Petit Jean only 95 more to go

Petit Jean is a beautiful park with a wonderfully romantic love story. Here is the link to Petit Jean http://www.petitjeanstatepark.com/ We went on October 12th. My husband and I decided that we were going to tent camp. We love taking the pop up however, it is difficult driving that sucker 3 or 4 hours on the interstate, up the side of a mountain and down again and Petit Jean is 4 hours from the house. So needleless to say we, 3 kids and a huge dog the hubs and I, were packed in there like midgets in a clown car. We got to Petit Jean and I automatically felt relaxed. The Hubs and I had been watching the weather for the past week and we knew that it was probably going to rain while we were there. We just didn't want it to rain the entire time. I went in the Welcome Center to pay for our second night. When I walked in the lady behind the desk was on the phone and the person with whom she was talking to was cancelling the Yurt that they had for the WEEKEND? HELLO!!! I paid for the camp site and told my husband the information that I had gained about the open Yurt. He asked me if I had lost my mind and told me to turn right back around and rent the Yurt for the weekend and thank God I did. We got to the Yurt and it came with all the extra stuff and it came with a canoe. The kids had never been canoeing before and so that weekend they learned. I am very blessed to have a husband that wants to teach our children awesome skills like that. They now know how to row and not just go in circles. The hubs and kids were out there on the lake for several hours rowing and teaching them balance. I started freaking out while getting in the canoe; I was terrified I was going to flip it over. That is pretty much how my life goes, if I can trip, fall, flip over and do it all in midair that is pretty much what is going to happen. That night while we were all sleeping I woke up sitting straight up in the bunk and heard the rain coming down in buckets. I heard thunder and then I saw the Yurt move. I woke the Hubs up and told him that the Yurt was shifting around a little and he told me it was going to be ok and to go back to sleep. I lay there wide eyed for what seemed like an eternity. The next morning I woke up and everything was wet but everything was ok. Since all of our wood was wet we decided to go to the Lodge to eat breakfast. We went to the Lodge, ate and planned out our day. By noon it had quit raining and we walked the little path to the top of the mountain to see the waterfall. The kids wanted to hike down to the bottom to see the waterfall up close so we did. It was a 2 mile hike and there were signs stating that it was a strenuous hike and man they didn't lie. It was like doing the stair master for 2 hours. I finally had to let our dog off the leash because he was dragging me down the stone stairs. One good thing about the dog is although he will not walk on a leash he will walk and stay with you and not run off. He has to be at the head of the pack when hiking. If you do ever go to Petit Jean make sure you stop off at the little store there. They had excellent fudge that they make there at the shop. I didn't eat any but I was told that it was excellent. Also make sure that you go to the Bear Cave while you are there as well. It is very awesome. I could see how Indians would have stayed there and made it home. It was huge and fresh water trickled in certain areas. My daughter and I talked about where we thought the Indians would have slept and where they would have put their possessions in the cave. It amazes me how life must have been like back then.