My family vacation this year led us to Silver Lake in Oceana County, Michigan.  I went to lead worship for a high school camp and the rest of the time we did “vacation stuff” like dune hiking, swimming at the beach, building sand castles, etc.  When I look back on vacations of the past, there a certain things that are remembered from each trip.  I remember Cooper losing his footing and nearly drowning in a lake last year.  I remember catching fish in Ohio Pyle with the family.  I remember riding the metro in DC and walking from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capital Building.

This year we might remember climbing on the dunes.  We might remember the lighthouses and beaches.  We might even remember the amazing cherries and blueberries we got from a little farmer’s market.  What I know we will remember are the three “adventures.”

1 – The sand got a little deep for our van.  We were doing some exploring and decided to cut a corner and go down a dirt road.  As we drove, we started down a hill and the dirt started to change to sand.  Just as we saw the end of the dirt road, the van stopped moving.  The soft sand had gotten so deep that it packed against the bottom of the van and the tires just started spinning.  It didn’t matter what I tried to do, we were stuck good.  Luckily an old man with a pickup truck saw us and tried to help us out.  After starting to burn through his clutch, he went and got a bigger truck and we were freed from our sand trap.

2 – The camera just wanted to cool off.  Early in the week we went to a lighthouse close to Silver Lake.  When the week was over, we decided to go to Ludington to see a bigger lighthouse, not knowing that it would include a nearly two mile hike.  We started hiking up the beach (with an umbrella stroller) until we reach a crossover point to switch to a hard-surfaced trail.  Only about 1.5 miles to go at this point.  When we got to a point where there would have been a cool picture, I yelled up to Elise to take a picture.  She searched through the diaper bag and my sweatshirt that was draped over the stroller, but no camera was to be found.  When we finally reached the lighthouse, I ran back the beach to the crossover point, and didn’t find the camera.  I tried calling the rest of them at the light house, but everyone’s cell phones died (so all that hiking and no pictures to show for it).  At that point I started walking along the beach to see if it dropped there.  There were points where I pulled the stroller through the tide because of the harder sand, so I was looking in the water as well. Just then something caught my eye about five feet out in the water.  Sure enough, it was the camera swimming on the bottom of the lake.  I haven’t taken it a part yet, but I am hopeful that it will work again.

3 – Vans don’t work well without a few vital fluids.  Some friends of ours came with us to help transport gear as well as go camping themselves.  They left about 3 hours before us as to get back home in time for band rehearsal at their church.  As we were passing Muskegon, I receive a call from them saying they were broke down in Muskegon.  Apparently their transmission overheated and let go of all it’s fluid as they were hauling their camper.  I would have offered to take the camper to ease the load, but I don’t have a hitch on my van.  We got to the garage where they were and I pulled my amp out of their van to lighten the load a bit.  When we got home, I got  hold of them to see how the trip was going.  They ended up making it almost the whole way through Ohio without another problem, but three miles from Pennsylvania, the same thing happened.  They did end up making it home, but it took a bit longer than expected.  This adventure is more a memory for them, but I couldn’t pass up adding it here.

All three of these “adventures” were annoying and sometimes even a little scary as they were happening, but even just a few days later we can look back at them and laugh, seeing how we should have been better prepared or avoided those situations.  There’s always something to learn from experiences, good or bad.  The trick is to be willing to learn from them.  I am still trying to figure out what I needed to learn most from these adventures.  I have a feeling it’s more than things like “stick to the paved roads” and “keep the camera in a secure place all the time.”