This is the first park and stay that I can really say that we had a bad experience, wasn't worth the money, probably won't be back type of time. From the start, the park was just okay. It had some pretty spots, but overall was just bleh. There wasn't anything in particular that made it pretty. Really, the river was the only thing it had going for it. When we checked in, we were told the pool was closed for the season. This was the very end of July/beginning of August. But that they had a splash pad. 4 small fountains is what this splash pad was. I do have to say that the river felt so amazing. I have never gotten in a river that was warm, but this one felt SOOO good. The cabin was also not worth the money at all. It was old, and not the cute kind of rustic. There was a small wall AC unit that only cooled off the living room. The bedrooms were miserably hot. I would go sleep on the couch to cool off, but the couch was incredibly uncomfortable. The cabins had no shade and no outdoor space to sit, like a porch and chairs. The picnic table for our cabin was really far away, but at least that was in the shade.
So what kind of ruined the trip for us is that one evening, we decided to park in one of the parking lots and walk around a bit...go from one playground then to another, and just walk. By the time we had made it back, it was about 8 o'clock. My kids had some matchbox cars they wanted to roll down the slides (no one else was there), so I said okay. They weren't running around or anything, just sitting on the playground. It was getting dark though so we were about to leave when I see a truck just sitting in the lot. I tell the kids to keep playing for a minute til they moved on. I'm a mom alone with her kids, in a place we don't know. I don't know what people are like, what crime is like, etc..Well the truck pulls in with their headlights pointed right on us, and turn their high beams on. Two men get out and start walking toward us. Because they have blinded me, I can't see anything. I am about to freak out, about to tell my kids to run...like I am scared. Finally, when they are right up on us, they tell us they are park rangers and the park is closing. That was completely fine as we were trying to leave 5 minutes ago. But the ranger can't stop there...he has to start in on "you're putting your kids in serious danger by letting them play on the playground at night." Dude, who the hell do you think you are? Its 8 o'clock, not midnight. And they weren't running around. I felt like them approaching us the way they did was more dangerous than anything I did. Simply yelling out the truck "hey the park is closing" and waiting for us to leave could have easily sufficed.
Not the parks fault, but when we were swimming in the river, my daughter lost her shoe. The current started carrying it away, so I started to run after it. I have a major fear of deep rivers where I can't really see what's below me, and next thing I know, I'm way far away from everyone, it's getting super deep and I can't see or touch anything. I finally get the shoe and start to turn around and that's when I realize the current is way too strong for me to swim back. I'm about to panic cause I'm so scared of how deep it is and how I can't see anything. I finally used every last bit of strength I have to get to the side and pull myself out. I told my kids if they lose anything else, it's gone.
