Planning and packing for five is a lot of work, but I got it all in (and on) the van and headed out early Sunday afternoon. I don't care what the image, I love the minivan!
Packed and ready
Count 'em... 2 racks, 5 bikes!
We arrived and just as I was backing onto my site, I got a pleasant surprise! Walking down the road in front of me was Dennis... one of the fourteen Algonquin brothers from last summer's Canada trip. He didn't recognize me in the van, but I stepped out and yelled, "Evinrude" (his trail name from our trip)... to which he spun around and said, "only thirteen other people know me by that name... how are you, Anchorman?" He wasn't camping, but was out for a walk in the campground on a Sunday afternoon. I met his family and introduced him to mine. What a cool chance encounter that was!
Mohican is a popular destination, so I committed to this vacation plan back in December. Even though I thought I was making my reservations early, it proved almost not early enough, as a majority of the river sites were unavailable. A river site was a MUST! The cost is the same as a non-river site and sleeping in a tent near a babbling stream has always been a bit of a "bucket list" thing. We decided on sites 152 and 153 as our best options. They were the last two sites on a cul-de-sac and I remembered them from years earlier as being at a shallow portion of the river. When we arrived, they were just as I remembered them. 153 (mine) was not very big and not well situated for tenting, but with both sites together, they were nearly perfect. The river was shallow and babbling, with an almost beach area at river's edge. Going to sleep and waking up in my tent just mere feet from the babbling river was incredible! And, the cul-de-sac was perfect with Benny for some supervised bike riding. More on that later...
Site 153... our home for the week!
Doo, doo, doo, lookin' out my back door!
The river was perfect for afternoon recreation. Our site had very easy access in and out of the river, and it ranged from about ankle to waist deep (for Ben) near our campsite... perfect for everyone to enjoy. Ben splashed and tossed stones. Dylan did some fishing. Zachary and my nephew worked on improvements to our local rapid. Lily and my niece splashed, built some rapids and skipped some stones. I did some of all of the above... and relaxed in a river chair.
Ben tossed stones to his heart's content!
Improvements to our local rapid
Midway through the week, Zachary suggested that we move the EZ-Up canopy into the shallows of the river and sit in the shade. Normally, I am very fussy with my camping gear, but the EZ-Up is pretty well worn, so I couldn't resist... carefully, we transferred it into the water and were the envy of the river for the afternoon! Now that's living!
Ahhh... a nice shady spot "on" the river!
And, we also tubed on the river! Tubing was one of my favorite memories of our vacations at Mohican. Over the years, my Dad had acquired a handful of inner tubes... mostly from my truck-driving uncle. He patched them up and we always took them with us for river floats. Back in the day, we all took turns pumping them up with a hand-operated bicycle pump and we would float from the uppermost cabin area down the river to our campsite. My Dad still had these tubes! I asked him if they would still be usable and he dug them out to check. Since they had been stored out of the weather, he did some fresh patching and they were still good to go... 30-40 years after using them as a kid! And, an addition to the modernization of the park... they now have an air compressor station so we didn't have to hand-pump them all... winning!
The same inner tubes I used some 30-40 years ago during our summer trips!
Seems like we're always waiting on Dylan...
Seven kids tubing... no wait... I'm the designated adult!
I kept Benny tethered to me for safety... he loved tubing!
Dylan stuck on a rock... again!
These girls both loved tubing!
Visiting with Oliver and his human.
There were games and campfires...
And, of course, there where Hot Wheels cars...
20 cars packed... all 20 returned home!
Midweek, I instituted a mandatory late morning hike for a change of pace...
Cousins
A rain shower was an opportunity to cool off with some catch football...
Oops... somebody slipped and fell in some rain-soaked sidewalk chalk!
The pool was pretty chilly. We used it a bit, but mostly preferred splashing in the river...
I'm not even sure what to say about these...
I love this shot... it is one of Zachary's common expressions
Enjoying the splash pad
And, what is camping without camp chores? My deal was... I cook, kids do dishes (there weren't many). I love to parent by Rock-Paper-Scissors (RPS). It is very impartial, completely removes me from decisions, and it is nearly impossible to cheat. So, my parenting formula for the week's dishes was Dylan and Zachary compete RPS best two out of three, loser washes dishes. The winner of that round then went RPS best two out of three with Lily, loser dries.
For the wash... rock, paper, scissors... SHOOT!
For the dry... rock, paper, scissors... SHOOT!
But... of all the fun we had, Benny's favorite thing to do, by far, was BIKING! Every morning when I would ask him what he wanted to do today... go to the pool, play in the river, go tubing... his answer was always, "go biking!" I took him on many rides around the campground to hone his skills. The roads were paved and flat and traffic was slow, so it was perfect for him. I always rode beside him to help him learn about riding on the right edge of the road, and to protect him from wobbling into traffic. Over the week, his skills did improve... which is a big accomplishment considering his disabilities.
riding his "dirt bike"
The older kids enjoyed bikes, too
Benny had more than his share of scraped knees and elbows during the week. I think I did a pretty good job of cleaning, bandaging and kissing boo-boo's...
This camping trip brought to you by Neosporin (or, in this case, Dollar General brand)
But, there was one that Dad couldn't fix! On our last evening in camp, Benny was sitting near the road on his bike with helmet on... patiently waiting for me to give him the green light to ride the loop. The other kids were just riding close to camp and I was heating water for dishes. I told the kids to keep an eye on him and let him ride the loop. After a little while, I took my chair over and sat in the grass in the center of the loop. I had only been there a few minutes, when Ben was involved in a crash right behind my chair. Dylan witnessed it and said that Benny stopped in the grass and was sitting still on his bike. Another kid that was camped nearby crashed into him at a fairly high speed. The crash was so hard that it partly twisted his handlebars. Unfortunately, though, Ben's pinky ended up between the two handlebars and (I assume) the other kid's bar end sliced the tip of his pinky through the nail and nearly to the bone. I started my usual clean up, and then quickly surmised that this one would need a trip to the ER. We were a little over an hour from our local children's hospital, so that is where we headed. My sister-in-law (a nurse) helped me wrap it and control the bleeding. I took Dylan with me to keep an eye on him during the drive and took off for the hospital. Jen met us there. X-rays showed no bone damage, but he needed four stitches to put his fingertip back together. Once he was patched up, I drove back to camp and Jen took him back home. Not a good way to end a vacation, but the injury could have been a lot worse... and at least it happened the evening before we were leaving.
It's pretty ironic that Benny is pretty accident prone, but his very first trip to the ER was earned by sitting still on his bicycle! Poor kid!
Ha! The shirt says "Push The Limits"... that's Ben! (Back home and bandaged up)
And, finally... some obligatory family photos...
1 comment:
Nice blog, Jeff. Enjoyed the commentary and the pictures to go along with it. Family vacations are the best! Benny will have an interesting story to tell in school this fall about his summer vacation.
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