I am still getting us caught up to the here and now. So begins 2022…
We started the 2022 camping season with a Spring Break trip at the beginning of April. I wanted to use this trip to show the kids some of our state’s history. Our first stop was Fort Boonesborough State Park, where we spent the first half of the week. We toured the recreated fort and enjoyed the interactions with the staff there. They had a blacksmith, a yarn maker, a wood carver, and something new for me, a cook. He was roasting meat on a fire, as well as cooking some vegetables in a pot over the same fire. He said it was rabbit, but it kind of looked like chicken, but well, maybe it really was rabbit. He went over some of the common seasonings used, which was mainly salt and pepper and perhaps some things they could forage on the way. His cooking style was what he called “trail cooking” and not how they would normally cook in the fort. Think camping, not homesteading.
We enjoyed one good day at Fort Boonesborough, and that was the day at the fort. The rest of the days had us cooped up in the trailer because it was raining. One good thing about the spot we had reserved was that it was a full hookup, which is uncommon for us. This just means that we had a sewer hookup and didn’t need to worry about filling our grey and black tanks too full. We enjoyed nice longish hot showers.
The week was split between Fort Boonesborough and a place we had been the previous year, The Kentucky Horse Park. We packed up in the rain, drove in the rain between the campgrounds, and when we got to the new spot, well, it was raining. It had rained so much that the spot I had picked for us was basically all mud. The trailer would sit on gravel, but the first step on the ground would have been mud. I went over to the office and requested to be moved to a less muddy spot. There were happy to do it, but the spot we got was pretty steep, but thankfully less muddy. The previous spot was nice and level under some trees. I guess that helped to lead to the mud.
This particular camping week was our worst. It basically rained every day but one. It was bad enough that we decided that we were going to leave a day early and head home. No sense sitting in the camper listening to raindrops when we could do that at home. The night before we left, I was hit with a really bad tummy bug. I spent hours in the early AM in the bathroom evacuating my stomach and lower GI tract. I was a mess. The next morning we packed up in the rain. I was not doing well, and my wife drove us over to the dump station so we could empty our tanks. I talked her through it all and she was a trooper. Once we finished that up, I felt I could drive us the 70 miles home and on we went.
Two months later and we were back at Kincaid Lake in June for a long weekend. It was the beginning of summer and the kids had just gotten out of school. If memory serves, we picked them up from school and headed out to the lake. The drive is long enough that it feels like you are going someplace, but short enough to not get a lot of “are we there yets”. I’m pretty sure this was the first trip using the portable video server I set up so the kids could watch movies on their tablets. I’ll need to do another post on that one and when I do I’ll link it here.
One week later and we were off once again to Florida and back to Fort Wilderness at Disney. My wife and I agree that this is the very best way to stay on WDW property. The hotels are great, no doubt about it, but there is just something special about coming back to your own place. The amenities are nice there as well. They have a couple of swimming pools, and you can rent bikes, take archery lessons, go fishing, and a ton of other things. We could have spent the entire week just at the campground.
But…we didn’t. This trip was the first of what we have since called a Disney Non-Disney trip. We didn’t step foot in any of the big parks. No Magic Kingdon. No Epcot. It was a departure from the norm, but the prices Disney was charging, and the restrictions they had on park entry were just too much for us. We wanted to relax and enjoy a vacation this time.
We did spend a day at Legoland, which was both good and bad. I seriously enjoyed Lego as a kid and still enjoy it today (perhaps a post on that one day). The park is geared more towards elementary-aged people. They did have a few things which appealed to me, such as the large functional models of places and activities. The food was decent, but not awesome (Disney spoiled me). It was kind of neat, but I don’t think I’d want to go back. They kids had a decent time.
There were indeed some things we did do at Disney, and these we had talked about doing for years. First off was miniature golf. Disney has several miniature golf courses at WDW. The first we went to was Fantasia Gardens. We only did the traditional side, not the Fairways side. It was really hot that day in Florida. Perhaps we will try the other side on another trip.
The next day we did mini-golf at Winter Summerland. We played both 18 hole courses that day and had a blast. Again, it was hot, but some gatorade and ice cream kept it reasonable. These are the best mini-golf courses I have ever seen. The course is covered in something a bit like the squishy stuff on little kid playgrounds. It holds up to the abuse of club-wielding kids, and the occasional enthusiastic adult.
We had wanted to visit a Disney water park since my first visit to WDW in 2008, so we booked a day at Typhoon Lagoon. Since it was June, we wanted to have a little shade reserved for us, as well as a place to keep a cooler with some snacks and drinks, so we splurged and got an umbrella spot. This was especially good as it gave the kids a little place to rest and reset after all the activity in the wave pool. We didn’t do very many water coasters or slides as my son’s anxiety was very high, but the lazy river sure hit the spot in the heat. I highly recommend visiting this water park. Just be sure to bring some water shoes or sandals. The concrete gets very hot!
As a unique memory, we did have dinner one night at Medieval Times in the Orlando area. The kids had a GREAT time, and so did the grownups! The food was decent, but the show was awesome! We were sitting in the Red / Yellow section and my daughter was enamored with our Knight, especially after he tossed her a rose. My son just loved the swordplay and sound of the of the lances splitting as they were struck. We plan on going again.
The rest of the time at Fort Wilderness was spent in the pool. I swear these kids could go swimming all day every day. We finally had to pack up and head home after a really wonderful and relaxing week. It was perfect.
About 2 weeks later, we went on our first trip to the north. This time were were headed to Spring Mill State Park in Indiana. This was a place my folks had brought me when I was a kid. I had a lot of good memories about the place and wanted to share it with the kids. The Mill area was recreated when the park was built and the mill itself was new construction. Most of the other buildings were originally constructed in other parts of the state during the time the original mill was active. They were trucked over to the park to join the Mill to create a village. It has a good feel of history.
Unfortunately, the grist mill itself was out of action. the main beam that supports the water wheel was cracked and broken. It was to be years to get it fixed. They did have a functional water-powered saw mill, however. That was pretty cool. The hike to the water source was also interesting as the Mill is actually fed by an underground spring, hence the name Spring Mill.
There was something new at the park since I was there as a kid. Astronaut Gus Grissom’s hometown is just a few miles up the road from Spring Mill Park, in Mitchell, Ind. At some point, they put in a museum dedicated to Gus at the park. It has an original Gemini spacecraft in it, along with space suits, and various NASA memorabilia. What I found most striking was to see Gus’s personal items, mainly his medals during his service prior to and after joining NASA. There are some few-of-a-kind items there commemorating various space missions he was part of. Of course they do go over his tragic death in the Apollo 1 fire. A good man’s life was cut short far to early. I had a new appreciation for Gus after visiting the museum and I highly recommend stopping by.
Two week later, we were camping once again at Taylorsville Lake State Park. It was mainly on a whim, as I look there every so often for a site in our favorite section. The horse flies were still in full force in August. This was just a Friday – Sunday adventure, but unfortunately the last camping trip of 2022.
The remainder of the year is fuzzy in my memory. We didn’t get the boat in the water at all in 2022. I was a little disappointed, but hoped to make up for in 2023. Not many other hobbies were splurged upon, at least not that I can remember.
Oh, I do know what took up quite a bit of time, Scouts. Most specifically Cub Scouts and Webelos. That adventure is going to need its own post. But my son started out as a Wolf in Cub Scouts, and my daughter a Webelo scout. Many good things have happened, but that will need to wait for the moment.
On to 2023…