When Duty Calls - missing all the Fun....

The biggest camping trip of the year - and I have to miss it! Amy plans the RPC Family Camping trip each year, and as time went on it fell on the Hardware Week Rollout for ImageRight @ work. I had to be at work, so I missed out on this one. Here's what I heard about (I'm a little jealous)
This was the biggest year - over 30 people went camping. This years locale was closer than previous years. Took most people 1 hour (or less) to get to Lake-in-Woods Campground in Lancaster.
This campground has a great pool (part indoor/outdoor) nice sites and we got a pavillion to use. Thankfully, Jack McDavid volunteered as cook again. From what I heard, he loved the pavillion setup with stainless steel sheves and sink for us to use - Oh - and water! Not like the group camping area from last year at Ricketts Glen.
There was a great area to play volleyball, and golf carts to rent. They had daily morning and evening Devotionals, and crafts to make.




Amy did great (as usual) with setting up RoadAbode. Leveling, getting connected with electrtric, water and sewer, and getting the LP gas set.
A few people asked her about setup and using the Stinky slinky, and she answered them all like the expert she has become.
Granny was the copilot, and sleepover guests included Miss Theresa and Miss Lizzy.
On the way home some stopped at Shady Maple! Now I'm really Jealous!!!

Thousand Trails - If it sounds too good to be true.....

We were invited to a free weekend to check out the grounds at Thousand Trails in Hershey PA. Thousand Trails is a 'camping club' that spans across the country. Most are located on the West coast, but we grew interested because there were ones on the Chesapeake, New York, and other areas around us. We decided to take the bait and check it out.
Oh - did I mention we also had to sit through a 90 min sales presentation? We found the "Preserve" (That's what they call their campgrounds) pretty easy, and then we stopped at the gate and waited for our escort. He sized up our "rig" (RVer term for RoadAbode) and found us a open spot near the clubhouse, 'lake' and pool. He handed Amy some papers - about the activities, rules, and our expected time for the presentation, and then left us alone. Looking around, we thought, "Not bad, on par with a nicer state park" We started the procedure to level and hook up. Noticed that the fire ring was full of half burnt wood - and trash. Hmmm. No fire tonight.
Girls wanted to check out the pool and lake and clubhouse and mini-golf and paddle boats and... Well, you get the picture. So we did the essentials to set up and started exploring.
First impression? Man, is there a lot of "goose goo" around here or what?! Everywhere around the lake and pool there's turd of goose piles.
Amy decides to take Emily on a paddleboat while Kimberly & I decide to drop a line in.
It took Amy 20 minutes to clean out the swamped paddleboat (Emily thought it was fun). Kimberly & I fished off a peninsula covered in Goose Goo, - but we did catch 3 fish!
The water had tons of algae and duckweed growing in it though.
Did we have fun? Yes the weekend was a good time to be with family.
The presentation - $9000 dollars buys you the ability to camp in all their parks, plus others for half price, plus bargains in their vacation club (all your friends and family can use it too) plus it's for a lifetime.

But what if all the places look like this one, covered in goose goo? Think we'll pass.