Another State Park in the area that is important to my family is Cooks Forest State Park (and campground). We spent many weekends over the summer as kids camping in the Cooks Forest Campground. We had a popup camper and our family friends had a big tent, and both families would go enjoy nature, campfires, good food, and much more.

Camping was a huge part of my childhood, and it was quite the process. My mom would spend hours getting all of the food and supplies ready for these trips. Since there are four young kids with not very many chances to go to a big store, it took a lot of planning and packing. The when we were finally ready to go, we would pile into the big white suburban, stocked with all 6 bikes, board games, yard games, lots of food, and any camping equipment you could think of. When we got to a campsite, it was always so exciting. We would all help set up and get our campsite ready for the weekend, popping up the camper, getting our beds set up, starting the first campfire, and most importantly, exploring the surrounding camp area.

One of our favorite things to do as kids was bike around the campground, going to the playground, and finding other kids to play with. We also loved to play games with the other kids in the family we always went with. We would teach each other the games each of our families played, and run around throwing frisbees and footballs, and kicking around soccer balls.

There were two big activities that we did every time we went camping. First, we always biked across the street back the long dirt road the the trails that led to rock cliffs. The area is called Seneca Point, but when we were kids, it was just the place with the cool rocks. We would spend hours climbing in the rocks, finding caves and spaces to run around in. This was always the highlight of the trip for me, and it seemed like we found something new every time. Going back when I was older, it was not nearly as big as I remembered, but it is still a place that always makes me excited and happy. Another attraction back these trails is the old fire tower. It was originally used to watch the  forest for fires, but is now just a fun thing to climb up. My oldest brother was always scared of heights, and sometimes couldn’t make it to the top which was always funny!

The other big activity of our camping trips to Cooks Forest was our float down the river. The parents would rent canoes, but all of the kids would get tubes and float down the river. This was always so much fun. We could link up together, tie up to the canoes, or have races in the river. It may seem boring but we got very creative with different activities to do on these floats down the river. Sometimes we even found a rock we could jump off of into the river. As we got older and got our kayaks and paddle boards, we would use those on the river. The most recent time we even brought Moose along! (Which he hated even though he absolutely loves the water and swimming) But it was still really fun!