Memorial Day Weekend 2023 has begun – and later today, I’ll be on the road to visit my parents-in-law, who have a lovely spot on the Muskegon River for a couple of nights. A few days after that, we will begin our “mini vacation,” which will be extra exciting this year! Since I got two extra days off in addition to the four I requested from my employer, my husband and I decided to add an extra night to our trip. Hmmm…what to do, what to do? Rent a state park cabin for one night? Nope, nothing available. Tent camp? Nope, we don’t want to bring that much equipment. Hotel/Motel? Not a chance! Everything is so overpriced during the high tourist season in Michigan, unless you don’t mind staying somewhere fleabaggy. So I took a look at some other camping options on Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources web site (michigan dot gov backslash dnr). I wanted something far enough north to cut down on our farther drive north to Rogers City, MI = where we would be staying for three nights in a mini cabin. So….

This thing you see in the above photo is a “safari tent.” As of this posting, two state parks in Michigan – Albert E. Sleeper State Park in Michigan’s Thumb region – and Highland Recreation Area in Southeast MI – offer safari tents for rent. We’ll be staying at Sleeper for one night. A startup company called Tentrr is offering these things, and a portion of the rental fees go right back into the state parks. They include a queen bed with a mattress – and if you have more campers, you can even use an additional pop-up tent on the site for which you must provide your own sleeping pads/sleeping bags. No electric service or water on site, but restrooms are a short walk away – and showers a bit farther away. We’ll be able to use our new folding wagon to haul our gear from the parking area. I absolutely LOVE the wagon – I’ve used it on a couple of camping trips so far, and around the house, I use it to haul groceries into the garage! It even has two cup holders, which are handy on a camping trip.

We paid $116 plus a small reservation fee for the one night stay, which is a bit pricey – not what we usually like to pay for a camping trip, but hey…it’s one night, we’ll be on vacation, and really – isn’t it about the experience? I’m looking forward to NOT sleeping on the ground! I’m getting a tad bit old for that stuff these days! Also, it’s about what we would’ve been willing to pay for a motel stay. But I think this will be SO much better! More privacy, better scenery, and…and…the raison d’etre for any camping trip…

If you try to set a fire in a motel room, they’ll probably ban you for life!