another trip

Good afternoon.
We've just returned from our latest trip. A holiday weekend trip to Indiana Dunes State park. I must say, it was one of our best yet!
We left Friday after work, arriving safely around 3pm. We got set up, and everything was functioning normally.
We went out of the park, about 3 miles down the road to a Popeye's where we got our dinner.  :-) We've been trying to do better with our trips, and have cut down a lot on our fried chicken, but I needed a fix!  :-)
Saturday morning, we drove into Chicago. Did some window shopping, had a tasty lunch at a TGI  Friday's just off Michigan Ave. and enjoyed the weather and people watching at Navy Pier. Arrived back at the campground as the weather went bad. Cooked turkey kiebasa's for dinner as we watched the rain pummel the tenters.  :-) With out cable, we weren't able to watch our Spartan's in their first game of the season, so we joyfully watched the Notre Dame Irish being manhandled by a nobody team. Who were they? Someone called Florida State University. 
Sunday, after our morning coffee walk, I fixed a tasty breakfast of Eggland Eggs on the grill, with Morning Star Farms sausage, and toast. Then we went out to get the Sunday paper, where we found our Sparty's won their game as expected. With the cloudy drizzly weather, we headed over to the Blue Chip casino, where we spent a few hours playing the slots, and left with $60 more than we arrived with.  :-)
On the way back to the campground, we treated ourselves with lunch at Barlett's gourmet grill and tavern we found halfway between the casino ans campground. A very tasty lunch with Crab cakes and a pulled pork flat-bread pizza. Back at the campground, the weather had cleared, so we headed to the beach via the newly reopened beach trail.

The trail winds through the dunes, following a creek. It was closed for several years due to the creek, which was originally buried under the beach parking lot, flooded one spring, collapsing part of the parking lot. They originally redid the creek alongside the parking lot, but apparently ran into design problems. It sat that way for a couple of years. Finally, the got it finished. It's a lot shorter than walking along the road. They now have a bridge that goes over the creek, along with a dam to control the outflow. Anyway, the beach was packed, and it was fun watching all the people. But I swear, we felt as if we were in  a foreign country. It seemed as if most people spoke Spanish, or some Eastern European dialect. It was really wierd! I wonder where they all came from for the day.
Back at the campsite, I got a campfire ready, and Craig prepared our steaks for the grill. We saw a cooking show the night before, and got a few tips on cooking the perfect steak. it also showed a recipe for grilled eggplant we wanted to try.
I have to say, we cooked the steaks according to the show, and they were the juiciest, tastiest steaks we've ever eaten! Can't wait to try that again!
You want the secret? Okay, it's too easy! The meat needs to be at room temp. Season with your favorite spices. It doesn't really matter here. The grill needs to be smoking hot! I mean as hot as you can get it! Put the steaks on the grill, cook for 3 minutes, turn half a turn. Don't turn over yet! Cook another 3 minutes. Turn over. If the grill starts to flame, move them to the side a bit, otherwise, cook until desired doneness. We like medium well, and that meant another 5 minutes. Remove from grill and cover, letting the meat 'rest' and finish cooking for 10 minutes. It was amazing!

So, after the delicious dinner, we finished the evening around the campfire.
Monday morning, we broke down camp, dumped the tanks, and arrived safely back in Lansing. 
We got there safe, arrived back home safe, had a wonderful time, it was a great trip!