Yes, all of the above play an interesting part of my weekend vacation. It was the 3rd annual family vacation of the Olsen/Dotson/Yontz/Knox/Vancour + Tingen/Woolverton/Cook -Vancour this year. We made our plans way back in March and we all put our two cents in on likely places to camp. We hit the beach last year, so we decided on the mountains(which we'll prolly alternate every year). I knew of a few different places in Helen, GA and someone suggested The Squirrel's Nest at Unicoi State Park. She had been there several years back for girl's camp with church, so we all came to an agreement and decided that it would be the place. We would reserve as many as possible so that we could have the site exclusively to us. She informed us that The Squirrel's Nest was made up of covered platforms that were open on two sides with railings on the third, and that you couldn't park right there, that you would have a short hike from the car. I went home and looked it up and thinking it might be a challenge, I thought that it looked interesting. I had come up with a sleeping plan so that kids wouldn't roll off- Yes! Rolling off would be a problem, but not too bad. Or so I thought...
So we get checked in, and the flippant young man at the desk gave me a pamphlet about bears, along with my receipt. He said you need to read this, and I asked him, surely you are joking. He informed me that not just an hour ago they ran a bear out of the lodge parking lot and that they have been having quite a problem with bears this year. So for our protection, store all food items as well as soap/toothpaste inside our cars at night and prepare food away from where we are sleeping. My eyebrows are so high up on my head at this point! I hesitantly got the little blue papers to mark our two spots and got back to the car to tell Adam, as we set off to find the place. We parked in the designated parking and the boys and I skipped off to find our site. Then our skips turned into walking... then bewildered trudging... until we came upon the little "comfort station" which I soon found out was the halfway mark from camp to our car, not exact, but close enough. It was like a quarter of a mile up hill, both ways, to and from the car. I stopped and asked a nice retiree on a golf cart what was going on and if I was mistaken somehow in thinking that it was as bad as it seemed. He regretfully informed me that it was, but if I wanted to switch to a tent site, they had some available- well guess who didn't bring a tent because they aren't allowed on the platforms? Oh yes, he remembered, and he then asked me if I had a wagon. Well see, I try to be nice, especially to old, trying-to-be-helpful people, but what!? Really? Sorry, I forgot to pack my wagon, which of course we always bring camping just in case this type of circumstance arises! I told him no, we didn't have a wagon, and he then told me the location of the nearest Wal-Mart, a city away, and that maybe it would be worth it to buy a tent. I said thanks and goodbye, and secretly wished that he would give us a ride back to Adam,as we watched him drive away. What was done was done, so we trudged back up hill to Adam and told him the news. He wasn't too happy either, seeing as he would be a pack-mule this entire vacation. I did have Adam take us back to the lodge so that we could get a refund on one of the platforms, seeing as we couldn't use it to store any of our stuff.
We were the first of the families to arrive, and as they slowly trickled in throughout the day, the initial feelings were mutual. But we were all glad to be together and looking forward to all the plans that lay ahead.
We had a nice dinner and the Tingen's got the fire started for marshmallows.
That night proved to be terrible in referring to the sleep I had. That actually pretty much sums up the sleep I had for the whole trip. Not only did I wake up every time one of the kids moved, I couldn't go back to sleep for a while, thinking/listening/shining a flashlight for bears. Yes, I was that paranoid.
The next day we tried to do things together as a group:
Anna Ruby Falls
This was a nice hike for me, .5 miles up hill and pushing 20lbs of baby was a great workout. Lisa Cook's little boy, Ethan, soon buddied up with Erick and they became best friends. It was so cute! Adam and Tripp were hiking buddies as well. The falls were beautiful and I loved the roaring of the water.
We also went to Charlemagne's Kingdom to check out model trains. It was awesome! This man had built to scale a city of... everything! It was patterned after northern Germany and included the Matterhorn. He had hot air balloons, a roller coaster, spaceships, much more, and of course... trains! He even had moving parts for the hot air balloons and even a little swimming figurine.
Ethan had a little birthday party complete with a Spider Man pinata.
Yes, my son is Spider Man.
That night, as Adam and I were getting ready to lay down, we had an infestation. A moth as big as my palm was flying around our little lamp. I was trying not to get hit by it, and as I moved to get away, Adam called for me to watch out! Right above my head was a huge spider, suspended on it's web. I think it was waiting for me! We called our friend Kevin to come and kill every thing, and Adam borrowed a broom to clear away anything else that might have been hiding. We got a little chuckle from the neighbor in front of us, but soon all was well again. Until... after I managed to fall asleep, I awoke to find Erick standing next to me. In my sleeping stupor... I tackled him! I thought he might of been sleep walking off the platform! It occurred to me later that he might've just been standing next to me calling my name, but... yeah. So I held him tight as he cried, and he asked why I scared him. HA! Turns out he needed water. Unfortunately though, throughout the rest of the night, he kept waking me up asking me "what's that noise" and "is the bear going to get me" type of stuff. Ughhh...
Saturday was the big tubing event! Three hours on the river. Wasn't that bad, didn't get burned. The babies slept on Adam while I maneuvered us around. My legs got quite the workout on this whole trip.
Finally it was time to leave, and although it had a ton of cons, the pros were better and we had a good time. Looking forward to next year!
