CAMPING NEAR THE SHORES OF GITCHE GUMEE

This story comes to us from Lisa from Bear Creek, Wisconsin.  She accounts an actual camping trip to the Upper Peninsula this summer.  Unfortunately, it did not go quite the way they expected it to.

CAMPING NEAR THE SHORES OF GITCHE GUMEE

We had the truck camper, all the supplies, and the site reserved for a week near the shores of Gitche Gumee.  It was July 27, 2007.  Our 7-year-old-daughter, Ashley, was so excited.  She remembered from last year swimming in the waves, playing in the sand, and searching for agates on the beach.

Five hours after setting up camp for our weeklong escapade, my husband missed the last step coming out of the camper and heard his ankle snap.  He initially “walked it off” and could tell it was not broken, but badly damaged none-the-less.  We wet some towels and wrapped it to try to keep the swelling down but the next day it was three times normal, swollen all the way up to his knee.

Not to be hampered by a bum ankle for the week we’d been planning since last year, we journeyed to Newberry in search of a pair of crutches.  Not how we wanted to spend a $50 bill, but we had a pair and were on our way.  We decided to visit the Gitche Gumee Agate Museum because it wouldn’t be too much of a walking trip.

The weather was hot, very hot for the Upper Peninsula.  It was into the low 90’s when we got to Grand Marais.  He hobbled into the museum and was careful not to knock anything over with his awkward crutches.  The museum was amazing and after quite an informative visit, we went back out to the truck to leave.

As we got into the truck we saw an interesting sight coming right down the middle of the street in front of us.  It was a group of about ten people, four of whom were holding up the legs of a large, blue and white striped sun canopy.  They were headed to the beach.  They carried with them backpacks, lawn chairs, towels, and other picnic items.  We had never seen a whole canopy being transported in that fashion so we stayed to watch.  It was entertaining, like a short parade.

As we pulled from our parking spot we heard a “thump, thump.”  Not knowing what it was, my husband stopped the truck and I got out.  There, on the ground, was the new set of crutches.  He had leaned them up against the truck and forgotten to put them inside when he saw the canopy coming down the street.  I picked them up and they had tread marks on the handles!  They were a little bent up, but still functional.

We all laughed so hard…crutches with tread marks and sun canopies going down the middle of the street….only in the U.P., eh?  Thank goodness we left before we needed to be evacuated from our campsite:  the Sleeper Lake Fire started the day after we departed.  It was one camping trip that, for more than one reason, we’re glad ended when it did.

• Posted by Jordan Lubetkin on August 15th, 2007
• Tags: Lake Superior, Story-contest
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