A Return to Shantytown, Pt. I

I drove up separate and dropped the dogs off at Shelby's on the way.

Welcome back, America.

This weekend marks our annual weekend trip up to the Jellystone Campground in Grayling with our usual assortment of Midland families.  Definitely one of the highlights of the summer, for sure, and we were fortunate enough this year to have absolutely perfect weather for the entirety of our stay - no heat advisories, no rain, no flooding, no nothing.  

Couldn't have asked for better weather.

We had a few shake ups in our roster this year, though.  Kris' best friend, Kim, and her husband, Matt, wouldn't be coming up this weekend with their RV - I guess they had plans or something this weekend, I forget the particulars.  The Sheahans and Danielle's parents would be joining us this year, though, so we actually had more numbers in our Gray Island brigade than in previous years.  The usual suspects - the DeBoers, Johnsons, Larsons, Colliers, Griffins, Butterfields, Nadjaudas, Bardens, and, of course, the infamous Houghs - all returned for some much-needed shenanigans.

We always feel bad for those unfortunate souls who end up sharing the fabled Gray Island with us. . .

So yeah, I guess I'll cut this off and just jump right into things, leaving you now with the first installment of pics and video from our epic weekend at Yogi's old stompin' ground.

Behold. . .

We once again drove up separate this year, which is a necessity considering all the gear and bodies - three kids, two dogs, etc. - that we always end up hauling.  Kris had to work a half day today, so she wasn't going to be leaving Midland until probably closer to 3pm; I had no intentions of waiting around that long, and wanted to get the tents all set up as soon as possible.  Leaving Midland around 11am, I rolled in well before 1pm and had zero issues checking in at the main office - the folks that work up there are always super friendly - and right as I was wrapping up the Larsons and Johnsons pulled in next to me.

Like in 2020 and in 2021, all of the assembled families defaulted to the same campsites we've used in previous years (we're always Site 189.)

The Johnsons began setting up their tent right next to ours.  Aside from our two, I brought two additional tents: one for Alayna and her friend, Lexi, that would go to the left of ours, and one for Abby, Ella and Sophie that would go on the Johnsons' site (since you can only have two tents per site.)  This then would form our tent village's 'Northern Wall', shielding our communal setup from other folks' sites to the north.

A shitload of tent poles.  I hate setting up camp.  Not as much as tearing down camp, of course, but close.

The 'moon colony' tent Erik and I set up on his site for the Three Amigas. Straight outta some Tim Burton film, to be sure.

As families finished establishing their individual family tents, other folks started throwing up their communal canopies (to put over tables for cooking and dining areas, etc.)

The Gray Island, slowly but surely coming together.

In the late afternoon, Kris and the girls - Alayna, Lexi, and Abby - finally approached Jellystone Campgrounds.  At the spot where the road switches to gravel, Kris had to stop to allow this patriotic, bald eagle to finish snacking on this roadkill.

'MERICA

Some post-tent construction beers with the Dads.  All part of the process, folks.

Moms, sitting around clucking.

Setting up the dining canopy.

Lonnie hooks up his RV's waterline.  Griffins camp in style, unlike the rest of us peasants.

Left to Right: Tom, Ryan, Lonnie Big Balls, Omkar, and BP.

The Three Amigas - Sophie, Ella and Abby

Samwise and Deana (Omkar's wife.)

Dinnertime, at long last.  The setup process is exhausting, so folks were definitely ready to chow down by the time dinnertime rolled around.

Collier and Butterfield.

The Butterfields pumped out another kid since the last time we were all here, so we had an infant on hand this time around.  Which, being so far removed from this stage in our own lives, was kinda bizarre.

Abby works on Alivia's hair

Feasting

We brought a few snacks the kids this year.  Holy shit, this group will eat some junk food. . .

BP brought this up to share with the Dads.  Not too bad at all, we drank this neat throughout most of the evening.

Erik doesn't like the way cornhole is panning out.

Ryan, Matt and Tom

Tossing some bags.  Cornhole eats up quite a lot of time up here at Jellystone. . .

Morgan is arguably the best player up here, so it any tournament we have usually boils down to who stands against the Larsons in the championship (and loses.)

The DeBoers brought up this '80s trivia game this weekend, and we killed some time while cornhole was going on showcasing our mastery of all things nostalgic.

BP and I are pretty evenly-matched when it comes to this.

As the evening went on, and the temperature dropped, we realized a few of us had all donned blue jean jackets, so the wives demanded a picture of our denim game.  Thug life.

Ryan snatched up my SLR - something he does frequently after having a few beers (he is a professional wedding photographer, after all) - and snapped a few weird pics of the guys sitting around the campsite.  Here's Tom. . .

. . . and Yours Truly. . .

Omkar. . .

. . . and Ryan himself.

As dusk was coming on, a group of moms from some other contingency descended on our campsite and struck up a conversation with some of our wives.  Talkin' about mom stuff, probably - like hard seltzers, lazy husbands, and Live, Laugh, Love.  Stuff like that.

Personally I think they just got one good luck at the handsome assortment of dads in Gray Island and couldn't resist themselves.  That honestly makes the most sense.

The beginning of the first fire of the weekend. . .

We got yelled at for having two firepits raging right next to each other, so we had to stop this after the first night.  Whatever, Jellystone. . .

No clue what these kids are up to, but it can't be anything good. . .

Headquarters established, morale high - Gray Island has once again fallen to the barbarian hordes from Midland.  Stay tuned for more campground adventures in the coming installments. . .

- Brian