Cowan Lake

We spent three days at Cowan lake campground with our two grandaughters. Also an assortment of parents, friends and aquaintances, but Brenda, me, and the two girls were there for the duration. It was Kally and Cailyns first camping trip, so Cowans lake seemed perfect. It would be hard to find a more kid friendly campground, shady sites, a playground, the beach, trails, and a little store that sells ice cream. What more could a kid want? Anyone from a 1950's campground would be right at home.
And no prostiTOTs, 14 year olds dressed up like twenty five year old strippers. Every kid I saw was riding a bike, or swimming, or just yelling and throwing sticks, it was very refreshing.

Lightning bugs were a huge attraction, with a couple hours each evening devoted to their capture. The girls were much more into roasting marshmallows and making smores that eating them( I think I gained five pounds).







Then off we were to search for bigfoot. The girls shining their flashlights into the trailside woods, loooking for clues in each downed log or scuffed patch of leaves.
Then bedtime came with real monsters, raccoons that we learned were trained in opening coolers and making a mess out of camp. All night I could hear them scurrying around camp, with cute raccoon shadows running across the tent wall backlit by the dying embers of the campfire.



The last night Kally began to tell a scary story, her own version of the big bad wolf eating the three little pigs. Cailyn hopped up beside her and threw in the occasional "not by the hair of my chinny chin chin". Kally held her flashlight in classic scary story fasion and relished the storytelling. She's at the age where she is just starting to put the pieces of who she will become togethor. Clumsy and uncoordinated she won't become an athlete, but pretty and completely unafraid to speak in front of people. Maybe an newscaster or a teacher? With us that night was a young woman in her twenties much more interested in texting than Kally's story. Halfway thru she started a side conversation of her own and I found myself hating her a little bit. I've always been a sucker for the hokie, family, kid sort of thing but anyone with half a brain could see this was something special. She should have stayed home and watched Twilight on cable.

At night after everyone was asleep I'd wander down to the lake and catch channel cats. The nights were warm and still, with the eerie sounds of a screech owl drifting across the lake, perfect for catfishing.