When they were young, we loved taking our boys to Camp CedarRidge. Great staff, excellent…read moreprogramming, Christ-centered. Mike Rauch, the camp director, has made our connection to camp even better. One of our sons completed his Eagle Scout project at camp by building a set of railroad tie steps in a hillside. Now we serve on staff and value the fellowship and camaraderie.

From the owner: Located in the middle of Huron National Forest in Oscoda, MI, Camp CedarRidge allows kids to unplug…read moreand make memories that last a lifetime. For 75 years, our goal has been to help campers grow closer to Christ and form lasting friendships. Whether attending an overnight camp, day camp, or wilderness adventure trip, your camper will have a one of a kind experience, cultivating his or her independence, exploring new skills, and learning how to bring Christ into every aspect of life.

I LOVE CLLL. There are sooo many activities and all the Staff are very nice, the campers are too…read more 10/10 Camp.

I went to this camp in 2017-18 (can't remember which exactly) but I ended up leaving early because…read moreas someone with pre-existing anxiety, the camp traumatized me. My friends would rave about how fun it is so I decided one year when I was maybe 11-12 that I would go. Now I'm 18 and still scarred from it. I will say, aside from the weird things they did there, it was a fun camp, but not worth the lifelong trauma. First of all, when eating in the cafeteria, if you accidentally chewed with your mouth open, you would get called out by all the other kids and counsellors and made to go under the table and scream "I'm a piggly wiggly" to which everyone would respond with "what?" and repeated at least once or twice. There's another instance of this where if you put your elbows on the table even if for a split second, again, you'd get called out and you'd have to do a lap or two around the cafeteria while people chanted a humiliating song at you. Another thing they did which to this day turned me away from Christianity was take us to the field saying we were playing a game, and proceeding to chase after everyone while dressed in all black with black makeup talking about how "Satan is our God" to which you'd have to respond with why God is our savior and not Satan. As an 11 year old who thinks we're about to play a fun game like "Steal the Bacon" or whatever, the outcome scared me half to death and when I cried from being terrified, I was taken to the church and given Oreos as compensation. Great, right? Anyways, I don't know if any of this has changed within the past few years, as I obviously never went back, but I sure hope it has. What I do know now is that they're teaching kids how to play poker if you care about that at all.

Loooooooove Camp Barakel so much. We have had many great weekends here while enjoying couples and…read morefamily retreats. This is a Christian camp, and they preach God's Word and apply it in a meaningful way. They tell about God's grace and Jesus's forgiveness, and bring it full circle to teach about improving and healing relationships. Every time we have attended, we have been blessed by it. Thank you!!!!! They are on a beautiful spring-fed lake, and there are tons of activities and opportunities to get back to nature. And as a true Yelper I can honestly attest: The food is good, too! Some of the sleeping accommodations are more rustic than some newer ones, but they are in the process of renovating every cabin, as I understand. The newer lodges are really nice!! I'm sure they can fully fill you in about where you would stay if you call. Life is simple here and it provides an opportunity to focus on what is most important. I have huge respect for their dedicated staff. They treat others with such love, and you can feel an attitude that demonstrates their care and dedication in their ministry. I have seen their worship leaders gracefully serving others as staff in the dining hall. There is a lot of walking involved. My dad went with a walker and could get around, but some places were a little harder than others, and a few were just too hard. There are two camps, one on each side of the lake, so they can run two different camps at once, or one big camp. I also love singing hymns in chapel, especially Ancient Words. It really sums up what they are trying to do here. Holy words long preserved for our walk in this world, They resound with God's own heart Oh let the ancient words impart. Words of Life, words of Hope Give us strength, help us cope In this world, where e'er we roam Ancient words will guide us Home. Ancient words ever true Changing me and changing you, We have come with open hearts Oh let the ancient words impart. This is not just a summer camp or a lake getaway. Barakel means "The place where God has blessed" and we have encountered Him here. Barakel is not fancy, but it's real, and I mean that in deepest and best sense of the word.

I just spent a weekend fishing while at a Christian Men's Retreat at Camp Barakel in Fairview, Mi…read more(near Mio in Oscoda County), and I wanted to blog my experience because I could find no fishing information for the camp's privately owned Shear Lake. https://www.bing.com/maps?q=shear+lake+michigan&FORM=HDRSC4 https://www.campbarakel.org/ Shear Lake is a shallow, clear water, spring fed lake with a sandy bottom and sparse aquatic vegetation. The perimeter of the lake is peppered with many lay downs of fallen trees. While staying at Camp Barakel, the campground provided small rowboats, canoes, kayaks, and paddle boats for recreational use. At peak times of the day, there can be a lot of campers using the small lake, so fisherman will need to be patient with the recreational users who are attempting to paddle around it. Prior to fishing on Shear Lake, the only fishing information that I could find was that the lake contained Blue Gills. Having fished the lake last fall and this spring, I can verify that Shear Lake has Large Mouth Bass, Rock Bass, Perch (some are jumbo size, being12 inches or larger), and Blue Gills. The lake is rumored to have Pike, but I am not aware of any being caught. Although the lake may contain only a few lunkers (last fall, I failed to set the hook with a weedless frog on what was probably around a four pound bass), the overall Large Mouth Bass fishing seems to be quite good. Some 16 to 18 inch bass were caught while while standing on the docks. Even though the lake has sparse vegetation, the lake's shallowness makes it easy for lures that come in contact with it's sandy bottom to constantly pick up clumps of plant material and algae. Also, it's easy to get hung up on the many branches and tree trunks that line the shore. Consequently, weedless lures (like a Texas-rigged soft plastic worms), plus mid-water and top-water lures (which are fished away from the shore) work well. I caught ten Large Mouth Bass (12 to 16 inches) and one Rock Bass last weekend on a Texas-rigged soft plastic worm. Some had good luck using spinners or top water lures that worked in the mildly windy conditions, like Jitterbugs. Others had good luck with live baits such as Big Red Worms or Minnows. Last fall, I had some luck swimming small curly tail jigs, but I now now prefer to drag Texas-rigged worms along the lake's bottom, near the many fallen trees.

It's a great place however the prices are insane. Having lived in Hawaii and New Jersey I paid 30 a…read moremonth at 24 hour fitness or LA Fitness and this was with childcare all day (9am-8pm) at the community center for north end it's 60 a month with childcare only in the morning, and 90 a month for the other location with more accommodating hours. I'm sorry but that is just too much.

First, let me say that the Midland Community Center offers a very large range of activities...two…read morepools (lap pool and a large family pool), basketball courts, weight room, racquetball courts...there is definitely a lot to do at the MCC. However, in the past few years they have made visiting completely cost-prohibitive. Do you like to swim to stay in shape? It will cost you $40 a month...and the pool is only open for a few select hours each day for open swim (seriously...go look at their schedule and try to figure out when you can and cannot swim). That, and their lap pool only has 5 lanes, and there were multiple occasions where I had to share lanes with up to 4 people at a time. What if you just want to drop in and run around the track? $7 A DAY. You do get access to their weight room, too, but for $3 more you could just get a MONTHLY membership at Planet Fitness. All membership plans also require an "auto-draft joining fee" of about $100. So, if money isn't an issue and you like to stay in shape, definitely check this place out. However, if you're working with a tight budget, try one of the other gyms in the area, because MCC is one of the most expensive ways to stay in shape in the area, and there are better options out there for far less money

My family has been going to paddle brave for years. 8 years was the last time we were there. But…read morethey have new owners who are amazing and care bout the campers. They are working very hard on improving the campground and it shows. I wish I had before pictures of the "love shack". That is what everyone I know calls it sorry don't know the actual name. Lol. But it was disgusting inside. I took these pic to and omg what a huge improvement. The bathroom and showers wow. I can't wait to go back

Paddle brave is my very favorite livery in roscommon! My whole life I've kayaked the ausable out of…read moregrayling and grew very comfortable and familiar with penrods and how they do things. Paddle brave upholds the same standard in my opinion. Rental fees are fair, equipment options are competitive. Tubes, single kayaks, tandem kayaks and canoes. They offer options of float times predominately on the south branch but I recommend starting from the park in downtown roscommon and ending at chase bridge. Perfect length and very pretty. We've also kayaked through sections along the mason tract pathway which allowed us to dock at the chapel in the woods and eat launch on shore. The vans pick you up at the end, we have been picked up once by a young man driving the van ....he wasn't very mechanically inclined and the van was severely over heating. My husband stepped in and gave him some assistance but we truly felt it was a gamble if we'd make it back to the livery anytime soon! So I guess I do wish they maintained the vans more. Otherwise no complaints! We now own our own kayaks and paddle brave will allow you to use their pick up/ drop off service for a small fee if you don't want to deal with that aspect of personal floats. Great place!

I would recommend Expressions in Motion not only for their amazing dance and gymnastics…read moreinstruction, but also for the integrity in which they conduct their business. Expressions in Motions owner, Theresa B., works hard to keep her classes, apparel and recital costs affordable. The close attention paid to providing excellent service at an affordable cost that has enabled me to allow my daughter to explore her love of dance and gymnastics. Expressions in Motion not only provides an awesome environment that children can go to to work on their gymnastic and dance skills, as well as build their self-esteem, listening and direction following skills, but also I place that I can feel good about sending my child to.

I highly recommend Expressions in Motion Dance and Gymnastics Studio for anyone in the Bay City…read morearea who would like their children to learn to dance or tumble. Miss Theresa Baker is a wonderful, kind, caring, patient teacher and my children love her. The classes are affordable and the class sizes are small. It's a wonderful, caring environment in which children can learn.

We were here just after Labor Day so the beach was pretty much dead which was awesome for us as we…read morehad the whole place to ourselves. The wind made it a bit too chilly to do much outside from walk along the beach but had it been a bit warmer it would have been a great place to go swimming or wading. I hadn't realized that nearby is also a dark sky park so I imagine you'll have some dynamite night sky gazing if you're there after sunset. I'd love to come back and take some astrophotography shots with my camera this coming summer. Also worth noting, not sure if this is the case in peak season times but the park has a solid public restroom as well. Very clean!

2020-07-25. Oak Beach County Park, Port Austin, MI…read more In Michigan, everyone boasts of the beauty of the mitt; the scenic scapes of the UP (Upper Peninsula), the old world charm of Mackinaw and Mackinac Island, and the great outdoors of the Grand Traverse County. But there's another part to every mitten, and today my travels took me here, to Michigan's thumb. Well, to what I call the Thumbnail to be more precise. The thumbnail I refer to is the coastal areas of Michigan's thumb, from Bay Port to the West, to Harbor Beach to the east. One thing this area isn't lacking are beaches, beautiful sand beaches bordering Saginaw Bay or Lake Huron. While many a property here gets a piece of the water, there are many pubic beaches as well. The beaches are smaller and encompass only a few hundred feet of waterfront, but they make up for it in how many there are within close proximity to one another. Caseville has a decent size beach, but is often very crowded, and with COVID still looming around, we decided to go further north to Port Austin. Our day began at Bay Port to pick up some smoked fish, then to the Port Austin Farmer's Market. After that I had 3 beaches picked out. Oak County Park, Veteran's Park, and Bird Creek Park. Bird Creek Park is a 1000 foot expanse of beach to the immediate east of the Port Austin State Harbor. From here, you would be able to see personal boats come and go. The parking lot has enough space for about 70 vehicles, and spaces fill up by early afternoon. Not finding any spots within social distancing guidelines, we moved to the west side of the Port Austin State Harbor to Veteran's Waterfront Park. It's about half the size of Bird Creek with approximately 500 linear feet of beachfront. This side has the breakwater, so if you're in to boat spotting, it's not the optimal side to be on. While these two parks are adjacent to each other with only about 500 feet between them, there is no direct path to get there on foot. You will need to drive from one lot to the other. The parking lot is proportionally smaller here with about 40 parking spots. Not having any luck at Veteran's we moved to my original choice of Oak Beach. During our journey west, we passed by several other beaches. 4 miles away is Port Crescent State Park. Being a State Park, a Michigan Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry. We had ours, but if you don't have one, no worries, you can purchase one at the entrance. The cost is $12 for the year + $5 convenience fee for not purchasing it when you renew your License Plate tabs. This beach is the largest of them all by far, and spans about 2 miles. There's one central lot, and despite the price of parking, many come to enjoy this beach. This was my backup beach, so we pressed on westward. The next beach is at McGraw County Park. A small pubic park with no pavilions and only about 400 feet of beachfront. After this one is our destination, Oak Beach County Park. This park is much bigger compared to McGraw with two large pavilions, a playground, 2 horseshoe pits, and about 700 feet of beachfront. Here, we were lucky enough to find both a spot on the beach and in the parking lot. In addition to the pavilions, fixed charcoal barbecue grills are scattered throughout the park for public use. There are restrooms with one shower stall in each as well as a rinsing well to get the excess sand off your legs before heading home. Still on the Lake Huron side, the water is much cooler and the water remains shallow throughout the buoy markers for swimmers. At spots there are pockets where the water does get about 5 feet deep, so if you have little ones, take care to make sure they don't wander off to far on their own. If you venture past these deeper wells, it gets shallow again (about 3 feet). The bottom is sandy so muddy waters are kept to a minimum. Overall a nice beach with nice amenities. 4 stars. The great thing about this beach park is that there is a nature center about a half mile away. The Huron County Nature Center has many hiking trails that are well marked and pets are welcome. Overall, Michigan's Thumbnail Coast boasts many smaller beaches which is quite a nice change from the densely populated ones of Metro Park and Stony Creek. The water is cleaner and cooler, a bonus on those really hot days. There is one more beach if you continue on the Journey to the West. Thompson County Park is very similar to McGraw County Park, with about 400 feet of beachfront and no pavilions or playgrounds. So don't give up if you can't find a spot straight away. Our day trip was to conclude with a stop at Rybak's Ice Cream, but they were closed due to COVID, so we checked out The Grindstone General Store and Blue Moon Ice Cream Shoppe. If you would like to experience more, come dine-with-me.yelp.com I'd love to have your company... Bon Appétit!

My grandsons have been going to this camp for several years and they have been transformed with…read moreconfidence and care for others! I cannot say enough wonderful things about the camp in their staff. Recently, we discovered a glitch in registering a family. The Camp staff knocked themselves out in order to provide a space for a child in need. I cannot say enough about the professionalism and integrity of the camp staff and everyone related to Lake Louise Christian Community!

From the owner: Summer Camp Programmingread more

My husband and I came for a ride on 10/4/25 and had the best time! The owners were very friendly,…read morethe horses were the sweetest! The property was beautiful! We can't wait to come back!

We had a beautiful winter trail ride. The experience was truly one of a kind! The horses were…read moreperfectly matched to our abilities and the guides were knowledgeable.