Al took a couple days of work in mid-June so we could have a first and last big "family vacation" using actual vacation time- no one is interested in paying him anymore when he doesn't go to work. We had planned a trip to Lake Winnepaskaee (from What About Bob?) in New Hamshire to visit some family friends with huge summer home right on the lake. As the time go closer we found out they woulnd't be there to summer until a month later, so we needed to figure out another vacation spot. With funds running low due to the upcoming move we opted for a camping trip to Hocking Hills, a resortist state park in central Ohio. While the hikes were breathetaking, we were sure to leave our mark.
* We sang "Row, Row, Row, your Boat" at 2 am as water filled our tent as the rains came pouring down.
* Waking up at 3:30 to what sounded like a glass of water being dumped in the middle of the tent, realizing that it was comotose Abby peeing in the middle of the tent inches away from sleeping Caleb's face. We had to dig for something that didn't get soaked by the rain to mop it up, dirty socks. They were thrown along with her underwear and pajama pants from the tent door into the wilderness as the outside of the tent resembled a swamp.
* Waking up the next morning to making a host of bad decisions. Bad choice #1: The campsite was nothing but a mud pit. Why hadn't we looked at the weather forcast and opted for a hotel room or at least rain jackets and umbrellas? Bad choice #2: Listening to the avid hikers. We headed straight for the Burb in our pajamas (so we would have clean and dry clothes for later in the day) and opted to drive to a picnic pavaillion to eat breakfast. We had the company of some avid hikers who told us that the rain wasn't to bad on the hikes because the tree canapy acted like an umbrella. After breakfast we tried the nearby Old Man's Cave hike. Bad choice #3: After realizing the the hikers were referring to a light sprinkle and not the full blown downpour not heading back to the Burb. We were only soaked through our top layers and did not resemble jumping into a swimming pool fully clothed as we would at the end of the hike. Bad choice #4: Changing into swimsuits and sandals (the only clothes we had in the Burb) and finding another couple hikes to go on. We figured we were already soaked, we might as well keep going. By that point the rain had subsided and multiple people along the hike questioned the sanity of our group, a large family looking like they were headed for the beach tromping through the wilderness.
* AJ was furious about the dinner that we had out at nice restaurant. He called us liars, as he reminded us that we had brought food to eat and why couldn't we just have hotdogs over the fire.
* The next night Al had jimmy-rigged the tent so we didn't flood inside but a loud thunderstorm came and rumbled the whole night. We didn't sleep very well but can't say if it was due to the thunder or the troubled man in the bathroom (100 feet from our campsite) that spent half the night puking so hard you wondered if he was trying to get his intestines to come out of his mouth.
Good thing we paid extra for the shaded campsite. Overall the kids had a great time and want to know when we are going again. They didn't understand when I told them it might be a while.
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