We ventured past our westerly borders (actually, south, but that’s another story) to Saugatuck, MI to the very popular campsite Campit! I was expecting an exclamation point on all their literature but was disappointed there.

I wasn’t disappointed with the campsite itself, however. It was a great facility with clean bright modern washrooms and twisty, explorable lane ways. The sites were nearly on top of each other and could probably benefit from removing one site and distributing it evenly through the row, but what they lost in space, they made up in personality. We found the people (staff, seasonals and weekenders) at Campit were exceptionally welcoming, but that could just be because we were fresh meat. Of course one night we were kept awake at 3am with a neighbourly twink demanding that someone pee on him and, SharkBoy swears, someone else was outside the back of our tent whispering “ssssuck meeeee”. Stuff like this puts a lot of things in perspective with regards to camping on busy weekends.

The drive to Campit was a fast 6 hours direct drive, right across 401, 402, 69, 96, 6 then 196 to Ganges. Easy peasy! We decided to cut the trip in half and left Friday night to crash in Sarnia (the least crowded border crossing in Southern Ontario, I’m sure) and made it there before 10am on Saturday.

We met up with Evil Panda, Grizz and Big Red THOR. THOR is a big guy with a big personality, who could switch from porn/cop voice to Cupie doll voice within seconds. I could see how he was taken in so quickly by the boys. He’s a gregarious man who was very welcoming. I bonded quickly when he gave us foot massages in the pool with his big meaty paws. Owch! but a good owch. He makes a head-spinning Margarita and a mean dish of Okra.

Outside the park, there was an over abundance of tchochkas shopping in and around Saugatuck. The village itself is much like any nondescript Rhode Island sea side town, packed with beautiful cottages and quaint shops but without the ocean. Saugatuck sits inland on a busy waterway off of Lake Michigan. Quaint is an understatement. But outside the village, “fashion” and “trend” falls off dramatically and you’ll overhear conversations regarding crop rotations, Chuch and snake taming. No lie. While eating our cornmeal hash (yark!) we were treated to an extensive HowTo about removal of snakes from one’s property. I kept my shoes inside the tent from that moment on. And, when ordering dinner, remember to say “Freedom” fries with a straight face. Oh and don’t eat at Big Boy’s no matter how much of a bear you are. GROSS!

Will I go back? Unfortunately probably not this year. Yes definitely next year, on a personally manufactured long weekend. It’s worth the trip.

Pictures to come…