Colonial Woods - Weekend One

First Weekend of Camping!!  Couldn't get here fast enough with the work weeks and things that have been happening here around the house.  It took a few days to get some time after work to get the camper ready and go over things from the winter.  Water lines sanitized and flushed, Battery Installed after a water level check and float charge, LP Tanks installed and connected, and a few other "Springerizing" items.

Becky and I loaded the camper with new supplies for this season and double checked we had the kids toys, blankets, sleeping bags, etc all ready to go.  During the day at work, my friend Jim texted me this photo as he flew his Cessna overhead of the campground.  He also would be camping with his family this weekend and had taken the day off work to enjoy some airtime.

Colonial Woods from the Air (Taken by Jim R. in his Cessna)

 By the time I got home from work and the kids off the bus, we only had to do a final walk around and we would be ready to go.  We added two zip lock bags of ice to the black tank to stir any leftovers up from our last trip, even though I had flushed the tanks the best I could at the end of the season.  We arrived to the campground a few minutes after 6 pm and circled through the campground to the dump station.  After the initial dump of the tanks, we headed to our assigned spot down by the stream.  It took me a little bit, but I was able to back in the spot easily and we were side-to-side level without using any blocks under the wheels.

We have Arrived!

All setup for our Weekend!

 Across from us there were 4 other Keystone Passport models, including a very nice couple that had the same model 217 as we have!  After some talking on Saturday with them and comparing models, seems that the 2016 models of the 217 have some variations depending on time of manufacturer.  They had some minor upgrades in lighting and we had a different interior finish.  Overall, both of us were very happy with the Passport quality.  This was there first outing and I hope we can cross paths again with them in the future.

Must be a Keystone Convention!!  Lots of Friendly neighbors this weekend.

 The kids were right at home so to speak with our site next to the stream and we tried to re-create some photos that we took 3 years ago when we first visited Colonial Woods.  Here are a few snapshots from these new and updated photos.

3 years ago they sat on the same bridge,.... much smaller then.

Trying to re-create a photo from a few years ago

 Bella was itching to challenge me at Chess since she learned to play a little at school.  Even in her Harry Potter books when they play Wizard Chess, she talked about playing me.  So, we pulled out the chess set and played a quick game.  Yes, ... Quick.  She didn't think ahead on some of her moves and left the door open to a Checkmate.  Sounds like I have a rematch coming up next weekend.

Bella, about to get Schooled in Chess

The remainder of the day the kids caught crayfish in the stream and played games.  They didn't have much interest in going fishing so maybe we will hold that till next weekend.  We enjoyed a good BBQ chicken dinner followed by a good hot campfire and s'mores!  YUM!!

On Sunday afternoon we decided to avoid the campground as people were packing up and doing the conga line to the dump station and took the new trail from the campground leading to Lake Warren State park.  We haven't been there before and it was a very nice lake.  I'm sure there are more trails and things to go around the lake but we were able to see a Beaver dam and also some new trees cut from the beavers!

Lake Warren

The Beavers have been busy

 So, after another great weekend at Colonial Woods, we began to clean up and get ready to head home.  It was about 2pm at this point and many of the people in the campground had left already.  That is another good part about doing the Spring Camping Special here, there isn't the time limits to checkin and check-out.  Lets see what next week brings!!

Locked and Secured till next weekend