East Harbor State Park has the first two weekends in October set aside for their Halloween weekends. They have hay rides, a haunted forest, a haunted tunnel, a prison where you can have a family or friend "arrested" and put in there for $1 every 15 minutes (which serves as a fund raiser for the park) and a bone fire. Not to mention the trick-or-treating frenzy. If you think trick-or-treating in a community with row houses produces a lot of candy, you should go to a camp ground with super small lots and see how much you can do in that time. Apparently, my new family tries to go to one of these weekends when they can. The kids were looking forward to it and talking about it for quite some time before we went. They planned costumes and who they would arrest for a while.
The one draw back for this particular trip is that the weather plays a big part in it. Some years the weather is like an extension of summer. Other years it is cold. And then there are the years it is cold and RAINY! This year was one of those. The family intended to go to Cedar Point one more time while they were up that way but the weather forecast did not make it sound like they would be able to do both Cedar Point and the campground activities and they would have to choose. Since they had already gotten plenty of use from the yearly pass at this point, they chose to stay in the park for the weekend. Hay rides, etc happen both Friday and Saturday night. Dad was watching the forecast like a hawk and determined that if they wanted to be able to do those things they better plan on Friday night. So, that is what they did. They did the hay ride and the haunted walks. Unfortunately, high winds cancelled the bone fire for the night but, they did had a great time. They also made their usual trek around the park to see the decorations that everyone put up. Mom was so surprised -- a vast portion of the campground was EMPTY -- this NEVER happens on Halloween weekends. Assuming the impending weather had a part to play in that they headed in for the night.
The next day started out ok. The kids gathered some other kids up from neighboring campsites and they played a giant game of sharks and minnows. They even got Mom and Dad to join in. Time for trick-or-treating arrived and they got ready. Despite the emptiness of the campground the kids still filled their buckets. They did not offer me any! I saw Mom and Dad sneak some from their buckets... But at the very end of trick-or treating time... it rained. And it rained. And it rained. It rained enough that the park canceled the hay rides. They canceled the haunted walks. They cancelled the prison. And, between the wind and the rain they canceled the bonfire. Dad had been right. If they were going to do those things Friday was indeed the night to do them. Mom was thankful for his constant checking of the weather since they got to do the fun things while they could.
As they were packing up to go home, my previous family's Dad found Mom. They said "Hello" and had a nice chat with each other. As always, it was sad to pack up and go home. It was super sad since they said this was the last trip of the year. Everyone hates it when it is the last trip of the year. The family really seems to hate to see it go... :(
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