Camping #5 "Camping Platinum"

We found our perfect camping spot. 

It's called "Lochloosa River Retreat" and it's exactly what we want in a camping experience. 

First off, the weather was cool, but not super cool. I know they had no control over that, but it sure helped. I actually wanted a campfire!

Second, they had very clean public restrooms with flushing toilets and hot water showers. Seriously. This was our favorite feature. 

Third, they had a creek with shellfish and snails. 

Fourth, they had a river access on their property, and the Tippecanoe River is clean enough to swim in. If we had brought our kayaks, we could get into and out of the river at our leisure.

Fifth, they had a saltwater pool and hot tub. The pool was heated and had a waterside, diving board, and pool floaties.

"Is this even camping?!" you might ask. Well, we did sleep outside. There was a campfire, aaaaaaand we stayed up way too late.

Oh! And sixth, there were hardly any mosquitos. Bobby suggested they probably spray for those...erk. What they hadn't sprayed for, though, was poison ivy. There was a lot of it, but only when you got off the trails. 

It's well worth the 3-hour drive. 

And there's the Lighthouse Cafe just a few minutes from camp where Matthew tasted his first BLT (L and T on the side, no mayo). It was pretty much 4 slices of bacon between two slices of super buttery sourdough toast. And for a kid who adores toast and bacon, it was sheer bliss. Matthew kept saying, "This is so good. This is SO good!" 

Pictures:

Neat little stream. At first, the boys tried to stay on the rocks. 

The rocks ran out and they had to get IN the water if they wanted to explore any more. The water was cold. The boys' excited chatter echoed through the forest. I worried a little if the neighbors would mind. 

A little walking trail on the property where we met a goat that James aptly called "Nutsy."

Poison Ivy. We managed to avoid it just fine.

Hot tub. Hot tub!

Matthew got his brave and adventurous face on to go down the waterslide. Loved it!

Lighthouse Cafe. Yum!