Monday, November 3, 2008

Maumee Bay State Park

Campground: Maumee Bay State Park, Site 142
Dates: October 24-26, 2008, $60 total
Weather: Windy! Highs in the 50's, lows in the 40's

We seem to be having some bad luck with our trips to Maumee Bay. Even though it didn't rain (which was the forecast) it was really really windy on this trip. We camped with Grandma & Grandpa again, and they are starting to think that we are bad luck! We did have fun though, and stayed both nights. We did spend a majority of our time in our campers. On our nature walk we found the worlds biggest leaves, and got to make some more Jiffy pop popcorn, so the trip was still a success.



Monday, October 6, 2008

Hocking Hills

Campground: Hocking Hills State Park, Logan, OH - Site 164
Dates: Oct 2 - 5, 2008, $86 total
Weather: Nice, sunny, highs in 70's and lows around 50 I think

As a change from our normal camping trips, we had NO rain! The weather was competely beautiful. It was a little cool at night, but we stayed warm in the camper. The trip down to Hocking hills took a little longer than we expected, around 4 and a half hours I think. Try not to hit Columbus during rush hour next time!!

Zack did pretty good - he had his tonsils taken out just 4 days before our trip. We went to Ash Cave, Old Man's Cave, and the Rock house. We had donuts for breakfast at Grandma Fayes. Even though most of the sites at this campground weren't super private, we ended up with a really good one. We would like to stay there again.







Sunday, September 14, 2008

Maumee Bay State Park

Maumee Bay State Park
Campground: Maumee Bay State Park, Site 142
Dates: Sept 12 - 14, 2008, $60 total ** only stayed Friday night
Weather: Rain Rain Rain, around 80, low in 60's

Rainy is the only thing to say about this trip. It was hardly a trip, we got there Friday night around 6:30, and left by 11am the next day! It was sprinkling when we set up, stopped a little bit for a soggy fire, and then just rained and rained and rained. Unfortunately, Grandma and Grandpa were there too, and they also decided to go home so we didn't get to visit with them much. And, go figure, the rain cleared up by 2pm on Saturday and it was nice (and humid) until 6pm on Sunday. We should have went back. Oh well, next time. Even though it was a quick trip, it was fun as always :)























Monday, August 25, 2008

Pokagon State Park

Campground: Pokagon State Park, IN, Site 519
Dates: August 1-3, 2008, $50 total plus $7 entrance fee
Weather: Sunny, high in 80's, low in 60's

You could say that the moment Alan accidentally pulled into the drive through of Taco Bell with the camper, it was a hint of what was in store for us that evening. Although he read me the riot act when I prompted him to go through the drive through on a previous camping trip, he some how had a major brain fart and didn't remember that the little driveway next to Taco Bell is actually the *drive thru* and not a road to the parking lot. But I digress... anyhow, as we made our loop around Taco Bell without causing any major damage to us or the building, it was a fraction of the damage that was almost caused when our truck almost slid into the back end of a car at a stop light on the lightly wet road. Thank god Alan is a quick thinker and avoided the situation by driving off the curb. Soon we'll be getting those new tires for the truck :)


When we got to the campground we headed over to our campsite, which we had picked a month earlier. The description said "flat" but we should have known better than anything at Pokagon is not really flat. So someone (who will remain nameless) had a great idea to pull the camper wheel up on top of a large flat rock that was found in the woods. Sure, that would have been a great plan, had the camper not rolled right off of it when we tried to unhook from the truck! Never mind, we just kept trying it again, and again, and oh, did I mention, we also forgot that we had put one of the chocks under the wheel and it made a large "crunch" sound when rolled over. Oops, now we'll also need to get some new chocks soon too. In desperation I suggested we get a new campsite. When that didn't pan out, we decided just to live with the unlevel situation and make the best of it.

It was an uneventful night, especially since we didn't get the camper set up until 9:30! Just off to bed and that was it. The next day we went for an early bike ride, a pony ride at the stable barn, and headed over to the beach for swimming. It was quite a relief as it was near 90 that day! After baking in the sun all day, we took long naps, and then hung out at our campsite. It was about that time Alan noticed that he had forgot to move the pin off the back of the truck bumper, so he took a trip to Menards and Walmart to find a new one.

The kids were up early the next day riding their bikes up and down our street. They loved doing that (while saying "wheeee!!!" the whole time) We then took a nature walk, and checked out the toboggan run. We hope to go there this winter. That was when the strange smell started to surface. At first it was just a little whiff, but as the afternoon progressed, the smell got strong and we found out that our grey water was leaking! Apparently there are many reasons that you should level the camper out, not just to avoid falling over in it.


Even with everything that went on, it was a great trip! It's never dull at Pokagon :)

Monday, August 4, 2008

Maumee Bay State Park

Campground: Maumee Bay State Park, Site 136
Dates: August 1-3, 2008, $60 total
Weather: Sunny, high in 80's, low in 60's

Even though we didn't have any trees on our site, it was right next to a lake and we had our own trail to the lake. It was private due to all of the trees around the site.

We spent Friday night riding bikes around the campground. On Saturday we went to the beach and flew kites and played in the sand. No one was brave enough to go into the lake!! Since we got all dirty in the sand at the beach, we hit the showers back at the campsite (they are actually quite nice showers!)
After dinner on Saturday we went to the ice cream social again (yummy big cones for $1!), and went down to the beach amphitheater to hear Kerry Clark play. It was a good show - the kids had a blast rolling down the hill over and over again. After that we made a fire and caught lightning bugs. It was a late night, the kids got to bed around 10:30.
On Sunday we took a nature walk and headed home. A great weekend!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Maumee Bay State Park

Campground: Maumee Bay State Park, Site 211
Dates: June 20-22, 2008, $60 total
Weather: Mostly sunny/rainy, high in 80's, low in 50's


Maumee Bay is one of our favorite parks, especially since it is so close to home! A quick 45 min drive and we are there. On this trip we had Grandma & Grandpa Bachli camping next to us. They were on site 212. The sites weren't bad, although it would have been nice to be near the pond. Our site had one dead tree on it.
We went on a nature hike, rode bikes, went to the ice cream social (cones $1!), and hung out at G&G's RV a lot. We had a storm roll through on Saturday, but it wasn't a total loss, we still had a lot of fun.






Monday, May 19, 2008

Shelby/Mansfield KOA aka Princess Kamping weekend!

Campground: Shelby/Mansfield KOA


Dates: May 16 - 18, 2008, $58 for both nights (had 40% discount)

Weather: Partly sunny/rainy, high in 60's, low in 40's

This was our first time at a private campgroup, so we found things were a little different. Some things are better, some could be improved. We even have someone who picks up our garbage for us. We stayed at site 84, along the water. It was nice because we didn't have anyone on either side of us. If we had however, it would have been very crowded as the campsites next door were only about 4 feet away! We did have a couple of big trees though, and that was nice. Remember when Zack slept through the Cinderella movie?? :)



Pros:
* Lots of amenities and free activities / crafts for the kids
* Camp store full of lots of stuff (kids Motrin!!)
* Very clean and well kept up
* Huge sandbox and playground
* Full hookups

Cons:
* Campsites too close together, lack of privacy
* No "nature" stuff, like trails
* Stone roads, couldn't ride bikes or scooters