When we drove into this resort by the lake, we knew we had found a popular destination. This campground was packed with RVs, close together, but each site still managed to have trees. Families and friends took adjacent sites and gathered for dinner. There were basketball and volleyball games each night, and lots of laughter and play, late into the night. Children on bikes yelled, “Safety patrol!” as they policed the curvy dirt roads, reminding campers to follow the rules. Each building, from the laundry and bathrooms to the small ice cream and novelties shop, wore scraps of their original coats of paint, probably applied during the 1960’s. This felt like history, and with all of the gatherings around us, I think generations of families have been coming here for years. An especially large gathering was beside our campsite, and I noticed they prayed before eating dinner. This made me feel so at home.
The boys and Richard will probably say that this was their favorite part of the trip. We rented a boat, skis, and a tube and spent a lot of time on the lake. The weather was perfect. We were warm for the first time on the trip. We stopped for ice cream and shakes on the last night and shared ping pong paddles and a ball with a gang of little boys.
When we planned this trip, we wanted the lake experience to be like my memories of Clear Lake. While we didn’t stay at Clear Lake and rent an old cabin, this really did provide a similar feeling. I made sure to buy comic books ahead of time for the kids to read.
Best memories: Mark on the tube, Daniel and Timothy getting up on skis, Richard skiing, all the boys on the tube together, ice cream at the shop, tubing hair
Menu: roasted hot dogs, pigs in a blanket, deli sandwiches, grapes, oranges, pasta salad, baked beans, pop tarts instead when the free pancakes were actually not free.
Things we are so glad we brought: a toaster oven for cookies, biscuits, toast, and pigs in a blanket; plastic drawers for toiletries, sunblock, first aid, etc.; drying racks for towels; audio books; our own life jackets; extra blankets; twine; DUCT TAPE