Kelly Park Apopka florida - Camping 2010
Camping, it's the best family bonding experience!
This years Florida Camping vacation was filled with thrills, fun and even life threatening danger - that's right, if you thought camping was a dull experience - hey, we proved you wrong.
This year we went Camping, the family - we left the dog behind [ yea ! ] and we packed up all our gear and we hit the road. When we got there I was worried about the weather - and yes it rained like no tomorrow the first night and the next day - I thought my tent was going to float away. But after surviving the torrential down pour the sun came out and the fun began.
As always the family saw nature - a bit too close for my taste. The squirrels were everywhere and the raccoons kept coming around at all hours of the night every night [ but we learned by this time how to store our food and keep it away from their reach ]. The river was freezing cold - I mean cold - my nieces lips were blue but that didn't stop her from going into the water or eating, eating and eating.
We did several miles of walking and biking, we even bought my son a fishing rod so he could pretend to go fishing - it was the funniest thing in the world, you would have thought that he really expected to catch something with only a tinny rubber wheel on the end of his Disney "Cars" fishing rod as bait.
But you ask - what about the "Danger" the "life threatening experience"?....
Well, the family wasn't satisfied with just camping, as if sleeping in the woods with the only thing separating you from the wild is a thin layer of material and the possibility that you could just simply walk into a - say, a bear, an alligator, even a pissed off raccoon is bad enough.... But no, not my family, they wanted to go canoeing - great....
To make a long story short, I didn't go because I was chicken and my five year old said he wasn't going because he was afraid that the boat would turn over. Well, my son was right - the canoe trip was a disaster - first there was the snake in the canoe, then the trees, the bushes, the branches slapping them in the face, and it was a ten mile trek. The funny part was my sister in-law who told me she peed on herself because the trip was so long - the danger you ask .... My brother-in-law hit a branch and the boat turned over, my daughter, my 5 yr old niece went over with him. Considering they told me they saw alligators just before they turned over - scared was not what they felt, terrified is what they were. They told me that they will never go canoeing ever, ever, ever again. But I don't believe them.
The scariest part of all was the story Roxy one of the rangers told us - as we told her about the horrifying experience with the canoe turning over, she told us a even more frightening mishap. Apparently an elderly couple on this same canoe trip had decided to stop at one of the
so called rest areas in the river [ which was only a cleared area with a fire pit and two benches ]. According to Roxy - the couple took a short nap at the rest area and awoke to find themselves surrounded by alligators. They stood very still until all the alligators decided they had enough sun and left one by one - Ahhhh! I would have been eaten alive because my wife would have simply freaked out and would have made it known to the gators that lunch was available - me...........
All in all, it was a fun experience that I enjoyed with my family. I had a wonderful time bonding with the kids and interesting enough - it always felt like I enjoyed a deep sleep and the nights seemed to last forever. But that doesn't mean I wasn't tired from all the walking, running,swimming, playing and all the fun I had. Besides, who do you think carried all thier stuff around - man I need another vacation.......
link to kelly park at this post: Kelly Park Apopka Florida
Who's afriad of the dark - Me, keep that Darn Light on !!!!
You go girl - get that Tan, so sexy ... gruff..
Yep, we had BINGO night !
The LAZY way to wash dishes
Yes Blankets - It was COLD at night
This years Florida Camping vacation was filled with thrills, fun and even life threatening danger - that's right, if you thought camping was a dull experience - hey, we proved you wrong.This year we went Camping, the family - we left the dog behind [ yea ! ] and we packed up all our gear and we hit the road. When we got there I was worried about the weather - and yes it rained like no tomorrow the first night and the next day - I thought my tent was going to float away. But after surviving the torrential down pour the sun came out and the fun began.
As always the family saw nature - a bit too close for my taste. The squirrels were everywhere and the raccoons kept coming around at all hours of the night every night [ but we learned by this time how to store our food and keep it away from their reach ]. The river was freezing cold - I mean cold - my nieces lips were blue but that didn't stop her from going into the water or eating, eating and eating.
We did several miles of walking and biking, we even bought my son a fishing rod so he could pretend to go fishing - it was the funniest thing in the world, you would have thought that he really expected to catch something with only a tinny rubber wheel on the end of his Disney "Cars" fishing rod as bait.
But you ask - what about the "Danger" the "life threatening experience"?....
Well, the family wasn't satisfied with just camping, as if sleeping in the woods with the only thing separating you from the wild is a thin layer of material and the possibility that you could just simply walk into a - say, a bear, an alligator, even a pissed off raccoon is bad enough.... But no, not my family, they wanted to go canoeing - great....
To make a long story short, I didn't go because I was chicken and my five year old said he wasn't going because he was afraid that the boat would turn over. Well, my son was right - the canoe trip was a disaster - first there was the snake in the canoe, then the trees, the bushes, the branches slapping them in the face, and it was a ten mile trek. The funny part was my sister in-law who told me she peed on herself because the trip was so long - the danger you ask .... My brother-in-law hit a branch and the boat turned over, my daughter, my 5 yr old niece went over with him. Considering they told me they saw alligators just before they turned over - scared was not what they felt, terrified is what they were. They told me that they will never go canoeing ever, ever, ever again. But I don't believe them.The scariest part of all was the story Roxy one of the rangers told us - as we told her about the horrifying experience with the canoe turning over, she told us a even more frightening mishap. Apparently an elderly couple on this same canoe trip had decided to stop at one of the
so called rest areas in the river [ which was only a cleared area with a fire pit and two benches ]. According to Roxy - the couple took a short nap at the rest area and awoke to find themselves surrounded by alligators. They stood very still until all the alligators decided they had enough sun and left one by one - Ahhhh! I would have been eaten alive because my wife would have simply freaked out and would have made it known to the gators that lunch was available - me...........
All in all, it was a fun experience that I enjoyed with my family. I had a wonderful time bonding with the kids and interesting enough - it always felt like I enjoyed a deep sleep and the nights seemed to last forever. But that doesn't mean I wasn't tired from all the walking, running,swimming, playing and all the fun I had. Besides, who do you think carried all thier stuff around - man I need another vacation.......link to kelly park at this post: Kelly Park Apopka Florida
Comments
thanks Cityencounters