Crane in the Fall

It's October in Indiana..one of the most beautiful seasons of the year if not the most beautiful (and the best month of the year for birthdays!)  Time for a Fall trip to Crane to see what changes had taken place from the earlier summer trip.  You may be thinking, "there they go again!"  Well, you'd only be half right!  Mom and I, once again, "loaded" the van as the naysayers looked on and made negative comments.  (We won't name names here!)  Although our mission was successfully accomplished, unfortunately, the term "overloaded" may have been more applicable and due to the whining and noises coming from some part of the van (oh, maybe that was the guys!) - we were forced to upack and divide the spoils between TWO vehicles.

Me with EVERYTHING overloaded in the van!

So off we go down the road in our two vehicles.  The guys in the van in the lead vehicle and Mom and me in the Tracker in the follow vehicle.  (We won't go so far as to say that was a mistake..so I'll not digress here...but should I say Dale Hollow...Mmmm....1987ish?  Anyone?  Anyone, now?)  Anyway, we made it to Crane! 



Our cabin at Crane and the "second" follow vehicle.


The fall colors at Crane were vivid and the water was beautiful.  The days warm and sunny and the nights cool and perfect for a campfire.  The cooking awesome...the fishing?  Not so great, but you know us...fish we did anyway!

Mom and Dad fishing away...oops, maybe I mean dozing away.

Check out the beautiful fall foliage on the lake.  Ahhhh!  Fantasticly awesome scenery!

At night to stave off the cold and to avoid certain death by wild animals (such as cheetahs and bears that roam freely here!) we built a huge campfire.

 

Vince the He-Man building a fire from nothing.

Our beautiful fire!

Back at it the next day...here we are again:

Dad - our driver and Mom - the true Captain giving orders.
and posing for the camera!



 And as always, the worker among us....paddling us off of a sandbar...Me!:



What a great long weekend, food, fishing, campfires, scenery, peacefulness and even greater company...could you ask for anything more? 



2 States in 2 Days!

Creation Museum and Newport Aquarium here we come!  We were blessed with beautiful weather (hot but luckily the humdity had dropped) for our trip.  First stop was the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky.

Gigantum Lillies in the pond at the Creation Museum

Flowers on the Grounds at the Creation Museum

We opted to go to the petting zoo first and feed the animals.  Plus we wanted to see the new addition of the zorse and the zonkey since we had last been there.

Hungry, hungry!

Hello!

Vince and the Zonkey

After a fine lunch at the Noah's Cafe several of us opted for camel rides on Gomer.  He was getting tired and had not had HIS lunch yet and was getting a little cantakerous.

  

We finally made it inside the Creation Museum to enjoy Snakes Alive.  A special presentation about snakes...did you know they are a created kind too?  Who knew?  :-)

Yep, that's us, Ty, Ann, Debbie and Vince holding a Python!

The day ended with a wonderfully inexpensive dinner at Cheddar's...our new favorite restaurant.  Too bad there aren't any around Indy anymore.

The next morning we set out for Newport Aquarium and to ride the ducks...no, not the kind that quack.

The kind you ride on land

and on water too!

Really enjoyed the Newport Aquarium.  Lots of fish and turtles to see.  If you've never been, check it out.  It's just over the river from Cincinnati.  It's a great aquarium!

Well, the day is almost done, so we drove around Cincinnati a little to see the sites and then headed back to Indy.  Another awesome weekend!

Memorial Day Weekend

A hot and humid Memorial Day weekend could not deter the expert campers!  Mom, Dad, Vince and I set out for the beautiful cabins at Crane Naval Base and the relaxing hum of the pontoon motor across Lake Greenwood.  This year we decided to only take necessary items to cut down the load on the shocks of the van...

Yes, all of this was very necessary!  Dad is the driver, Vince is in the passenger seat, Mom in the back and I am strapped to the roof as we are now officially out of space.  And so the trip begins....

We only got a few miles down the road...and in what was to be one of many successful wildlife rescues.... Dad stopped the van (in the middle of the highway) and Vince got out and guided a box turtle helplessly stranded in the road (certain death was imminent!) to the safety of the woods.  Whoohoo!  Wildlife Rescue I - SUCCESS!

On to Crane, the cabins and the lake looked exactly as we remembered....we busied ourselves putting away our few meager supplies for the weekend.  (We like to rough it, ya know!)

As I was working away, I heard a commotion on the cabin's front porch...sure that it was an intruder, I took my new karate defensive position...when what to my wandering eyes should appear?  Why it's Rocky Raccon, what a dear!

Isn't she the cutest ever?

She was attempting to pull items off the front porch...to decorate her own place I suspect. The liquid bleach to clean the showers sadly met with its untimely demise.

(See Rocky's teeth marks in the bottom of the bottle.)  Rocky soon became our campsite pet...more on that later!

Onward ever...first night was a campfire with delicious campfire pizzas:

 The next day dawned bright and sunny and we were out to catch a boatload of fish:

And catch we did!  Look at the whopper Mom hauled in!  :-)  (Ah, well, there is always the Amish Restaurant up the street...I think they serve fish!)

One evening Vince and I set off for a hike and once again saved endangered wildlife:

We came upon this ancient burial shrine....think "Lost" at it's best....the little frog knew that the smog monster would be there to get him soon and was trembling with fear.  Vince valiantly plucked the frog from his perch and placed him in an area of safety where neither Jacob nor the Man in Black could do harm.  Wildlife Rescue II - SUCCESS!

I am the Captain of My Fate!  (well, seaman first class of the pontoon, at least!)

Rocky the Raccon became a regular under our cabin.  She would be nowhere to be found until the food came out and then she mysteriously would appear.  She loved potato chips, frosted mini-wheats, hot dogs and peanuts.  Heeeeeerrrrrreeee's Rocky!

Well, sadly, all good things must end....well, actually they don't have to....but anyway.  Once again we are on our way ....this time headed home, but not before one final wildlife rescue....meet Boxy the Box Turtle.  Wildlife Rescue III - SUCCESS!

Camping at Crane on Memorial Day Weekend?  SUCCESS!