Take a Vacation On Us!

To enter, submit your Greatest Family Camping Moment
If your story is selected, you win a 2nd night free at one
of our Howard Prairie Lake Recreational Area parks.

Offer good through Labor Day, Sept 4, 2006 • Not valid at Howard Prairie Resort.

 Name:  

 Email:   

 Your Great Family Camping Moment:
  

 

 

Submissions:

"We were camping at Hyatt Lake, so peaceful after noisy life in the city.  I awoke the following morning feeling extra peaceful. Then I realized why. There was a faint sound of Native American flute music. I left the tent and walked down to the edge of the water and discovered why. My dad was in his element, floating in his canoe and playing his flute just as the sun was coming up. He is too old to paddle his canoe anymore, but that is a memory I will never forget."

"Camping has always been one of my favorite things to do. I remember when I was about 12 years old, I went camping with my mom, step-dad, uncle aunt, cousins and my brothers oh and the wiener dog Sammy. Anyway we were camping in the eastern Oregon area campgrounds it was so pretty with the river running through the camp ground and the scenery was just so beautiful. We took lots of pictures, floated down the river in a raft with my mom and step dad. We had good barbecues too. But ya know the funniest thing of all was when we had tied our wiener dog Sammy up to our mini van and we started to back out then started driving real slow and we forgot the dog was tied up to the back end and my mom goes hey there's the dog hey stop the van and we were like oh yea, Sammy.... Any way the dog was fine it was hilarious though and it was a funny moment I can treasure forever, because I lost my precious mom to cancer May 29, 2007. I love thinking about and remembering all the wonderful memories we !"

"We went camping one year with our family. Their was a total of 9 in our group. The children went into the lake to swim and the next thing we noticed they drug a huge log into the lake to float on. The kids had more fun acting like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn than playing with their water toys. The next thing you know is we all ended up playing KING OF THE LOG. As you might guess the men in the family were last on the log. We had a fun filled day and these are memories that make us smile. This was one great camping trip."

"Snowing cotton, we camped at a local camp ground Rocky Point Resort and the cotton trees were merciless, however my two toddlers were thrilled they now believe Christmas can come in July!"

"We camp with our 13 year old "golden" (dog). He loves the "critters" He made friends with one of the squirrels and shared his dinner every night. Cute to watch them interact!"

"Last year my husband, kids and I went camping like we always do. My 5 year old son walked up to me in the tent and said, "Mom, remember you said we were going camping for the weekend so daddy could bomb the house for mice? I don't think they were ready to go to war." And he pointed to the camp fire, where there were 2 mice eating a marshmallow. We never laughed so hard. It was a priceless moment."

"The Perfect Spot - A couple of years ago my family went camping, with my parents and my brother. My dad said he had the perfect place to go, so we trusted him. On our way there, I ran over a huge rock, and it caused our car to stop working. My dad then towed it the rest of the way to the camping spot. When we finally got there, there was no swimming, the area was really rocky and it was a half a mile hike to the water to fish. Sounds great huh! I was pregnant with a toddler and a baby and my husband got deathly ill with a high fever. He stayed in the tent the whole time. We decided to stay until help with a car trailer could come and get us. Four days of this fabulous vacation had come and gone. Every day it rained and flooded our campsite and tents, and the last day we enjoyed a spectacular lighting show. Needless to say, despite all that went wrong, we made the best of a camping trip that was doomed to fail and my family will never forget it and neither will we let my dad forget about the 'perfect spot'."

"My extended family, complete with reluctant, sulky teenagers and this equally reluctant, big-city mom, had gathered to camp and spend time "bonding" for a week. We began to set up our sites at the edge of the lake when a howling, windy thunderstorm hit. Suddenly, everyone was frantically trying to grab tarps, tents, and anything else that was blowing away and into the lake. Forty-five minutes later we were soaked, exhausted, and deliriously happy, for the excitement of it all brought our family together like nothing else could! I cherish a family picture of all of us, dripping wet, huddled under our one large recovered tarp. It is both the best and worst picture of the family I've ever seen. The rest of the week was wonderful!"