For three days last weekend, we shared our lives with a virtual menagerie of winged and legged insects of all stripes.
We struggled to keep smoky fires burning with green, sap-drenched logs that hadn’t yet been properly seasoned.
We showered in buildings shared with dozens of strangers, using fixtures that were designed to turn themselves off every minute or so and stepping gingerly on mud-streaked floors.
We even negotiated some knee-deep puddles around our vacation spot of choice, brought on by — imagine our luck — heavy rains that had struck just before we arrived, rendering portions of the facility unuseable.
Oh, and one more thing. We had a great time.
On our way to Camp Jellystone in Bagley, Wis., we wheeled my dad’s pickup onto the historic Cassville-Millville ferry for a fantastic (and trip-shortening) ride across the Mississippi River. (I hadn’t realized it when we rode, but our trip, on July 4, was apparently the ferry’s first day of operation since mid-June due to Mississippi River flooding. Our lucky day.)
Yes, packing for a camping trip is time-consuming and slightly stressful, and the aforementioned soggy condition of a portion of the campground brought us a bit too close to conditions back home. But thanks to our accommodations (a very nice on-site cabin, which we’ve rented now for three consecutive years) and the pleasure of spending time with another family with which we’re pretty close, it became abundantly clear:
For three days over the holiday weekend, there was nowhere I’d rather have been.
Thanks, Camp Jellystone.
That Dad 