Ready, aim, have fun

Two years ago, we went to Sportsmen's Days at Carpenter's Brook Fishery and had a fun time...except that Aidan could have had MORE fun if only he had been twelve years of age, the minimum age to shoot the firearms. When we saw the notice for this year's event, he excitedly announced that this year he was old enough to shoot and could we please, PLEASE go?

Sunday was the perfect day to spend outdoors. We arrived just before the event started at 11 am and we went directly to the skeet shooting booth. Aidan eagerly listened to the instructor:

And then took aim at his first clay target:

And he hit it! He did far better than me or James; once again, the skeet had nothing, NOTHING to fear from us.

While we were skeet shooting (or pretending to shoot skeet, as the case may be), we could hear the loud booms coming from the muzzleloading station and were eager to give it a try. James went first and was excited to hit one of the targets. Aidan took his turn, once again listening carefully to instructions:

He listened very well because his shot hit the wire holding up that entire line of targets, bringing the whole setup down! The men running the booth didn't seem too thrilled that they had to repair their [flimsy] target structure, but everyone looking on applauded Aidan's shot.

It took them about twenty minutes to get the targets up and ready again, and I got to take my turn. Shooting a muzzleloader is great fun because of the noise and the smoke:

The targets were, however, completely safe from me.

We each took a turn at shooting a crossbow:

I am familiar with the expression, "photos or it didn't happen" but truly, I hit the bullseye with the crossbow and James very nearly matched my shot. Sadly, there is no photographic proof.

Both James and Aidan spent time in the fly fishing area - James to pick up some pointers from the experts and Aidan to try it out:

Aidan also used a rod and reel to fish in the pond and soon had one on his line:

One of the nice ESF students was right there to help him bring the fish in (before gently releasing him):

Our last stop was archery, where James and Aidan took a turn:

Aidan probably wouldn't win a head-to-head competition with Katniss but he did manage to hit the target two out of three attempts. During our time there, we also shot BB guns (which seemed downright dull after the thrill of muzzleloaders and crossbows), ate lunch, avoided annoying people and soaked up lots of vitamin D.

Camping adventures

As I always say, camping is not a vacation - there is too much work before, during and after to call it a vacation - but it is always an adventure. And some camping trips are more of an adventure than others.

We haven't had our camp-on-wheels out much this season. James was reluctant to have his new Outback wired to hook up the pop-up and researched the least invasive method, and then the installation of that method turned out to be its own adventure. (Warning: approach any service at Great Outdoors RV Superstore with great caution) James and Aidan went on a father-son camping trip three weeks ago, but this past weekend was our first family camping trip.

You know we love the Adirondacks and we like that we can be in the Old Forge area in just two hours, but we have tired of the Old Forge Camping Resort there. James found a campground that is outside of Old Forge, in the Black River Wild Forest - Nicks Lake, which is a New York Department of Conservation campground. Most of the online reviews were excellent and there was just one site left for the weekend, so we booked. The only drawback? Camping sites at Nicks Lake do not have water or electricity. Yes, there are water spigots located throughout the campground and yes, there is electricity (and water) in the restrooms/bath houses, but there are not electrical or water hookups at each site.

I will admit to being very skeptical and my expectations were low. Very low. While I am accustomed to walking to the restrooms, I like being able to turn on lights in the camper and use the sink. And with cool temperatures forecasted for the weekend, we would not be able to use the heated mattresses. Harumph. I know we are camping, but...

I was pleasantly surprised. Nicks Lake is a lovely campground with good-sized campsites that are shaded and are not on top of each other. The restrooms/bath houses are within easy strolling distance and are rather new and very clean. And without electricity at the sites, campers kept to a minimum the number of things that require electricity, so it was much quieter than most campgrounds, with loud music being the most notable thing in absence. There are no street lights, so it was dark at night and it was easy to see the stars.

The only drawback was the weather. The cool temperatures weren't a problem but the rain was. The rain started on Saturday morning and fell off/on all day, and at times was quite heavy. Our hike around the lake was cut short and the guys really didn't get to do any fishing. There are no photos of the campground to share here because it was so dismal and dark.

We did manage to have fun, however. We went into Old Forge and, as always, visited Old Forge Hardware. Then we drove over to Inlet to our favorite ADK bar, Matt's Draft House. We were the second group of people in the door at noon and were lucky to get a table before packs of wet kayakers started streaming in. We had no idea that One Square Mile of Hope was taking place that day on Fourth Lake in Inlet, an attempt to beat the Guinness world record for the largest raft of canoes and kayaks and raise money for breast cancer research.

The people who were first in the door and seated at the table next to us wanted to see the Ohio State football game, which began at noon. Matt is originally from Ohio and a fan of Ohio State, so while he was happy to tune one of the big screen televisions to the game, he was not successful. His brother John finally set up the game to stream on a laptop that was perched on two pizza boxes atop a table:

Is that good customer service or what? We had the Ohio State game on the little screen, and the Syracuse game on the big screen just beyond! There were about seven or eight of us cheering on the Buckeyes, much to the [pretended] annoyance of a group of Penn State fans. We happily ate delicious wings, drank fresh draught beer (well, Aidan had water), watched football and stayed out of the rain for a while.

As we drove home on Sunday, the sky brightened, the clouds cleared and the sun shone bright. Of course! We opened the camper up to dry off and out, and the washing of damp, dirty laundry began. It wasn't ideal conditions for a camping trip, but we did have fun. And we liked Nicks Lake so much that we already booked a trip for Memorial weekend...and there weren't many sites left.