Monday afternoon through Thursday morning, the boys and I were in Utica, Illinois, at Grizzly Jack's Grand Bear Resort with MacTroll's parents and his three brothers and their families. The reunion was planned and financed by his parents. So, 10 adults and nine children came from way out east and way out west, and way up north and, um, an hour and a half away to stay together just outside of Starved Rock State Park.
I'd asked about Grizzly Jack's before, and I know some of you have given me your thoughts on the resort via Facebook. Whether the adults loved it or hated it, everyone came back with the same response of -- "The kids really enjoyed it." And our kid was no different. He woke up demanding to know why we were leaving a day earlier than everyone else. I didn't have the heart to tell him it was because his father had given me the dates incorrectly, and that, unlike most people he'll meet in his life, his lame mother had scheduled meetings and doctors appointments that would take weeks to reschedule on that Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. We both bombed on this one. But then again, you do what you can, you know?
As a resort, MacTroll and I were not overly excited about Grizzly Jack's. And here's the deal, that my brother-in-law from California brought up once MacTroll found out that the resort is $10 million in the hole and filed for bankruptcy in January. "You don't build a giant resort in the middle of nowhere cornfields." Apparently, the Kevin Costner "Build it and they will come" philosophy doesn't apply to indoor water parks in Central Illinois.
Our in-laws thoughtfully provided large housing accommodations in a villa and a townhouse for the whole group. As it turns out, when GJ opened, it sold these villas and townhomes to folks as vacation homes that they could then rent back to other families like ours to make money off in rent when they weren't using them. Each place is decorated pretty much the same: think bears meet fake antlers meet moose paraphernalia. The owners then provide things like silverware and cups and dishes. The issue is if you stay at a place that sleeps 12, you'd expect there to be 12 forks instead of 5. See what I'm saying? When GJ originally opened purchasing a Townhouse was like $250,000 for 2800 square feet. Now, you can buy them for $50,000.
On the wall of the villa was also a sign indicating you could purchase their fancy towels and washclothes, but I guess there must have been a run on those, because all we could come up with was that the ones they provided us were so old and washed that they were -- very exfoliating.
We went to the waterpark twice, each for two-hour play dates. Inside are two water slides, one body slide and one raft slide. You need to be at least 48 inches to go down them, so X-man was an inch too short, which was okay. There was a splash park that we made the best of, but it was in complete disrepair. The two spray guns had tubes that were completely broken. MacTroll just reached over the side grabbed the dislodged hose and sprayed family members that way. Above the spray area was supposed to be one of those giant buckets of water that dumps over onto people, but the door to the "ranger station" wouldn't open, so the water dumped inside the house and just kind of drained down rather than pouring. It looked like there was some kind of musical warning system to tell you when it was time to dump (like a clanging on metal as it got full) but it didn't work. The bucket system with pulley to dump water on someone's head below was broken. They had at least put a new rope climbing apparatus in over a broken one, but they left the broken one attached, so it looked dumpy. X-man did okay on the two slides for kids under 48 inches. They had soft landings at the bottom. He also enjoyed going around in the rafts on the lazy river.
The lodge is located just down the street from a quarry blast sight, so the water is very hard. My friend M warned me that their water tasted kind of funny and to take some bottled water along. It was similar to the water at my Mom's in Loves Park, so it wasn't as disconcerting to me. But I was grateful for her advice. The issue is that there was mineral and mold build up all over the place in the water park. You'd float around the lazy river and see it on the walls. The wood on all the steps was turning green and rotting. The underside of the Ranger Station was building up with white mineral deposits from the inappropriate dumping.
The lazy river was supposed to be only for rafters, but everyone was in it. They were swimming around it. They were diving under the rafts to get around people. There was also a small wave pool, but there was no indicator in the room any longer as to when the pool would be starting, so you missed it, or you sat around waiting a long time for it -- a lot. The water was warm and they did have some fun water falls to swim through, which also became the "safety zone" for X-man when the "crazy waves" came on. The waves from the wave pool either came out "traditional" like you were on a surf at a beach or "crazy" like you were in water between docks and it was going sideways. The crazy ones were a bit too rough for X-man, so he'd go into the safety area until they stopped.
The next issue was -- the lifeguards. At Sholem, you get a sense that they're not messing around. Everyone has their crazy scanning headbobs, and they've got their whistles in hand. They've got new suits and sun protection and life saving equipment on hand. At Grizzly Jack's, I watched one lifeguard literally chew her finger nails for her entire shift. Everywhere she moved she had her fingers in her mouth. And she looked everywhere except at the water. One lifeguard was taking his float on a walk. It was crumbling apart. I didn't notice it until I thought it was a chunk of apple floating by. I felt better it wasn't food -- and then I didn't. The guards didn't watch the water. They looked bored. So they gave no sense of reassurance and I didn't let X-man out of my sight.
The indoor Amusement Park named the "Enchanted Forest" was okay, as were the sea of bounce houses outside of it for children ages 3-12. X-man loved running around and pretend playing the arcade games. He also went on all the rides. MacTroll was with him most of the time because during a morning walk/run on the Canal, I managed to jack up my foot (yes, I have an appointment for an X-ray with sports medicine this month) and had trouble walking. The only issue here was that you could tell that because of the poor economic issues, they only had two people running all of the rides. So, you'd wait in line behind the gate of the one you wanted to ride -- and wait -- and hope that enough people lined up behind you so that you could go on it. Then you'd go on that ride as many, many times as possible before the employee moved on to the next ride.
But the biggest difficulty was that everything local was kind of closed in the area. The first night MacTroll and I tried to do a pizza night. We found some places with good reviews online at the nearby Oglesby. We figured we'd pick stuff up. Yeah, one was closed and the other was at the other end of a road that was closed that would require a long detour back to I-39. So, we ventured into Lasalle-Peru and found the Jewel and a Papa John's. This was a theme. We tried to go to an independent bookstore and candy shop in Utica -- both were closed at 11 a.m. on a Wednesday. We tried to canoe at Starved Rock, but the boat shop didn't open until 11:30 a.m. (nice and hot then, right?) When we returned at 11:30 a.m., the shop was open to take our money, but no one with a key was there to unlock the canoes. MacTroll, X-man and I gave up and went back to the moldy water park, while the others sat around waiting for the guy with the key to show up. MacTroll also reported that my MIL tried to stop by the Starved Rock Stables, which were empty of horses and abandoned of people.
But again, despite our reservations as adults, X-man liked it -- because it had bounce houses and rides and water slides and a bunch of kids to play with. So if you focus on younger kid happiness, you'll do fine. Unfortunately, I'm afraid if you enjoyed the park before, you might find it lacking due to the fact that the place hasn't been kept up. So if you return, it's probably not going to be exactly as you remembered it.
I can recommend, if you're in Peru, to get breakfast or lunch at the Fourth Street Bakery. They don't have a lot of breads (but they do have a lot of bagels). X-man and MacTroll both enjoyed a mid-morning snack there. It had a great atmosphere and the owners were very welcoming.
I would not necessarily recommend running on the canal. I entered it at Lock 14. It's a decent path, but it smells of dead fish. And the Illinois River spill over areas around are flooded with beautiful egrets, who walk on their tall, graceful legs. It's amazing to see, until you realize they're walking around the dozens of tires floating in the water. Sigh. The whole area needs a giant environmental clean up.
Showing posts with label Bargain vacations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bargain vacations. Show all posts
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
It's a Small World
MacTroll was reading a tourist guidebook last night in bed. It said that 52 percent of dwelling occupants in Paris are single people living alone. Mmm, I thought. Maybe that's why they're so grumpy, they're lonely. I decided that since all the wine, pastry and chocolate wasn't enough to get France in a good mood, I'd try something different. We'd go somewhere where people were paid to be the happiest people on Earth. That's right. Disneyland Paris. And you want to know something? It was the best idea I've ever had.
MacTroll looked into the tours offered through the hotel desk, and they were kind of expensive 98 Euros each to just go to one of the two Disney parks with a bus that would pick us up and drop us off at the hotel. But we'd have to be on the bus at 7 a.m. Mmmm, the park doesn't open until 10 a.m., so that was lame. Plus, it was expensive. But we were going to Disney so we knew we were in for using up some cash. Instead, we walked a half mile and picked up the train for under 7 Euros each. The Disney stop is the last stop on the train. You literally tumble out halfway between Disney Village (their Downtown Disney) and the two parks (Disneyland and Disney Studios). Of course, it was raining when we got there, and I was feeling cold, so we picked me up an extra sweatshirt (40 Euros) to wear under my rain coat and then we went off and stood in line for tickets.
A one-day park hopper was 68 Euros each. One park ticket was 52 Euros each. So we decided to bite the bullet and go for the hopper. I was already feeling happy about the decision when our train was full of kids with excitable giggles and parents laughing. It made me miss my kid, but I was so happy to be around other people with children. Finally, lightheartedness and humor.
Suddenly, in the ticket purchase line, this woman with two friends and their six kids, turns around and asks me if I speak French. I answer, "Non" honestly. I know enough not to starve. Turns out she knew as much English as I knew French. So we made a go of a discussion. She was a Disney pass holder and had a coupon that she was using for her two friends, but was good for up to four adults. Two one-day park hopper tickets for 15 Euros each and would we like to buy our tickets with them to use the coupon?
Hell, yes!
We were very grateful, and as far as Parisians go, she just totally proved that our experience in the city is probably entirely a city thing. My friend Robin loves everywhere else in France outside of Paris. She also likes to refer to Paris as "NYC with a baguette up it's butt." It's a fair assessment from our experience. But when you get into the land of the minivans (suburbs) something happened. People got more relaxed. They were enjoying their kids. And MacTroll's look of "I can't effing believe my wife brought me to Disney when we're in Paris" went away, and he became much more amiable and open to the idea.
MacTroll before the nice lady gave us 106 Euros back in our pocket... (This is his, "I can't believe I'm here" face.)
After the most awesome French woman in history gave us use of her coupon. (See a distinct difference?)
We were in Disney for the day, on a rainy day, for less than the cost of lunch.
Speaking of lunch. MacTroll also read last night that Paris has recently become the most expensive place to live in the world. It costs more than Tokyo, which if you think about really is mind boggling since when MacTroll was in Japan in 2005, he often had to eat his breakfast and lunch out of vending machines because his NYC level per diem wouldn't cover food at even a fast food place. Lunch at Disney at a Planet Hollywood at Disneyland Paris was much less than lunch in actual downtown Paris at a Bistro. It was insane. How Disney can be cheaper than anything makes no sense to me.
We went on a few rides. The Star Wars Tours was much more fun in French than in English, especially when the guys says, "May the Force Be With You." :-) We also went on the Aerosmith roller coaster, which was a long line, but made me scream and laugh, which MacTroll always love. Their teacups had been altered so they didn't really spin. I wondered if it was to prevent vomiting, but we did our best to keep the saucer turning faster than everyone else. Most of all, people from all over Europe were smiling and laughing. They were, admittedly, much happier when there were younger children around. Once we were in line for the grown up roller coaster, the happiness went away and there were more sullen faces, but hey, such is puberty, right?
We were there from 11 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. When we were done, we picked X-man up a Disney Pixar long-sleeve t-shirt (12 Euros). (He's growing out of the one I got him in February 2008, which was an XS.) Then we got on the train and headed back to the city.
Now we're relaxing before we head out for our last dinner in Paris. Tomorrow, we get on the bus and head back to the airport before flying home to Chicago to see our boy, who apparently has a bit of a cold and a cough.
This whole week, I've enjoyed being child-free, but one thing was certain: Every time I looked at my husband, I felt like something was missing. Sometimes at home I wonder if I ever should have become a mother, particularly when I think I'm royally messing up. But after being here, I know it couldn't have happened any other way, and that we have exactly what we want.
Love you X-man. Can't wait to give you a big hug. And I'm so much happier in the middle of nowhere than I ever could be living in an urban mecca. It's okay to visit. But I adore my home.
MacTroll looked into the tours offered through the hotel desk, and they were kind of expensive 98 Euros each to just go to one of the two Disney parks with a bus that would pick us up and drop us off at the hotel. But we'd have to be on the bus at 7 a.m. Mmmm, the park doesn't open until 10 a.m., so that was lame. Plus, it was expensive. But we were going to Disney so we knew we were in for using up some cash. Instead, we walked a half mile and picked up the train for under 7 Euros each. The Disney stop is the last stop on the train. You literally tumble out halfway between Disney Village (their Downtown Disney) and the two parks (Disneyland and Disney Studios). Of course, it was raining when we got there, and I was feeling cold, so we picked me up an extra sweatshirt (40 Euros) to wear under my rain coat and then we went off and stood in line for tickets.
A one-day park hopper was 68 Euros each. One park ticket was 52 Euros each. So we decided to bite the bullet and go for the hopper. I was already feeling happy about the decision when our train was full of kids with excitable giggles and parents laughing. It made me miss my kid, but I was so happy to be around other people with children. Finally, lightheartedness and humor.
Suddenly, in the ticket purchase line, this woman with two friends and their six kids, turns around and asks me if I speak French. I answer, "Non" honestly. I know enough not to starve. Turns out she knew as much English as I knew French. So we made a go of a discussion. She was a Disney pass holder and had a coupon that she was using for her two friends, but was good for up to four adults. Two one-day park hopper tickets for 15 Euros each and would we like to buy our tickets with them to use the coupon?
Hell, yes!
We were very grateful, and as far as Parisians go, she just totally proved that our experience in the city is probably entirely a city thing. My friend Robin loves everywhere else in France outside of Paris. She also likes to refer to Paris as "NYC with a baguette up it's butt." It's a fair assessment from our experience. But when you get into the land of the minivans (suburbs) something happened. People got more relaxed. They were enjoying their kids. And MacTroll's look of "I can't effing believe my wife brought me to Disney when we're in Paris" went away, and he became much more amiable and open to the idea.
MacTroll before the nice lady gave us 106 Euros back in our pocket... (This is his, "I can't believe I'm here" face.)
After the most awesome French woman in history gave us use of her coupon. (See a distinct difference?)
We were in Disney for the day, on a rainy day, for less than the cost of lunch.
Speaking of lunch. MacTroll also read last night that Paris has recently become the most expensive place to live in the world. It costs more than Tokyo, which if you think about really is mind boggling since when MacTroll was in Japan in 2005, he often had to eat his breakfast and lunch out of vending machines because his NYC level per diem wouldn't cover food at even a fast food place. Lunch at Disney at a Planet Hollywood at Disneyland Paris was much less than lunch in actual downtown Paris at a Bistro. It was insane. How Disney can be cheaper than anything makes no sense to me.
We went on a few rides. The Star Wars Tours was much more fun in French than in English, especially when the guys says, "May the Force Be With You." :-) We also went on the Aerosmith roller coaster, which was a long line, but made me scream and laugh, which MacTroll always love. Their teacups had been altered so they didn't really spin. I wondered if it was to prevent vomiting, but we did our best to keep the saucer turning faster than everyone else. Most of all, people from all over Europe were smiling and laughing. They were, admittedly, much happier when there were younger children around. Once we were in line for the grown up roller coaster, the happiness went away and there were more sullen faces, but hey, such is puberty, right?
We were there from 11 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. When we were done, we picked X-man up a Disney Pixar long-sleeve t-shirt (12 Euros). (He's growing out of the one I got him in February 2008, which was an XS.) Then we got on the train and headed back to the city.
Now we're relaxing before we head out for our last dinner in Paris. Tomorrow, we get on the bus and head back to the airport before flying home to Chicago to see our boy, who apparently has a bit of a cold and a cough.
This whole week, I've enjoyed being child-free, but one thing was certain: Every time I looked at my husband, I felt like something was missing. Sometimes at home I wonder if I ever should have become a mother, particularly when I think I'm royally messing up. But after being here, I know it couldn't have happened any other way, and that we have exactly what we want.
Love you X-man. Can't wait to give you a big hug. And I'm so much happier in the middle of nowhere than I ever could be living in an urban mecca. It's okay to visit. But I adore my home.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
We Have a Winner
Okay, thanks to Kingsley Pines, I am now a HUGE family camp fan. I loved it. I spent 4 hours away from my child a day... where he was off with children his own age for 3 hours (not consecutively) and one hour with all the big kids. And every other minute of the day we had choices to do together as a family OR we could just choose to do things together on our own.
Each day had 3 - 1 hour long sessions. The grown ups got to pick activities (there were usually 3 or 4 listed) while the kids had designated ones. Day 1 for X-man was space science camp. He spent the day using science to blow things up (think vinegar and baking soda, mentos and diet coke, etc.), including a paper rocket he made himself. As he's become quite the little Ms. Frizzle fan lately, he thought this was pretty much the best way to spend the day ever.
Until Day 2 came along... and he spent it playing water games, making sandcastles and jumping on the Blob (a water trampoline) in the middle of the lake. 4 kids... 2 counselors. I could hear him screaming, "Announcement! Cannonball!" As he leapt into the water.
Day 3 was pretty cool too. The kids made their own popsicles, maracas, went frog hunting and got to get suited up in their life preservers again -- this time to go on the super fast ski boat, where they each got to take turns pretending to be captain and telling the driver where to go.
Day 4 was, sadly, our last day. X-man was ready to go play some more water games, make ice cream (which is so a CARE meet up I'm going to have to do) and go down the slip and slide.
Each day for parents included activity choices like volleyball, rock climbing (on a wall), chipping and putting, basketball, tennis, water skiing/wake boarding, jewelry making, yoga, swing dancing, high ropes course, low ropes course, ceramics, archery, circus skill practice, art, mountain biking, tubing, rope swinging into the lake, hiking, sailing, kayaking, canoeing, water polo, etc.
I tried a couple things I'd never done before including water skiing and rock climbing. I loved the rock climbing, but didn't really appreciate getting dragged behind a boat. I finally stood up while on a "boom" (a metal bar that sticks out the side of the boat) that they use to help the kids get started, but after spending 3-5 minutes doing that, I decided, it really wasn't all that much fun. Tubing, however, was another story. The last time I went I was 14. I was on an old time tube that was doughnut shaped. I fell through and my lifejacket got caught. It was scary... but this time, it was like the lazy boy of tubes. All I had to do was hold onto the handles. I laughed and screamed and giggled through the whole thing. It was awesome. I also scheduled one session on Days 2, 3 and 4 for Loosey-only quiet time. Some days I napped for an hour. Other days, I just sat in my room reading or on Facebook.
I also played volleyball three mornings while I was there. I hadn't played really since high school. But it was fun. My team won 2/3 games each day. Day 2, we played 4 on 4, but on Day 3 and 4, Counselor David from Florida and I whooped ass as a 2 on 2 team. If you see me, I'm covered in bruises all up and down my legs and arms. I have two skinned knees and I'm pretty sure I pulled my right tricep, so I'm a little slow when putting my hair in a ponytail... But it felt great. Now I want to find a volleyball league. Too bad it's too late to find a sand one around here. :-) What was most amazing was that I had NO BACK PAIN through any of these activities. None. Not a bit. Other stuff hurt... but not my back. And it was the good kind of hurt.
The food was really pretty good, too. At breakfast you could pretty much guarantee that you'd have eggs of some kind with potatoes and some kind of breakfast meat each day. But you could also get custom eggs made for you in the kitchen (MacTroll is a sucker for omelet bars!), a yogurt parfait bar with four different kinds of yogurt, lots of fruit and some pretty good granola; a steel cuts oatmeal bar with lots of fixings; a row of different cereals to choose from and a bunch of variety of breads and bagels to toast with different jellies, butters, etc. to top them with. Sometimes there were cinnamon rolls or pastries, too. There were also at least five different kinds of non-soda beverages at each meal. X-man was particularly fond of following in the big kid footsteps and mixing the grape with the lemonade at every meal.
Lunch was usual lunch fair... hamburger and french fries day, make your own sandwich, hard or soft shell tacos and pizza days.
Dinner went all over the place. Usually there was a chicken and a fish option with some kind of roasted or grilled vegetables. There was always a salad bar that kicked ass. Seriously, there was all kinds of fresh veggies and fruits at every meal. Lots of vegetarian options, too. Tofu and soy milk were available for those with special needs. And he'd cook special side dishes for families with allergy issues.
The last night was a giant cookout with Maine Lobsters, steak, ratatouille, hot dogs and hamburgers. Lots of corn on the cob, rolls, etc.
Every day there was a snack at 3. It was usually frozen grapes or popsicles of some kind. Then every night there was a special dessert like strawberry cobbler or this cookie and chocolate bread thing that came off a bit like a brownie got loose in a Nilla wafer factory.
We didn't starve -- and I'm kind of sure that even though my pants fit, I'll have some work to do getting back to my goal weight area. :-)
Our cabin was in the "little girls'" camp. The youngest children who attend the camp during the kids-only part of the summer start at 8 years. So, they stay in groups of 10 with one or two counselors living with them. They have two toilets in their cabin, two sinks, a small shower and electricity. That means, X-man got to sleep in the top bunk of one of the five bunk beds in the room. It was handmade, so they had put 12" sides on it to prevent kids from falling out of the bed. MacTroll and I ended up pushing the two counselor beds together. :-)
But he had somewhere to charge his iPad. And we didn't have to make any mad dashes through the woods to get X-man to a bathroom in the middle of the night (which I really didn't want to do). And, unlike all the times we tried to camp in the backyard, X-man knew there was no other sleeping option, so the kid just dragged himself up into his bunk, put his head on his pillow and was out every night by 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time. That's 7:30 at home. He was up every day at 8 a.m. excited and ready to go. But there were nights after dinner when I wondered if he was going to make it to the evening activity. He always managed to find a second wind.
The other nice part about the cabins were that they were strangely bug free. I didn't see a spider or a mosquito the whole time I was in there. They also came with two big box fans, so we could cool down, since the weather was unseasonably warm (91 and sunny each day and 75 at night).
Outside the cabin was a community fire pit, so on Wednesday night, we brought out our s'mores supplies and shared with the other families in our neighborhood. The other common area bathrooms were complete with automatic flush toilets (no lie), brand new sinks and faucets, plenty of soap and antibacterial gel dispensers and automatic paper towel dispensers. They also gave us a list of wireless passwords so you could get online, no matter where your cabin was. Sans blague.
And this brings us to the people -- the people, were mostly east coasters outside of the two families from Utah. Lots of folks from New York and New Jersey, a few from the D.C. area, a couple from Maine. Most of the Coughlan family that owns the camp comes in and uses the second week of family camp as a kind of informal family reunion at the camps the family patriarchs bought in 1984. Now various cousins share ownership of it. They were all very nice people.
On the last night of camp, the kids were running around from carnival attraction to carnival attraction. I couldn't STOP X-man from putting whipped cream pies in counselor Conor's face. I figured as long as counselor "Danimal" kept handing them to him, I'd let him go a while. Anyway, I stood in the field and looked up at the big trees and wondered how many groups of people they'd seen participate in the last night Carnival and how it might have changed since the 1960s.
The best thing about family camp is that you pay for everything up front. Once you step on the property, you don't pull out your wallet for anything. Unlike a Disney vacation, where you would pay for airfare and hotel and a meal package... and then pull it out for stuffed animals and toys and special excursions. Everything was covered in your payment. The price for the Sunday night through Friday a.m. was $695 per adult and $340 per child (over the age 4 and up). It included food and lodging.
On our way out, they gave us a list of the families with e-mail addresses, so we could stay in touch and send pictures. Plus, they gave us a pre-registration for next year. The only problem -- X-man's kindergarten start and my school start are the same week as the first week of their family camp. Another family there had pulled their child out of first grade for the week. Maybe for first grade, but definitely not for kindergarten, with us. And, well, if I'm at Eastern working on a second master's degree, I'm less likely to want to take off, too. I was disappointed, but I know if it ever works out in the future, we'll be back there in a flash. I wonder if some day X-man will want to return there just to go to summer camp for a couple weeks.
It also has me looking at other family camps in places closer to home like Wisconsin. I'm having some difficulty finding some that aren't basically family bible camps. That doesn't really jive with our family, but I did find a Y one outside of Milwaukee, which does have some possibilities. :-) If anyone's interested there's a 4-day weekend one Memorial Day and a 4-day weekend one Labor Day 2011.
Each day had 3 - 1 hour long sessions. The grown ups got to pick activities (there were usually 3 or 4 listed) while the kids had designated ones. Day 1 for X-man was space science camp. He spent the day using science to blow things up (think vinegar and baking soda, mentos and diet coke, etc.), including a paper rocket he made himself. As he's become quite the little Ms. Frizzle fan lately, he thought this was pretty much the best way to spend the day ever.
Until Day 2 came along... and he spent it playing water games, making sandcastles and jumping on the Blob (a water trampoline) in the middle of the lake. 4 kids... 2 counselors. I could hear him screaming, "Announcement! Cannonball!" As he leapt into the water.
Day 3 was pretty cool too. The kids made their own popsicles, maracas, went frog hunting and got to get suited up in their life preservers again -- this time to go on the super fast ski boat, where they each got to take turns pretending to be captain and telling the driver where to go.
Day 4 was, sadly, our last day. X-man was ready to go play some more water games, make ice cream (which is so a CARE meet up I'm going to have to do) and go down the slip and slide.
Each day for parents included activity choices like volleyball, rock climbing (on a wall), chipping and putting, basketball, tennis, water skiing/wake boarding, jewelry making, yoga, swing dancing, high ropes course, low ropes course, ceramics, archery, circus skill practice, art, mountain biking, tubing, rope swinging into the lake, hiking, sailing, kayaking, canoeing, water polo, etc.
I tried a couple things I'd never done before including water skiing and rock climbing. I loved the rock climbing, but didn't really appreciate getting dragged behind a boat. I finally stood up while on a "boom" (a metal bar that sticks out the side of the boat) that they use to help the kids get started, but after spending 3-5 minutes doing that, I decided, it really wasn't all that much fun. Tubing, however, was another story. The last time I went I was 14. I was on an old time tube that was doughnut shaped. I fell through and my lifejacket got caught. It was scary... but this time, it was like the lazy boy of tubes. All I had to do was hold onto the handles. I laughed and screamed and giggled through the whole thing. It was awesome. I also scheduled one session on Days 2, 3 and 4 for Loosey-only quiet time. Some days I napped for an hour. Other days, I just sat in my room reading or on Facebook.
I also played volleyball three mornings while I was there. I hadn't played really since high school. But it was fun. My team won 2/3 games each day. Day 2, we played 4 on 4, but on Day 3 and 4, Counselor David from Florida and I whooped ass as a 2 on 2 team. If you see me, I'm covered in bruises all up and down my legs and arms. I have two skinned knees and I'm pretty sure I pulled my right tricep, so I'm a little slow when putting my hair in a ponytail... But it felt great. Now I want to find a volleyball league. Too bad it's too late to find a sand one around here. :-) What was most amazing was that I had NO BACK PAIN through any of these activities. None. Not a bit. Other stuff hurt... but not my back. And it was the good kind of hurt.
The food was really pretty good, too. At breakfast you could pretty much guarantee that you'd have eggs of some kind with potatoes and some kind of breakfast meat each day. But you could also get custom eggs made for you in the kitchen (MacTroll is a sucker for omelet bars!), a yogurt parfait bar with four different kinds of yogurt, lots of fruit and some pretty good granola; a steel cuts oatmeal bar with lots of fixings; a row of different cereals to choose from and a bunch of variety of breads and bagels to toast with different jellies, butters, etc. to top them with. Sometimes there were cinnamon rolls or pastries, too. There were also at least five different kinds of non-soda beverages at each meal. X-man was particularly fond of following in the big kid footsteps and mixing the grape with the lemonade at every meal.
Lunch was usual lunch fair... hamburger and french fries day, make your own sandwich, hard or soft shell tacos and pizza days.
Dinner went all over the place. Usually there was a chicken and a fish option with some kind of roasted or grilled vegetables. There was always a salad bar that kicked ass. Seriously, there was all kinds of fresh veggies and fruits at every meal. Lots of vegetarian options, too. Tofu and soy milk were available for those with special needs. And he'd cook special side dishes for families with allergy issues.
The last night was a giant cookout with Maine Lobsters, steak, ratatouille, hot dogs and hamburgers. Lots of corn on the cob, rolls, etc.
Every day there was a snack at 3. It was usually frozen grapes or popsicles of some kind. Then every night there was a special dessert like strawberry cobbler or this cookie and chocolate bread thing that came off a bit like a brownie got loose in a Nilla wafer factory.
We didn't starve -- and I'm kind of sure that even though my pants fit, I'll have some work to do getting back to my goal weight area. :-)
Our cabin was in the "little girls'" camp. The youngest children who attend the camp during the kids-only part of the summer start at 8 years. So, they stay in groups of 10 with one or two counselors living with them. They have two toilets in their cabin, two sinks, a small shower and electricity. That means, X-man got to sleep in the top bunk of one of the five bunk beds in the room. It was handmade, so they had put 12" sides on it to prevent kids from falling out of the bed. MacTroll and I ended up pushing the two counselor beds together. :-)
But he had somewhere to charge his iPad. And we didn't have to make any mad dashes through the woods to get X-man to a bathroom in the middle of the night (which I really didn't want to do). And, unlike all the times we tried to camp in the backyard, X-man knew there was no other sleeping option, so the kid just dragged himself up into his bunk, put his head on his pillow and was out every night by 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time. That's 7:30 at home. He was up every day at 8 a.m. excited and ready to go. But there were nights after dinner when I wondered if he was going to make it to the evening activity. He always managed to find a second wind.
The other nice part about the cabins were that they were strangely bug free. I didn't see a spider or a mosquito the whole time I was in there. They also came with two big box fans, so we could cool down, since the weather was unseasonably warm (91 and sunny each day and 75 at night).
Outside the cabin was a community fire pit, so on Wednesday night, we brought out our s'mores supplies and shared with the other families in our neighborhood. The other common area bathrooms were complete with automatic flush toilets (no lie), brand new sinks and faucets, plenty of soap and antibacterial gel dispensers and automatic paper towel dispensers. They also gave us a list of wireless passwords so you could get online, no matter where your cabin was. Sans blague.
And this brings us to the people -- the people, were mostly east coasters outside of the two families from Utah. Lots of folks from New York and New Jersey, a few from the D.C. area, a couple from Maine. Most of the Coughlan family that owns the camp comes in and uses the second week of family camp as a kind of informal family reunion at the camps the family patriarchs bought in 1984. Now various cousins share ownership of it. They were all very nice people.
On the last night of camp, the kids were running around from carnival attraction to carnival attraction. I couldn't STOP X-man from putting whipped cream pies in counselor Conor's face. I figured as long as counselor "Danimal" kept handing them to him, I'd let him go a while. Anyway, I stood in the field and looked up at the big trees and wondered how many groups of people they'd seen participate in the last night Carnival and how it might have changed since the 1960s.
The best thing about family camp is that you pay for everything up front. Once you step on the property, you don't pull out your wallet for anything. Unlike a Disney vacation, where you would pay for airfare and hotel and a meal package... and then pull it out for stuffed animals and toys and special excursions. Everything was covered in your payment. The price for the Sunday night through Friday a.m. was $695 per adult and $340 per child (over the age 4 and up). It included food and lodging.
On our way out, they gave us a list of the families with e-mail addresses, so we could stay in touch and send pictures. Plus, they gave us a pre-registration for next year. The only problem -- X-man's kindergarten start and my school start are the same week as the first week of their family camp. Another family there had pulled their child out of first grade for the week. Maybe for first grade, but definitely not for kindergarten, with us. And, well, if I'm at Eastern working on a second master's degree, I'm less likely to want to take off, too. I was disappointed, but I know if it ever works out in the future, we'll be back there in a flash. I wonder if some day X-man will want to return there just to go to summer camp for a couple weeks.
It also has me looking at other family camps in places closer to home like Wisconsin. I'm having some difficulty finding some that aren't basically family bible camps. That doesn't really jive with our family, but I did find a Y one outside of Milwaukee, which does have some possibilities. :-) If anyone's interested there's a 4-day weekend one Memorial Day and a 4-day weekend one Labor Day 2011.
Monday, April 6, 2009
California, here we come
I am one rental car reservation away from having all of our summer vacation planned. MacTroll is scheduled to be at WWDC in San Francisco June 7-12, so X-man and I are going to go along and have fun in the city, visit some friends and chill out while MacTroll runs around like a chicken with his head cut off. :-)
After the conference, we're going to drive from SF to Morro Bay to visit my friend Robin. Then we're going to drive down to Anaheim and see KTDID and take X-man to the Pixar fun at the Disney California Adventure Land. Our hotel is within walking distance of Downtown Disney and the parks. I'm seriously thinking of taking an empty suitcase just so we'll have room to bring some stuff back from the park and the Lego store.
The best part is that I think out side of the one night of hotel in Morro Bay, the 4 days of rental car payments and purchasing our food and admissions while we're there, the rest of the trip will be free thanks to MacTroll's hotel and airfare points. Trips like this are probably the one time where his intensive travel schedule is actually a bonus.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
The Loosey-only vacation has been booked!
I took into consideration the polling, so thank you to my 11 readers who voted. :-)
The people's choice was Halifax. It's an alluring trip. I'd get to see my friend Healyium, if he wasn't planning a long, long trip to his beloved Estonia. Plus, there'd be nachos at the Shoe Shop, beach time and a trip to the scary bar... with me being 25 lbs heavier than I was the last time was there. Mmm, maybe the extra weight would stop the vultures, though.
Apparently being single in Halifax is kind of a crime... when you go out to a bar and everyone is over the age of 25 and divorced. The problem with the trip is that there was no availability on American Airlines that didn't have at least two connections. And yes, I like free, but I hate flying long distances with lots of connections. One connection, no problem. Flying Champaign to Chicago, Chicago to Boston, Boston to Halifax and having it take 10 hours sounded like hell.
So I went with my safety. My beloved Montreal. Where I learned that Mitra and JF will be home the entire summer except for that weekend. And André's been promising me my first motorcycle ride on his bike for over 4 years, but something has always come up (damn rain), so we'll see about that lively bit of entertainment.
But there was another huge appeal to going. Not only is the flight "free" with my miles (small fees for all that 9/11 safety crap). But I got 3 nights at the W in Vieux Montreal for "free". And if there's one thing Looseyfur likes -- it's staying in ultra modern boutique hotels and not having to pay for them.
Seriously. It's like taking me into a stationery store and watching me drool over the vellum. It's addictive. These suckers weren't made for traveling, old white men. The last time I stayed in a W (also on MacTroll's super points) there was a sweet, same-sex couple next door with their tiny dog, "Prince Albert." But I think what I love most is that while I'm there for free, other people are paying like $200-$600 a night. And that's another reason why it's a little rock star for me. Well, that and the bathroom was clearly made for voyeurism. :-)
Without the magic of MacTroll's super points... such a weekend in Montreal adventure would have cost $730 (Geezus! This is coach people!) for the flight and $600 for the hotel room (U.S. $). I don't know about the rest of you, but that's like gas for a year for my VW.
But since MacTroll gifted the trip to me for being a single parent 1/2 of the year thanks to his employer Apple, the trip is a personal cost to us of $67.50. I'd beat me over the head with a stick for not taking that deal. I could pack power bars to eat the whole weekend, but um... why skip out on my chance to eat Pho (I don't care that it's July! Hey, Champaign Taste, gotta any Pho recipes up your sleeves?) or a smoked meat sandwich medium fat with extra mustard? And what about going to Souris Mini? Or people watching from the window of the Chapters on Catherine Street while sipping on my Frappucino? And even though I might get sneered at... I'm so raiding the area for the raisin butter tarts of my youth!
And really, I do love that after a weekend, I can at least get my french up to snuff long enough to eavesdrop on street corners, order food and give the time to people on the metro.
Now, one day before I'm dead, I want to see if I can go here with MacTroll... Too bad corporate points don't work at island villas!
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