Camping in a Tiny House

One of our favorite things to do as a couple was camping when we first got married. We camped in a tent, dreamed of becoming campground hosts when we retired, and loved exploring our favorite places and new places with our camping gear. When we added kids to the mix, we were excited to introduce them to one of our favorite things and spent the first several years with kids dragging them across the country camping most of the time, with an occasional hotel stay to shower and do laundry on our 2- to 3-week adventures.

As Teddy got older and bigger, it became harder and harder to camp. His ability to sleep anywhere aside from our home (and even at our home) was a challenge, often up until midnight with mornings as early as 4 ... or even one horrible 2:30 a.m. wakeup for the day. The feasibility of putting all 4 of us in a tent, which Teddy could escape, began to sound like a form of torture rather than fun. 

That's why we ended up with our land to give us a place to explore the outdoors, spent time doing things we love outside and have a consistent routine and place to sleep where Teddy could get comfortable. I couldn't tell you the last time we actually camped with the boys ... possibly 2017? 

But this week we ventured back to one of our early marriage favorites, and one of Dave's childhood favorites, to visit Porcupine Mountains State Park in Michigan. We rented a tiny house cabin right on Lake Superior in the campground for 2 nights. It's an adorable, fully accessible cabin that made it possible for us to enjoy "camping" again. 

Our tiny house had 2 full-size beds, a perfect spot for a family of 4.

Now, that's not to say it was easy because rarely are things easy with Teddy. We still had a rough bedtime the first night, and he kindly woke us up for the sunrise each day (Dave got one morning, and I got the other.) But he absolutely adored the tiny house, so much so that he yelled at us for 30 minutes when we left for the day to go exploring. He scampered into the top bunk and holed up there with AJ in blankets and pillows, giggling nonstop. 

Dave kindly helped AJ as his suspenders while AJ pushed Teddy uphill to the observation tower.

He also protested several of our planned "hikes" if you can call the less than a mile trails that, with more flops and drops than usual. But despite that, we managed to see waterfalls, play in Lake Superior and do 2 family hikes to Nonesuch Mine and to the observation tower. It's really neat to see Teddy embrace being a kid at the beach, scampering up and down the shoreline, digging in the sand and running full force into the water, not realizing Lake Superior tends to be a bit chilly. 

Lake Superior is a great lake, that's for sure!

All in all, I'm grateful for this beautiful accessible cabin. I'm grateful we got to revisit places we love. I'm grateful for the family time and the memories. And, I'm grateful for our own bed when we returned. 

Ice Caves - An Adventure!

Eleven years ago, Dave and I had the opportunity to visit the Apostle Island ice caves. It was a whirlwind trip with lots of hiking, stunning scenery and two magical days that we still fondly remember. In fact, just the other month we were talking about how incredible the ice caves were and how unlikely it was that we'd ever see the ice caves again because it takes very specific weather conditions ... so specific that 11 years ago was the last time the ice caves were open.

When I stumbled on the news that the ice caves were planning to open February 16 this year, Dave was at our land with no Internet/cell service. So as he was driving the 3 hours home, I mentioned to him that the ice caves were opening the next day. And, within the next hour, he booked a hotel room, we called the boys in for school on Monday, and we both took a spontaneous day of PTO. I spent the next 2 hours frantically packing all our gear with AJ's help, and we headed out for another 4.5 hours of driving when Dave got home to get to Ashland. On the way, we got to stop for a quick supper with our sister-in-law and two of her kids for a fun break.

Teddy was very excited about this adventure and quite insistent that he wanted to go (as in he tried packing himself in the suitcase). He was excited to go swimming at the hotel pool and especially enjoyed the hot tub, which was necessary as we then had to walk outside to get back to our room. Sleeping in hotel rooms with Teddy is always a gamble, but he settled down by 10 and slept until 5 a.m. In Teddy's world and hotel rooms, that's considered a win..

Plus, we were heading out early to finish driving to the ice caves, so a 5 a.m. wakeup wasn't the worst thing. By 6:30 a.m. I was packing our vehicle and bringing our surprise visitor, my dad, into our hotel room. That's right, when we do crazy adventures, we extend the offer to others. He was crazy enough to get up at 3 a.m. to meet us that morning.

This year was strictly shuttles to the trailhead, so we headed to a shuttle area in hopes of finding a park ranger. When we couldn't find one there, we headed to the trailhead to at minimum drop off Teddy's adaptive wheelchair. Fortunately, the rangers there allowed us to access handicap parking, which was exactly what we needed to make this adventure possible. 

We were able to get all our gear together, carry his chair down to the beach and be the first trekking the mile or so out to the caves. It was so foggy that we were picking our way along without being able to see much ... not that we could enjoy the scenery at the start because it was a slog to push Teddy's chair through the snow on the beach. Fortunately, after about a third of a mile, we found a more packed snowmobile path on the ice, and it was much smoother sailing from there! 

We were still among the first group of people to the ice caves, and they were just as incredible as we remembered! AJ was enamored in taking photographs and just in awe. Teddy would have spent all his time playing in each and every cave if we let him, though he spent most of the time in his chair go see all the splendor with breaks to get out and play. 

Teddy walking under a bridge of ice.

We all made it probably about 2 or more miles out on the ice, and then AJ and I finished the last of the trail as it wasn't compacted enough to manage Teddy's chair. In the time we were gone exploring, Teddy got to enjoy more of the caves and even found a photographer friend for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/wisconsin/2026/02/17/apostle-islands-ice-caves-closed/88716758007/ He's the 12th image in the gallery.)

It was truly a magical day, honestly a once-in-a-lifetime experience to witness these wonders with my dad and the boys. It's unlikely that even if the caves open again that we'd be able to make the trip and schlep Teddy through the snow, so this was his chance to see and experience them. It was so special to experience the caves with Teddy in a way that we both love ... crawling and sliding and scooting through the ice caves. And it was just as special to trek to the end of the formations with AJ, seeing his awe and love of photographing the beauty. 

AJ got to see a lot of cool formations!

The trek back was a bit tougher as most of our crew was sore and a bit tired, but it was well worth it. And, honestly, I was just so darn glad that we had compacted snow for the entire trek back instead of the loose snow we had on the start of the hike that I was literally jumping for joy. As we were getting off the ice, we had a ranger comment, "That's the best thing I've seen all day!" in reference to Teddy's chair and our ability to bring him to the caves. We tag-teamed getting Teddy and his chair up the stairs. My dad joked his favorite part of the day was the last 2 steps as he helped Dave carry the chair. 

And then we had a 6-hour drive back home. It was worth every bit of the drive, every amount of effort pushing a chair through snow and all the catch up that we have from spontaneously taking this whirlwind adventure. I commented to my friends that it was well worth cancelling life to do this, and then I realized that what we did was far more important than a day of school or a day of work ... it was 32 hours of making core memories, living in the moment and enjoying the wonderous world in which we live with the people we love. 

We're so grateful for the opportunity to do this, especially since the caves were closed again the next day with no certainty as to when they'll reopen. We definitely lucked out with the accessible parking as that made the adventure possible (and so much easier than leaving a chair and backtracking to a shuttle or splitting our group to have some stay with the chair and the rest shuttle). It wasn't easy, but it was absolutely worth it. 

Nature is pretty darn amazing ... and pretty.

Long Walks in the Woods

Well, we survived COVID with Teddy taking out Dave and me, in addition to himself. Thankfully Teddy weathered the virus with no complications and no seizures. Dave and I both had mild versions, especially me. And the weather was absolutely gorgeous, so we were able to take advantage of that for bike rides and walks on different trails. 

In fact, Teddy and I got in 3-5 miles walking several days in a row. We both enjoy the sunshine and warm weather, and we love to be outdoors. He seems to enjoy the trails with the woods and fields much more than some of our loops in town. 

All in all, we're very grateful things went as easily as they did. We all recovered well, and we didn't spread the nastiness to others. Thanks to all who checked in on us and offered assistance.

Hiking is My Happy Place

Thankfully Teddy enjoys hiking as well, whether he's rambling on his own or riding in his chair. He's usually fairly content in his chair, as long as we're moving and he's not in a mood. The other weekend AJ, Teddy and I went exploring a local state park.

His chair can cover a variety of terrain, including even the sandy incline that was a pain to push through and up, but we made it. Unfortunately we may have been on a horse trail, which was fine until we got to the water crossing. It was narrow enough that AJ could jump it safely, as could I. But Teddy couldn't jump it without one or both of us going in the water. And I couldn't get his chair across the water without one or both of us getting soaked. And given that it was about 30 degrees (like every other "spring" day this month), water crossings where we got soaked weren't a good idea.

Two smiling faces and a dorky face for this photo.

So we backtracked while AJ waited for us, which wasn't super long because it was less than a half mile (and down the sandy slope instead of uphill). 

Nature is good for the soul, even with misadventures. 

Hiking with Teddy

We hiked before kids, even backpacking our way across Isle Royale National Park, covering 50+ miles carrying all we needed. We continued hiking when we had AJ, excitedly purchasing a backpack carrier and taking him to our favorite camping spot at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. When we had Teddy, we added a second carrier to our collection. As AJ grew older and more capable, he began hiking on his own. 

That's a good thing because Teddy continued to get larger and heavier to carry. He also outgrew the initial carrier we had, so we switched to soft-sided carriers and continued to upgrade to the largest size we could find as outgrew each one. We would rotate hikes, where I'd carry him one hike and my husband would carry him the next. Then we started rotating during the course of a hike, switching out to ease the workload. 

Then a pandemic hit and greatly limited the hiking and exploring we did. And Teddy continued to grow. Each time I loaded him onto my back, my husband expressed concern that I'd permanently hurt myself. When I carried Teddy for 2 miles last spring, up and down the side of a pretty steep hill, I begrudgingly accepted that was likely the last time I'd carry him that distance. 

Teddy is absolutely capable of walking on his own. There's a couple challenges in hiking with Teddy:

1. He doesn't have the stamina to walk long distances.
2. His balance is still wonky, so he stumbles and falls frequently. This doesn't phase him, but sometimes he does get bumps and bruises from these falls.
3. He's a strong-willed boy who doesn't listen well. Often he wants to go the opposite direction, or off trail completely, and just takes off running. This isn't safe, nor does it help us reach the destination.
4. When Teddy doesn't want to walk, he will simply collapse and melt to become one with the ground. He's 70+ pounds of dead weight. Unlike AJ, who could be motivated to continue hiking bribing him with M & Ms, we haven't found anything that can consistently convince Teddy to resume. 

When Teddy wants to hike, he does amazing. He is surprisingly good about balancing with rocks and roots, although I think it's just his momentum propelling him forward. It's fantastic physical therapy for him. Although he falls, he falls far less often than I'd expect. The challenge is that when he doesn't want to hike, we don't have a lot of good options.

On vacation, we did a 2-mile hike. We were able to push Teddy in his adapted chair for the first half mile (and then the last half mile on the way back) before the terrain became impossible to navigate his chair. Trust me, I'm willing to push him over rocks and roots and can cover more terrain than you might expect. But this was large rocks with steep inclines and a bridge far too narrow for his chair. 

He hiked fairly well on his own for about a quarter mile or so and then did #3 and #4 from the above list. Our nanny and Dave tried to cajole him along while I checked on AJ who had hiked ahead. Then they carried him with piggybacks, fireman carry and some really questionable techniques. So on the way back, I simply loaded Teddy onto my back rather than all the struggle. We look ridiculous, but it's not challenging to carry him short distances (less than a half mile) over relatively level terrain. And it's much easier than the non-stop struggle to get him to move on his own.

He still loves going up. Honestly, so do I.

Our hikes will have to continue to adapt. His chair will cover quite a bit of terrain, so I'm excited that we can explore using that. I've also told him he needs to learn to listen before he grows so large that I can no longer carry him ... sure hope he listens to that request.