The 1st (Annual?) Party at the River

Summer officially ends tomorrow. Long Live Summer! It has been a very busy summer for the family with baseball lasting through June, then July, and even into August. Updating this blog has not been a top priority, although there have been several Cacapon River Adventures to write about. The adventure this post will cover is the July 12th Party at the River.

Camp

The girls weren't too sure about camp life at first...

Yep, that's my dad's 34 foot Winnebago.The recently built shower house on the right was AWESOME.

Cousins!

Movie Night

Smores

The Float Trip

The river was at normal levels for July which means that it was shallow in many places and not running very strong. We tied all the floats together, including the two beer cooler floats, and Captain Christopher hooked the entire party barge to the back of the kayak. Off we went.

Getting Situated

Note who is tethered to the beer float.

Selfie

Babes in the woods.

Floating in style!

Even grandma is having fun. And she's not at the beach!

Taking a break at Bird Poop Rock.

Somebody was probably fussing about them standing on that big slippery rock.

The party barge had to split up to navigate the rapids.

Near the end and the sun is moving behind the mountains.

Captain Christopher is still pulling us back to camp, this time via truck.

 

Watch the video of the float trip!

Fishing the Bass Hole

I've never tried fly fishing the Cacapon, but Uncle Kev was successful. He caught the largest smallmouth of the day.

The Bass Hole

Uncle Kev, getting it done!

Bass Pro has asked us to model their newest line of apparel.

The Fish Whisperer

The boys swore they would eat them. They didn't.

After everyone left, the camp was eerily quiet. Until next time!

Added a Deluxe Outdoor Shower

My parents finally got an opportunity to go out to the river with us and stay in the camper. They have a much nicer RV, so I'm sure it was like slumming for them. To their credit, I didn't hear them complain at all. We started building an outdoor shower the first day and had most of it completed by the early afternoon of day two.

RoBo learning how to use a post-hole digger.

JaBo gets in on the post-holing with Grandpa supervising.

Waiting for the concrete to set.

Finished!

With the shower done, it was time to go for a float. We walked up to the put-in point and posed while Grandpa set the camera up for an auto-shoot.

Floats with built-in pillows are a must!

Nothing better after a nice float than grilling food over the campfire and then Outdoor Movie Night (otherwise known as the Redneck Drive-In).

 

 

A look at camp life.

We'll be back soon and will be bringing a propane grill and a tank-less water heater for the outdoor shower. It is going to be deluxe!

Camping with Friends

In April, some friends were gracious enough to allow us to use their truck to pull the camper from Richmond to the river. And they were crazy enough to stay in the camper with us for a 3 day weekend. This was the first time we had friends out to the river, and it was really, really nice to have some close friends to enjoy it with and a beautiful way to end Spring Break.

We went fishing the first day. The sun was shining but it was a little chilly, which is typical for early Spring in this part of West Virginia. Our friends brought some waders for the boys, so they were back and forth, in and out of the river, just exploring and having a blast.

In the distance are the boys fishing off a small island.

On the island looking downstream.

Waders are a really nice thing to have for 12 year old boys.

They built a bridge and helped momma across.

Due to the cold Winter and late Spring, the fishing was not as good as we had hoped, but we did have some luck.

Smallmouth Bass

 

This is a Fallfish. It is actually one of the largest members of the minnow family and can grow up to 18 inches.

When the boys grew weary of fishing, they found other things to keep themselves busy.

Target practice with BB guns.

The early Spring wildflowers were everywhere during this trip. See some of the pictures of them in this post: Wildflowers of the Cacapon River. 

We'll Take the Upgrade -- Supersized

We upgraded to the 1972 Coleman popup from the Eureka dome tent in 2002 after Jonah woke up one morning at the break of dawn, unzipped the tent door, and crept out into the early morning. His wet sock feet against my face woke me up. He had fortunately decided to come back inside the tent. We opted for something with a locking door to prevent future mornings of wet sock feet against our faces.

One wouldn't expect the Coleman popup to have much, and it doesn't, including a crapper, or hot water, or a refrigerator. It is basically an old canvas tent on wheels. But it is really awesome and retro, and we have loved camping in it. But again, no crapper or hot water. So this year we opted for another upgrade to a travel trailer. It might be the most I've ever paid for a crapper and a hot shower, but it was worth it!

2000 Wilderness 29Y leaving for the Cacapon River

And here it is sitting at the river. It looks small in this picture, but we think it is the perfect size. It is 29 foot long with a bunkhouse in the back. The boys get their own bedroom with two extra bunks for friends.

It was cold in the middle of April, but the camper has a heater that will run you out of it!

The camper in the middle of May, with everything looking much warmer.

And Stella loves it too...Its the only time she gets to sleep in our beds!

During our most recent trip, Rowan got out of the river, cold and covered in mud, and momma put him in the shower. He got out of the shower and said with a big grin, "I love this camper!"