6\28 Why not take the family

  • by rick hill
  • June 29, 2011
  • 270
                        
One of the problems I run into when I start a new hobby is that it’s all I want to think about. When I sat down to write this column the only thing that came to mind was Cowboy Mounted Shooting. So I did what I should always do when I need advice, I asked my wife. She came up with a topic right away and I am sure you will enjoy it more than hearing about Sundays practice session with the horse. Especially since it didn’t include any unintentional high speed dismounts. The topic she suggested was summer activities that involve the family. With today’s high price of fuel, and general belt tightening a lot of folks will not be taking the traditional family vacation this summer. That doesn’t mean we can’t have a lot of fun locally. There are a multitude of places to go, and things to do right here. If you are looking for a destination close to home with lots of options, Loudonville is hard to beat. The obvious activity here is canoeing, or tubing on the river. You can float for a couple of hours, or even take an overnight trip. All the planning is done for you. The canoes are in the water when you get there, and they drive you back to your car after you reach your destination. It’s a great way for children to burn off energy, and a fairly romantic way to spend time with your significant other. The great part is that it is only one of the many activities available. From go-carts to putt putt , horseback riding to hiking, and of course fishing at Pleasant Hill Lake. You can spend a day or a week down there and keep everyone busy the whole time. Since I am more of the day outdoor person than a night outdoor person our family never got to experience the joys of tent camping. If this is something you would like to try I can’t imagine a better spot than Mohican State Park. Besides tent camping areas, and fishing, the park has miles and miles of nature trails to hike. There is an Outdoor Education Center that teaches about old growth forest, sustainable logging, critters, and even bugs. Something to interest the whole family. Summer trips for our family usually include water. We have always owned one sort of a worn out boat or another. Our daughters claim for every hour we spent enjoying skiing or fishing, they spent two hours watching me trying to get a motor running so we could get back to shore. They actually got pretty good at swimming out in front of the boat pulling a rope to drag us back to the dock. Other destinations for us were Salt Fork Park down by Cambridge, and Lake Erie. Salt Fork offers miles of fingers to go off by ourselves and fish or swim. If you want a relaxing day on the water without a lot of boat traffic, it is a great place to find some solitude. Lake Erie on the other hand offers it all too. Just bigger and way more people. The world class fishing speaks for itself. But that’s just part of it. I think everyone owes their family a trip to South Bass Island. If you don’t have a boat, the ferry runs back and forth all day during the summer. The history of the island is there for everyone to discover, and the shops, bars, and restaurants are worth the trip themselves. Catch you later Rick


Loading next article...

End of content

No more pages to load