Wow, where do I even begin?  We had an absolutely fantastic opening weekend, which, to those of you who aren’t accustomed to my addiction, this past weekend was our first camping trip of the year. With Good Friday off, we had our first long weekend, and the weather was fantastic.

We stayed in a park new to us, Holly Recreation Area in Holly, Michigan, between Flint and Pontiac.  Friends across my social media channels I’m sure grew tired of my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (and of course RVillage!) posts, but I hope at least it gave some insight to those who have never camped there or visited.

Site 27 in the Maple loop was our home for the weekend, a nice large grassy site with no tree branches to worry about overhead or on the sides.  We really liked the brand new asphalt pads – the whole loop had recently been paved!  The sites were angled, as well, making it much easier to back in. (That’s us in the background, center!)

I liked the woodsiness of the park, too. With brush and foliage in between many of the sites, you have your privacy and some shade. Our site backed up to woods, as much of the sites did, giving some Blair Witch eeriness to the experience. Hehehe.

Friday we walked ALL the loops (OMG, soreness!) and I took photos of sites that we may want to reserve in the future. The Trillium and Hickory loops were much more woodsy, TONS of very tall trees, I can imagine what they look like in the summer full of green leaves!  But now in mid-April the ground was covered in dead leaves and sticks, not much grass cover. I don’t know if there is any grounds keeping that takes place or if the leaves will stay. I liked our open grassy site, but camping amidst the trees and foliage has its appeal, too.

We stopped by the swings and slide (a steel slide! Like the kind we had in grade school!) and Bill played around in the pile of new firepits awaiting installation.

Back at camp, we rested our aching selves in the lawn chairs in the sun – felt SO good to bake in the sun – it’s been too long! I was almost asleep when I realized today would be the day for my first Camp Cooking series of the year – fry bread in cast iron over the coals! I got motivated to mix the dough and get photos for my next post while I still had daylight. (It turned out great – stay tuned for Camp Cooking – Fry Bread!)

The sun set over this gorgeous day, our fire stoked back up after cooking. We settled in our chairs with beverages after I set up our Star Shower to shine on the trees. A spray of glowing red light danced on the branches as the breeze rustled through. A perfect night.

Saturday was another nice day and we checked out the beach area and boat ramp. Electric motors only though. We saw several kayakers out on the water and it stirred my excitement even more about buying my own boat.

Swimming area

This was taken from the boat ramp, and when we got to the beach I couldn’t resist losing the boots and socks and testing the freezing water. The sand wasn’t quite warm yet but this 80 degree day felt wonderful.

Feet in water

There was a swingset right on the beach, in the sand. How awesome is that?? And a weird sphere shaped thing. Tilted.

We soon found out what it was. I took two spins and was done like dinner. Bill, on other hand..

Spinning

We look forward to returning. I wonder how jam packed this beach will be, not on a holiday weekend?

We burned the last of our wood Saturday night, and I played around with some night photos. I know it’s just the brush, but it sure looks like a small figure at the edge of the woods!

Sunday morning. The rain came early, clearing up by the time we were up and moving. One last walk through the park before we pack up. Even though we didn’t walk much of the trails (and there is a huge trail system!) we saw plenty of wildlife. We moved to the side of the road to let a car pass and this guy skittered through the leaves right in front of us.

He hopped across the road as we were walking the loops. First time I’ve ever seen this kind of a frog.

Couldn’t believe how close we were able to get to this frog, just hanging out with all the frogs in the pond.

I think there were 9 turtles in this picture. And we hadn’t even checked out the trails!

We were pleasantly surprised with this park, having never been here before. It’s always a gamble when trying out a new campground, but we really enjoyed our stay and we’ll be back.

Now it’s back to reality until our next outing.  Until next time!

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