The two weeks leading up to this trip, were very over whelming at work to say the least. I found it very hard to get myself motivated for this trip, which I never have a problem getting motivated for our trips. I knew that if I cancelled this trip, I would have broken Jonathan's heart. Cancelling was not a option. I would have to somehow get myself caught up as best as I could and just deal with the fact that some things would have to wait until I came back.
We headed out late Friday morning. We were headed to Bear Creak Resort and Ranch, in East Sparta, Ohio. It was just south of Canton Ohio. Our original intention was to camp in a small 1 room cabin and do all of our cooking outside. But when the weather decided to get kinda cold that week, we opted to upgrade our cabin to one that was fully furnished to make the weekend a little bit more enjoyable. We no longer called it camping, rather, Cabining.We were definitely glad we upgraded when it became too cold to sit up late next to our campfire.
This is a picture of our wonderful cabin. it could have slept 6 people, 2 bunk beds and 1 double. It also had a fully furnished bathroom and kitchen. If I had known that it would be THAT furnished, I would have brought better food to make some great meals.Off to the left you can see a picnic table. About 40 feet behind that table, we had a snake "incident" (details in a moment)
Saturday morning we headed out to the ATV trails about 1 mile down the road from our campground. It was a VERY muddy ride (see exhibit A above) given all the rain we had prior to that weekend. It was a pretty nice place and we actually found some trails that we felt comfortable riding. The mud always brings out the die hard riders, the ones that really tear it up. We tried our best to steer clear of these guys and I'm pretty sure they could tell we were amateurs. We were just out for a Sunday drive and they were there to mess around.
Is it a boy or a girl?? Sooooo just kidding!!! This is actually the trail map they gave us for the ATV riding!!! This meant that we really never knew what we were driving into. We were forced through some terrain that we probably wouldn't have gone through had we known. One of the scariest things for me is heading down a trail and getting to a point that you want to turn around and go back, but you have no where to turn and you have to just drive right through it .
Once we got a feel for the place, we really did have a good and muddy time
Saturday night we decided to do the trail horse back riding, which was just walking distance from our cabin. It was just Jonathan and I and the guide. It was only the second time riding a horse for the both of us. I rode the horse above which was Nixon. Nixon was the hungry one. He would try to be sneaky buy suddenly grabbing at the brush for snacks.
Jonathan got to ride Bell. Bell was the day dreamer. She was easily distracted and didn't seem to want to keep up with Dolly (the guides horse) and Nixon. I was always hearing Jonathan talking to the horse as if it was a 2-way conversation. After all the kicking, pulling and tugging he did, the only thing he had left was bargaining. He did manage to resist name calling though. LOL!!
Jonathan taking a picture of me on my horse with my goofy hat. It was really cold!!
This is a great shot of the beautiful sunset and Fall trees while on our ride. Me and the guide ahead. Just after this picture was taken is about the time that Bell became really distracted.
On Sunday we had company. My dad and step-mother Carol just happened to be in Millersberg that weekend which was only about an hour out of their way to come see us on their way home. Also, we got to see Dan and April again who also live about an hour away the other direction. We all got together for lunch at our cabin.
Above is Dan and April. They also brought both the boys for a visit with us.
Dad and Carol ended up leaving in the afternoon, while Dan, April and the boys decided to stay with us until later in the evening. We all headed to the over sized playground just walking distance from our cabin. We ALL ended up goofing off and having a blast on this playground. But some things I don't think were meant for adults. I have some really goofy pictures of us all. Above is a picture of April spinning Morgan on the Merry-Go-Round.
Saturday night we decided to do the trail horse back riding, which was just walking distance from our cabin. It was just Jonathan and I and the guide. It was only the second time riding a horse for the both of us. I rode the horse above which was Nixon. Nixon was the hungry one. He would try to be sneaky buy suddenly grabbing at the brush for snacks. 
Jonathan got to ride Bell. Bell was the day dreamer. She was easily distracted and didn't seem to want to keep up with Dolly (the guides horse) and Nixon. I was always hearing Jonathan talking to the horse as if it was a 2-way conversation. After all the kicking, pulling and tugging he did, the only thing he had left was bargaining. He did manage to resist name calling though. LOL!!
Jonathan taking a picture of me on my horse with my goofy hat. It was really cold!!
This is a great shot of the beautiful sunset and Fall trees while on our ride. Me and the guide ahead. Just after this picture was taken is about the time that Bell became really distracted.
On Sunday we had company. My dad and step-mother Carol just happened to be in Millersberg that weekend which was only about an hour out of their way to come see us on their way home. Also, we got to see Dan and April again who also live about an hour away the other direction. We all got together for lunch at our cabin.Above is Jonathan cooking our burgers and hot dogs over the campfire. He did a great job!! Thanks to April for bringing us some great hamburgers.
In this picture you will also see Carol (now leading into the snake story). When Dad and Carol got there, dad decided he was going to find some small firewood to help us with our fire. Dad headed into the woods behind our cabin. Carol and I started grabbing small sticks too and began following my dad into the woods. Carol was behind when she suddenly grabbed my arm and said "OH BOY" and then pointed. She and I both were standing about 3 feet away from a SNAKE!!!
I took one glance and about a second later I screamed, threw what sticks I had in the air and began running. Carol was ditto to that. Dad didn't believe us at first until he found it himself. And as guys do, he started poking at it with a stick to notice that it was already injured. Of course he decided to pickup it up with the stick to attempt to show us. That doesn't go so well as Carol and I continue to scream and run even farther away. As Carol and I do the Heebie Jeebie Dance, Dad decides to put it down. It was a relatively small snake and probably nothing more then a Garter snake, but it was enough to scare us both.
I took one glance and about a second later I screamed, threw what sticks I had in the air and began running. Carol was ditto to that. Dad didn't believe us at first until he found it himself. And as guys do, he started poking at it with a stick to notice that it was already injured. Of course he decided to pickup it up with the stick to attempt to show us. That doesn't go so well as Carol and I continue to scream and run even farther away. As Carol and I do the Heebie Jeebie Dance, Dad decides to put it down. It was a relatively small snake and probably nothing more then a Garter snake, but it was enough to scare us both.
Thankfully I was able to laugh about this pretty quick and tried not to be too creeped out buy what was behind our cabin.
Above is Dan and April. They also brought both the boys for a visit with us.
Dad and Carol ended up leaving in the afternoon, while Dan, April and the boys decided to stay with us until later in the evening. We all headed to the over sized playground just walking distance from our cabin. We ALL ended up goofing off and having a blast on this playground. But some things I don't think were meant for adults. I have some really goofy pictures of us all. Above is a picture of April spinning Morgan on the Merry-Go-Round.I can honestly say that Jonathan and I had a blast that weekend. I have never laughed so hard as I did Sunday when the family was with us. I would really love to get the family together more often for more fun times like this. We definitely made some really great memories.
