enjoying nature, and the calming evenings by the campfires, were ways to ground us even through the tough moments. 

This beautiful campsite was $30 per night including electricity and dump station. 

Solberg Lake County Park 

(715) 339-3742

https://g.co/kgs/kB79h44

 

Overcoming Camping Blunder

 July 20, 2024

    

Sometimes a camping trip doesn't go as planned. That's what happened to us on this trip to Black Lake Campground in the Chequamegon National Forest. While choosing a camp site to park our camper,  we put the vehicle in reverse. Then decided we needed to pull forward to get a better angle to back into the spot when the unthinkable happened, the cable that runs the transmission came unattached and we only had reverse. My husband turned off the vehicle because there was no drive, no park, no neutral only reverse. 

    The dogs and I got out. I used the outhouse & prayed, "God, please help us fix the vehicle." I then went back to where he was and suggested if he gets it into drive that we head for home. Which was 96 miles away!

    My husband said " No! We're staying and making the best of it. We're not giving Satan any footholds." He crawled under the vehicle and found the cable off and fixed it. He backed into the camping spot and we set up.

 

He reminded me of the scripture of being an overcomer. 

Phillipians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds Christ Jesus.  (ESV)

    God blessed us with a great weekend. We got home and he ordered a part to make it not happen again. 

    Just remember God blesses you and helps you overcome when you stop and pray. 

This campground is very reasonable at $15 a night. 

https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/233758