FL - Disney's Fort Wilderness

We were on site 1510 in one of the partial hookup (electric and water) looops. Great site, we'd love to get it again sometime. We were right alongside a grassy area along a waterway.

Kevin was able to fish every day and had some good luck with lots of little panfish. Theo helped on the first couple of days, but then Grandma and Grandpa came and were a little more exciting in their "bus" (class A motorhome) - they were on the next loop over and we could walk along the waterway to get there.


Theo enjoying a Mickey Bar at Thanksgiving at the Fort (mom and Grandpa loved the desserts too!)

We had a fun (but chilly!) time at Chip and Dale's campfire sing-along and movie!

We rented a canoe and had a great time paddling around the waterways.

We were so glad we brought our bikes - Fort Wilderness is BIG, we were glad to have them for getting around as well as just for getting out and about.

SC - Colleton State Park

We just stayed here one night on our way down to FL, but it was a nice little park. The front gate closes at 7:00 p.m. - literally closes and locks! We got in around 7:30 p.m. Yikes! Thank goodness for the very kind and helpful fellow camper that came along with keys (apparently he stays enough to have his own set of keys!) - he let us in and escorted us to our site and made sure we were all set...that's southern hospitality for you!

We didn't take pics because it was so dark when we got in and we hit the road early, but we had a nice pull-through site really close to the comfort station and it was also right by an activities cabin and access to a small river - seems like this is a really buzzing spot in the summer season.

NH - Pillsbury State Park

We had site #14, which is right on the water and very large. This park is just beautiful!

We had some great wildlife spotting - here are a pair of loons that were around quite a bit over the course of the weekend. We also saw a group of 4 otters barking at us as they made their way up the lake.

Theo and mom hanging by the lake.

We got out letterboxing too - Indiana Jones was our trail leader! Followed by his trusty Morgan.

And of course we got a lot of fishing time in. Lots of sunnies and perch...and weeds - Theo enjoyed hooking weeds almost as much as catching fish!

CT - West Thompson Lake Campground

This is an Army corps of Engineers facility - very nice! Its a small, well kept campground with 24 sites - we were on site #16, which had the playground and bath house pretty much in our "back yard". This site was an awesome location and we'd choose it again in a second.

By the end of the weekend Theo had mastered the lumberjack log roller (with a little coaching from his new friend at the next site over- Mitchell, who is 8).



The Blake family came to visit for the day - Andrew and Matthew and Theo had a great time hiking, rock climbing, taking turns on Theo's bike, playing at the playground, and making s'mores.



We got a chance to go letterboxing too! Here's Theo pointing out the hiding spot for the box we found.


Morgan had a great time hiking too - we're pretty sure we heard her say "I've still got it!" We did bump up her Rimadyl dose both Friday and Saturday nights ;)

After finding some worms on Saturday night, the boys went out fishing on Sunday morning and Theo caught his first fish!

VT - Silver Lake State Park

We had site #35 - plenty big for the Scout, our friends Mindy, Shawn, and Leah's tent, and a screen room. Good thing we both got canopies/screen rooms this year - that coverage was handy for the rain we had on Friday night and Saturday evening!

Great park with a really nice day use area with a beach, playscape, rental canoes and kayaks. They are also dog friendly and Morgan was allowed to go anywhere except the sand swimming beach. The lake is small and only allows non-motorized boats. It was even warm enough to swim!

Theo and Leah had a blast playing at the playground!

T was so happy to get a chance to ride his bike all over...the terrain was pretty hilly, so Daddy got a good workout pushing him up the hills.

Both Theo and Morgan totally zonked out - all of that fresh air and playing took its toll!

New Wallpaper Border

The stickers were falling off from the heat and humidity - they just were a no-go since they were self-ahesive and removable...just not sticky enough. So we went with a "real" wallpaper border. It is a series of vintage looking outdoor signs.

Tongue Box and Plug Guard

Adding this tote locker involved moving the battery forward and Kevin built a platform to attach the battery and the tote to, and to take up the space between the existing L brackets that we weren't going to use once we moved the battery forward. We still want to clean up the wire ties a bit to make it look cleaner. We also got a Plug Guard to protect the 7 pin plug when it isn't connected to the tow vehicle. We had already noticed a bit of corrosion from all of the rain and humidity we've been having, so this seemed really logical.

Dollar Store and IKEA Finds

This is a little LED light that goes on when the door is opened (there is a second piece that is on the door, which is a magnet). A mere buck!
Because there are times when we leave the door open, I fashioned a magnet-on-a-ribbon that allows us to keep the door open but have the light off.
Also in these pics you can see the magnet stip from IKEA (also I think about a buck) - this strip couldn't fit any more perfectly on the side of the cabinet. Almost like it was made for this space. Affixed with double-stick foam tape.
Also from the dollar store (Dollar Tree) are these metallic windshield shades.

They affix with suction cups and cover the majority of the bubble windows - this will keep the camper cooler on hot sunny days.

Interior Decorating

We covered the floral cushions for the front dinette with a soft suede-like fabric. This is my temporary fix, so I just folded the fabric around and attached it to the cushions using upholstery screws. When I feel more patient I'll actually sew some covers...maybe this winter (or next since I'm really happy with how these turned out).

We replaced the rear table with 3/4" plywood - it gave a little too much flex alone for our taste, so Kevin added some cross beams underneath to make it more rigid (probably overkill, but it makes us happy!) I added a little bed skirt of sorts to keep the underneath storage hidden - using the same fabric as I did for covering the cushions and affixed it with a staple gun.

I also added my Dollar Tree removable wall stickers - what a great find! I also ordered some of the same fabric that Mom K. and her friend Marcelline used to make us our great personalized pillow cases - I plan to make some throw pillows and maybe get Mom K. to collaborate on a quilt or "quillow" :)

Interior Shots

Here are some interior shots of the Scout. The fabric on the cushions is hideous (no offense if you love it...) and I plan to re-cover them for the front dinette toot sweet.

We plan to make the rear dinette/bed into a permanent bed by replacing the folding table with a piece of plywood. That will allow us to use a couple of underbed plastic storage bins stacked up for our clothes storage and will allow us to enhance the cushions with some sort of cushy mattress pad or memory foam.

Other than that we don't have too many mods in mind. We're finding plenty of storage space for our needs and we inherited some of Grandpa Ken's plastic organization containers that makes the space even more useful.

PA - Parker Dam State Park

Nice park, campsites are a little open and close, especially those with electric. The non-electric sites looked a little more our speed with more tree cover and growth between sites. That said, it was very quiet and we had a nice stay.

We were on site #68 which was very convenient to the gorgeous comfort station that looked to be brand new. It even had a nice laundry room and a large commercial grade double sink for dishwashing.

IN - Indiana Dunes State Park

Wow, what a great campground and a great park. It is really amazing to take a short hike through the woods and get to sand dunes then the beach (Lake Michigan). Very cool. Nice facilities here, too. We'd love to spend more time here.

We were on site #110. The sites were close to one another, but a decent amount of growth between the sites makes them fairly private and the tree canopy makes it feel very woodsy. The neatness of the park and facitities is very Disney-esque.

MN - Rice Creek Chain of Lakes Campground

This was a nice campground with easy access to the Twin Cities - it is about 5 miles away from Kevin's sister and her husband in Hugo.

Unfortunately it was right in a major hail storm and tornado path the evening of May 25th. A mere 4 miles away families completely lost their homes to the tornado and a small child was killed. Amazingly, the Scout came through with just a couple of pock marks on the diamond plate from the hail. We're certainly counting our blessings. Note the hail on the ground in the "frosty" picture - this was a few hours after the storm had come through. And still a little hail remained on the ground the next morning when the clear shot was taken.

We were in site #24, which is a pull-through site (neither of us wanted to try backing at our first site). We didn't spend too much time camping since we were visiting our many family members and friends in the Twin Cities - but the sites were big and pretty well spaced for nice privacy.

Picking up the Scout

We ordered our Scout from Danny's Campers in Westfield, WI and picked it up May 24th, 2008 on our way to Minnesota to visit family and friends. Theo had a great time checking out all of the compartments.