Where the trees are

[muckefuck]

Back in the spring, Dad asked me if he and I could go on a camping trip together. I thought it was a cracking idea. My greatest regret about living in Chicago and not having a car (or even a licence) is that I so seldom make it to the great outdoors. My man and I have talked before about a day trip on the Metra, but fundamentally monshu is not a nature boy. You sure the hell aren't going to get him to sleep in a tent.

Neither Dad nor I is much of a planner, however, so we kept putting off setting a date until the summer was basically gone. He's so ludicrously overscheduled this autumn that even when we did talk I couldn't pin him down until mid-October. Originally, we had discussed Michigan, but I was concerned it'd be too cold and suggested I come down to Missouri instead. (After all, my main reason for jumping at the choice of Michigan when he first floated the idea is that I'd still rather be in Michigan in December than Missouri in August.)

So far so good--then I broke my foot. Even assuming I'm off the crutches soon (Drückt euch die Daumen!), hiking is basically out of the question. Plus even a short flight is more hassle than I want at this stage, so I called Dad to cancel the trip. He immediately suggested coming up to Chicago instead and taking me out someplace "with paved paths". Like the Arboretum? We decided we'd fix the details later when my prognosis was less uncertain.

So imagine my surprise when Dad called the other night during the breather between his trip to California and his trip to Baltimore and told me he wanted to take me to Door County. I've always wanted to go there--I probably put the idea in his head, since I doubtless mentioned Nuphy's fond memories of the place when were discussing points north--but not on crutches particularly. It'll be during the height of the fall foliage, which is brilliant from one point of view, but could make finding accommodations tricky--and I am not keen on the idea of sleeping in the back of Dad's truck even for one night, no matter how comfortable he claims the foam mattress is.

tl;dr: Dad wants to take me to Door County in mid-October. Little help?

Comments

[mollyc-q.livejournal.com]

If not this year some other. My Father scheduled three or more trips to Door County just to photograph the fall. It may be hard to get anything at this point, You and Monshu, if you book in advance might be able to book a weekend next year.

For Nature-y day trips friendly to the recovering, in addition to the Arboretum, there is the Chicago Botanical Garden (Suburbs a few miles west of Ravinia), and the Nature Museum.

[vamapper.livejournal.com]

I only camped in DC once, and that was in March 1978. I had a backpacking class in college where we snowshoed into the campground, then built our shelters out of plastic sheets and whatever we could find in Newport State Park. Not surprisingly, we all built our shelters too airtight and had to make holes in the plastic so we didn't roast despite the near 0F temps outside.

FWIW, DC stays a bit warmer at night in fall and warms slower in spring due to the bay and lake. Don't know how tough accomodations may be. If you get the chance, go to Al Johnson's in Sister Bay. It's a bit kitschy, but between the Swedish dishes and the goats browsing on thatched grass roof it's a unique experience.