I don’t know about you guys, but this fall has been a marathon. There’s a lot of things 2020 has brought us. I’ve tried to put it into perspective and think about all of the words that could be used to describe the year. It would be easy to write a list. But I’ve taken a step back. I’ve looked at it long and hard. It’s just a season. A different season we didn’t expect. Change. But could it be good? Could it have been what we needed?

At first, I would tell you no. This is not what we needed. I’m still not sure. It hasn’t been easy. When I say it’s been a marathon this fall it’s not a lie. Any other fall season I’d call “busy”. I try to edit, spend time with the boys, shoot on the weekends, and football games on Sundays. This year, we added three more to the house. Mr. Ball working from home, Ethan and Nolan schooling from home. This created it’s own obstacles during a basement remodel we weren’t exactly prepared to finish.

And then, we had plans. We all had plans right? But what if these were the plans we were supposed to have instead? Maybe a campfire in the woods, a book by Thoreau and John Mayer tunes by the fire were exactly what we were intended to do this year.

Ian got me this book a couple of years ago because I had a curiosity about it. I’ve always loved the woods. Day to day life is busy. It’s loud. There’s something about the simplicity of Thoreau’s experience on Walden Pond over 150 years ago and the words he spoke of his adventures there that still seem relevant today. And maybe even more relevant this year, if we allow ourselves to listen and drown out some of the noise around us.

“I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.”

When you go to the UP in the fall, you don’t exactly go for the nice weather. Chasing the fall colors is a tide and true Midwestern game. We watch the calendar. We know the safest days of October that will surely give us some good color viewing, and we know we must go farther west and more north than you might think to get the “good colors”.

Since we’re in-between campers, my parents were nice enough to let us borrow their camper for the week and we were so grateful for the shelter from the rain and cold that would follow. We packed up. And over-packed as we always do. Turns out, it’s harder to over-pack in a pop-up than in a travel trailer. We were spoiled with our travel trailer. Alas, it all fit and we made it to our home for the week – Indian Lake State Park, Manistique MI.

If you’ve followed our adventures for a while this might seem familiar. We visited in 2015 and I wrote a blog post about it here. Those little faces sure got bigger!

Indian Lake State Park is home to it’s own trail- the State Park Loop. This trail loops around the campground and is 1.6 miles. We like to use the alltrails app to log our hikes so we can remember where we’ve been when we’re visiting different places. This one has good ratings, and even better views. We really enjoyed this hike. Lots of greenery, quiet, and beautiful forest all around you.

We even tried out some geocaching here, and found a pretty neat treasure on the trail. If you’ve never taken kids geocaching, give it a try. It is really fun to find treasures along the way. We thought next time we’ll pick up a couple little Michigan treasures from a gift shop to add to the geocache next time we go.

A trip to Palms Book State Park where Big Spring Kitch-iti-kipi is located is always in store when we’re in this part of the state. If you’ve never visited the Big Spring, it’s definitely a must see. While colors here are better towards the end of October, it’s always worth the stop. We took some time to read some local legends and stories about the area and the boys were full of wonder.

Here you’ll find a self-rowed boat on a tow line. You just turn the big wheel to make it go across the tow line and come back to the dock. The middle of the boat is open and you can look down into the water and see the spring, as well as lots of fish.

The boys also really love the woods in the surrounding area of the dock. It’s hard to keep them on the trail here and not playing in the trees.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately.”

One of the best things about going to the UP is having no plans. Allowing for all the hammock-sitting, book reading, dreaming and scheming time you want is what really makes this a true getaway. Sure, we have three boys and there’s really no such thing as quiet. But there were moments where we got to relax and recharge. Even the boys felt it, and our souls truly needed it.

We picked a site on the water that I hoped would have a great view. I didn’t know we’d have our own little path right down to the beach and it was perfect. We soaked it up and really enjoyed this addition to our site.

Fall camping weather is great because of the lack of bugs. Besides hammock sitting and reading, we love to cook. We made lots of fire meals like personal pizzas, and big breakfasts as always on our stove.

We took one day to venture north to Munising. We opted for a little lesser known trail this time around and set our sights on Memorial Falls. Also known as Tannery Falls, or Twin Falls.

This trail actually leads to two similar waterfalls in adjacent gorges. The larger falls drop approximately 40 feet. There is a cave behind both falls. This trail really surprised us and was so beautiful. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t on edge hiking this one with three boys. There’s an area above the first waterfall with hardly a railing that drops off over the falls. It was wet and slippery. I held on to Greyson’s hand tight enough for him to tell me so, and told the big boys to be careful at least five times. I ended up on the ground once in a slippery spot. However, this trail was SO WORTH IT. I highly recommend this one, using extra caution with kids.

After this hike we were tired and cold and ventured into Munising. We stumbled upon ByGeorge Brewing. They opened this year, and we loved the atmosphere, beer, and cider. Put this one on your list if you’re visiting.

I think we’ve all done a bit of reflecting during 2020. It’s uncertainty in the beginning of the year brought a lot of questions. I lost some work, and have had more time, but less money. Was that a good or a bad thing? It depends on how you look at it.

I’ve thought about my creative endeavors, and what I really want to put my time into . I’ve thought about this time with the boys and how it’s really a blessing in disguise. We can savor these long days and find beauty in them, if we turn off some of the noise. Has it always been easy? No. We needed this quiet escape because the day to day demands of home school and school work is not easy. The days are long. But our 3 year old? Greyson J has had the best year, all the time he wants with Mom AND Dad, AND Brothers. Let’s look at it like he does.

Hours of bike riding the trails at the campground, nightly Euchre tournaments with the big boys in the camper had us all laughing together more than we have in a long time. All it took was a little time together and a deck of cards.

What do we really need? Each other. Our house? It’s more than enough. The things in it? More than enough. Let’s celebrate the simple pleasures of just being together.

If you live in the Midwest and need an escape from the noise, drive north over the bridge. If you can’t get that far north, visit a trail. Take a hike. Change your view and maybe, change your perspective. This trip was everything we needed.