Monday, 08 June 2009

• Currently The Last Holiday Concert By Andrew Clements see related

  Camping

  This past weekend, Connor, Mikaela and I went camping with six other families from our homeschool group.(Unfortunately, Bob couldn't come because of work.)  We went to Virginia's Holliday Lake State Park which turned out to be a total gem.

  

  The park has a gorgeous lake which is considered by many to be the most pristine lake in the state.  The lake has a superb sandy beach with a great children's play area.  Along with the lake, the park also has miles of hiking/biking trails.

  

  On Friday evening, we attended a ranger led campfire program on Native American legends.  The ranger who led the program was an archeology professor by trade who was also an outstanding storyteller. 

  

  It turns out, the weekend we were there was Virginia Fish weekend so on Saturday, several experts from the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries came to the lake and put on an educational program.  They first explained how they shock fish in order to collect and study them.  The yellow poles on the boat below have wires dangling down and that's what they use to electrify the water.  (Just an fyi, the current reaches an area of approximately 6' x 6' x 6' and stuns, but does not kill the fish.  Once the fish are stunned, the rangers use nets to reach down into the water to scoop them up.  It turns out they don't float to the surface like I imagined they would.)  

   

  They then went out and collected a variety of fish and brought them back.  We got to learn about each fish species before they were released back into the lake.  Holliday Lake primarily has large mouth bass, chain pickerel, yellow perch and a variety of brim.

  

  We spent the rest of the weekend hiking, swimming, making campfires and sharing food.

  

  Meet Thereasa--she's one HOT (dog) Mama!

  

  The kids--all 20 of them--spent hours and hours swimming, catching tadpoles, telling stories and playing all sorts of games.  From playing dog catcher just after sun-up, to playing glow stick tag well past sun-down, they all had several days of pure, unadulterated fun.

  

    Below are just a few scenes from the weekend.

  

  

  

  The lake, the campsites, the ranger programs, the weather, the food, and the company were absolutely stellar.  Saturday evening, as we laid in the tent, Mikaela told me that this was the most fun day of her life.  I probably should qualify that by saying Mikaela is a girl who has had quite a few "best day ever" moments, but nonetheless this trip was indeed special and something we'll remember for a long time.

  

  In fact, it was so much fun we're already planning another group camping trip.

   

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