The Adventures of Fric and Frac: Adventure 472: Little Eden Camp/Post A

A little piece of heaven

We left Mackinac City just as it began to rain. It was pouring during our lunch stop in Petoskey, which is a jewel of a city along the West coast of Lake Michigan that is speckled with turn of the century bric-a-brac homes, most ornately painted, and all oozing the luxury of old midwestern money. We ate the number one rated spot, and it didn't disappoint. We had time to spare, so we lolligagged over lunch, dessert, and there games of crib. The rain began to lessen as we made our way South, and by the time we neared Little Eden Camp it had subsided entirely. We made one stop in the wilds of Michigan: a home farm selling fresh strawberries. A darling little three year old named Kaden took our money. We arrived at Little Eden just after 3:30 P.M. along with dozens of other folks, all family units happy to see each other. It was a display of family togetherness and warmness that gave a poignancy to the current furor in our country over family separation. Here, it was dad, mom, grandpa, auntie, uncle, cousin, and neighbor all gathering once again at "camp". One man I talked to named Cal has been coming here since he was a child, some sixty-five years by his count. Our own relatives are marking their twenty-fourth straight year. And our niece, Miss Kate (Now Mrs. Kempf) has been coming here since she was in her mother's womb. The camp itself is a well kept, well-organized, well established place of warmth where families spend time with each other. It's as it should be. When our gang of nine finally arrived, Kel and Rod made a trek to get pizza for dinner, which we all enjoyed outside the cabin the group has spent every summer in for a quarter century. After dinner, the first night tradition is to enjoy fresh popped kettle corn served by the camp staff down at the beach front. Most everyone came to beach for a bag of popcorn (recipe: 4 cups corn; 2 cups vegetable oil; 1 cup sugar; pop until the popping stops; serve). After the popcorn, families mingled. Some played pickle ball; some sat around the fire; most chatted quietly among themselves. Since we're new, Judy and I were treated to a tour of the main lodge, and a general wandering around. It made for a good start to camp week, and best of all, the day dispelled the dreaded FOMO disease that had Judy vibrating like one of those old time electric felt football players. You know the ones; those guys who buzzed around in circles, or bumped up against the side line. It was a rare felt football man that buzzed straight for the goal line. Nonetheless, the buzzing meant that life is good, especially today.