I do not come from a family of travelers — or campers, for that matter. Our summer vacations were truncated due to softball schedules and summer school, leaving us about three weeks in the summer to get away. This was shortened further by my parents' garden obligations, shortage of money in August, and the poor-traveling ability of a certain eldest daughter (that would be me and my motion-sickness-prone stomach.) So, we spend a glorious week on Deer Lake in Wisconsin, at a place known to us as "Mac's cabin" belonging to a former principal of my dad's, John McManus.
But one summer, my godparents took me out camping to a Yogi Bear campground. I must have been about five, I suppose. I fondly remember sitting in the back of their car; I remember sitting in the pool; I remember knowing all the words to "Afternoon Delight" for some reason and my godparents smiling saying, "if only she knew what the song meant...." So, when I saw the listing for Yogi Bear Campground in the Indiana Dunes brochures, I jumped right to those memories, thought it would be fun for the boys, and off we went. I failed to notice the number of sites (almost 1000) — an important detail as it makes the campground a lot bigger, busier, and less accessible for two young boys to navigate independently (at least with their mom being comfortable with their navigations...)
Not only did I miss the small print with the Indiana campground, I missed the specifics of my childhood Yogi Bear experience. The aforementioned pool of memory was less-than clean with dead leaves floating on the top and an entire morning was spent in the tent, trapped by a downpour, leaving us with only a camping pan for a restroom. I'm sure my godparents and I packed up after the storm, maybe stopping for a movie on the way home. Brian, the boys, and I spent the night in the care of Yogi and friends, but packed up in the morning, leaving behind the crowds in their golfcarts and campers. Instead, we found an open site in the Indiana Dunes National Park. No crowds, no golfcarts, no playground (sorry boys), but lots of tenters, clean bathrooms, private showers, and — yes —bugs, a wonderful way to end the vacation.
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I remember Mac's cabin! They had a floating platform out in the middle of the water! Calico loved going in the water as much as I did! The last time I we were there, I remember fishing off of the end of the dock. I hooked a fish and Dad told me to bring it to him and he'd unhook it for me. I went to bring it to him and my back foot somehow just encountered open air off the edge of the dock and I fell in. The lawn chair fell on top of my head! Goldie(Andy) pulled me out of the water by my wrists...the fish, was still on the hook!
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing back that memory for me!