Jellystone

Thomas has been wanting to see Fort Necessity since we moved here.  With no big trips on the horizon, it seemed like a good time to do a mini-vacation.  I found out there was a Jellystone Campground nearby and the plans all fell into place.  Thomas is going to do a blog focusing on the historical stuff, including a side trip to the United 93 Memorial.  So, I am going to write about the Jellystone.

Before our neighbors went last year, I had never heard of Jellystone.  And, even if I had, I probably would have assumed you needed a camper or tents at the minimum.  But, they took their family of 6 and stayed in a cabin and we did the same.

We left after breakfast on Friday and drove straight to Fort Necessity (with a brief stop at a Chick-Fil-A).  Fort Necessity and the other sites were about 40 minutes from Jellystone.  It was a mountainous road, which was fun and different.  We passed a lot of whitewater rafting places, one will let kids as young as 4 go (more rafting than whitewater), so I am hoping we can go back in 3 years and give it a try.  I have always wanted to try rafting.

Anyway, by the time we got to Jellystone Mill Run, it was around 4:30, we checked into our cabin, then went back out to get dinner.  The closest shopping area was about 30 minutes away, which we weren't expecting.  More mountain driving.  There was a Subway much closer, but we needed some stuff at Walmart.  We got back around 7 and did the "Snowless Snow Tubing" on their 400 foot hill. We also checked out the pools, which were packed!  The tubing was fun.  We all tried, even Luke, but he wasn't a fan and I learned I wasn't supposed to have gone with him on my lap anyway. I think the other kids went down 5 or 6 times.  Then, they played on the playground for a while before we decided to call it a night around 9pm.

The hill doesn't look too steep here, but it was (especially pulling multiple tubes behind you)

Everyone was exhausted, but it took us all a while to fall asleep.  Luke was not happy to be in the pack-n-play.  He was also overtired.  As a result, he cried for about 45 minutes and refused all attempts at consolation that didn't involve removing him from the bed.

Despite the rough night, everyone was up at 6am and ready to go the next morning.  The forecast called for rain in the afternoon, so our plan was to get to the pool as soon as it opened at 9.  We had breakfast on our screened-in porch and then went for a walk to see the other side of the campground. They had an upper and lower area, our cabin was on the upper, which had the bigger pool and splash area, restaurant and tubing hill.  The lower area had mini golf, a smaller pool, waterslides and a very small carousel (toddler sized).  We picked a busy weekend--there were very few empty campsites. I was also surprised to see that many of the campsites appeared permanent.  People had built stone walls and decorated around their campers.  I was very curious about the people who call it home, but I never got any answers.

Fun photo opportunity

At 9 I took the older 3 to the pool while Thomas stayed behind with Luke, to ensure he got his morning nap.  By 10, the place was packed!  I think everyone had the same idea we did, because it wasn't really pool weather.  I think it was barely 70 degrees. Jack was cold and left around 1045.  The slides and bounce houses opened at 11, so the girls and I stayed entertained. We finally left around 1230 to get lunch at Subway.  Then, we came home and all 6 of us went back to the pool until dinner. We had dinner at the campground's restaurant.

They loved this slide

Unfortunately, I didn't get one of Jack

Overview of the pool area.  You can't really see the pirate ship, which was Luke's favorite.  He would slowly climb the stairs, then go down one of the two little slides.  Over and over and over.

After dinner, we told the kids to decide if they wanted to do a firetruck ride before going back to the tubing hill. Only Kara wanted to go, so Thomas took her. Although, Jack and Anna had some definite regrets when they saw Kara and Thomas go riding by on the big firetruck. After a few slides down the hill, we decided to call it a night.  The girls had spent about 6 hours in the pool, Jack only a little less, and we wanted to make sure everyone got a good night's sleep and wasn't cranky on the drive home.

All in all, it was a good stay.  We wished we had done more "camping" type activities, like smores, or sitting around the campfire, but with all of Luke's stuff, and the requirement to bring your own bedding and towels, we didn't have room to pack camping gear.  We would definitely try another Jellystone.  The kids had a blast and are already asking when we can go back.  I hope that we are building lots of good memories for them.

Our little cabin

Bunkbeds filled the hallway right off the kitchen

There were two beds in the loft.  The ceiling was so low, only Luke could stand up.

The drive home was long.  We took the scenic route, so we could see the United 93 Memorial.  On the way, we saw a cute little covered bridge, originally built in 1802!  Of course, we needed to stop and take pictures.  We also enjoyed seeing the giant windmills.  It was funny to the kids how small they looked until we got close to them.  Those things are massive!

Thomas is going to write about the Memorial.  I just want to share a couple of my thoughts.  First, I was surprised at how sad it still makes me.  I couldn't even talk about it with the kids without crying. Second, I was glad to see that even 14 years after it happened, there were a lot of visitors.  The Memorial is not on the way to anything (that I know of), but there were dozens of cars in the parking lot with license plates representing many diverse states.  That made me happy to see. I was glad we had the opportunity to visit and to talk with our kids about that fateful day "when the world stopped turning."