It's been suggested several times to me that we need a "meet our employees" page on our website. As much as this sounds like a great idea and a wonderful way for our guests to get to know us a little better, I think the maintaining and updating of 50+ employees is a little more than anyone wants to take on right now. However, I thought I could do a blog introducing some interesting characters you might find around our park.
The first Adventurer goes by the name of "Tom". He's an allusive creature and you must always be on the lookout for him, especially if he's on a golf-cart. Tom is known for driving around the park on the golf-cart with no hands (see picture right). Tom is one of several work campers that live here in our park. He and his wife, Bettye, are two of the nicest and most caring people you could ever know. Tom opens and closes our regular season with leading the worship service on Memorial and Labor Day weekends. Bettye can often be found reading a book or greeting our campers on their arrival. When they're not working they enjoy spending time with their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Tom is an ornery Adventurer, always trying to find more efficient and out of the box ways of getting things done. Here he is trying to take a short cut across the park by crossing the creek and nearly taking his ride off the waterfall. See what I mean about him on the golf-carts?
The next man is known around our area for 2 things... wieners and mushrooms. He is a wild beast, uncontrollable by most standards. This time of the year you can normally find him running loose in the woods, hunting morels. Here he is shown with his sidekick, my dad, preying on a pack of mushrooms. In case you don't recognize him, this Adventurer goes by the name "Melvus de Wienerus Wagonick" or "Mel of the Wiener Wagon". You can find him selling hot dogs, chips, and drinks outside of the canoe livery office. He's always up for a laugh and offers "service with a smile".
The last two Adventurers are quite possibly the most amazingly beautiful and wonderful creatures ever created. They are unique, imaginative, and, okay, down right silly. In all honesty, we were very bored and very hyper when we made this video. But to share the good times and laughter, here is a video that shows you what exactly you can expect when coming to our park. :)
LYRICS: We will, we will... check you in, take you to your site, tuck you in and say goodnight. Put you in the front, put you in the back (RV sections). Have you heard about, our Fun Pack?
Last week I wrote a post on Mohican Adventures' Facebook page about employment opportunities. In that post I mentioned how there are many benefits to working at Mohican Adventures; it's one of the reason that I've come back to work here year after year (this summer marks my 11th year of working here). A lot of my own personal Mohican adventures have been because of my job and the benefits of working for such a great company and family (our owner, Doug, would not appreciate the public praise... but he'll have to get over that).
When deciding what to write about in my blog this week, the idea of ENJOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES came to me. One of the things I look forward to the most every summer and greatly enjoy is whatever company outing I get to go on that year. Through the years of working here I've gone on many outings, from trips to Dale Hollow Lake to jet ski and boat, trips up to Cedar Point, white water rafting/kayaking, high ropes courses, caving, and more! In 2010 our employees had the opportunity to go caving and white water rafting or kayaking down in Kentucky. This blog will mainly show pictures of that adventure.
Above is a group photo of the employees that went on this trip. I'm sorry for the dark image. This was taken at about midnight. After a long day of work, our employees climbed into several livery vans and headed down to Kentucky. Our fearless leader likes to go caving, or more properly called "spelunking," in the middle of the night when we don't have to worry about running into others at the caves. Whether you go in the day or night does not matter since the caves are pitch black either way.
The entrance to the cave is always fun. You begin by "duck walking" into the mouth of the cave, and then eventually have to crawl your way the rest of the way. For our bigger guys, they were often scraping both bellies and backs to squeeze in. When you get into the first larger room you're already feeling the thrill. The temperature drops, the carvings in the rocks made from streams and floodings times ago are fascinating, and then there's the fun of sliding and climbing through the mud.
One of the greatest things about these company outings is that they really do create group unity and a company bond. I hate to sound like a summer camp slogan, but this experience that was made to reward all our hardworking employees ended up also benefiting our relationships among each other, our work environment, and our trust in each other.
There was not a moment in the cave where we weren't helping each other up, supporting each other so our friends could climb to get a better view, or helping each other across slippery paths. The picture shown on the right is one of us lifting and pulling each other up to a small nook that overlooked a large room in the cave from a view of about 30 feet up. In order to get up you had to be supported from below and above. The guys supporting us from below had to stand around a hole opening in the floor, but they willingly did this in order for us to have the experience of seeing the amazing view. Whoever was pulling up from above had to lie down flat on their belly and hang over the edge to pull us up. What I'll probably remember most about this task was not the great view, or even the accomplishment of getting up there, but rather how much my fellow employees cared to push, pull, sweat, and bruise themselves so that I could fully experience the cave.
The next morning we woke up early and headed to the Cumberland River for some white water rafting and kayaking. Our employees take a combination of rafts (my preference for safety and socialness), inflatable kayaks, and white water kayaks. The days on the river are so fun. We spend them swimming, jumping off of rocks, swimming through smaller rapids, and praying through larger ones. The following are pictures from our day on the river.
This is just one example of the enjoyment opportunities I've had from working at Mohican Adventures. With hiring time for our season quickly approaching, I thought it'd be a good time to butter up new recruits. ;)
There are so many great experiences to have in the Mohican area, and one of the newest and most fun attractions is the Tree Frog Canopy Tour offered just South of Loudonville on Wally Road. Last summer I visited this new and adventurous business and LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT (well, except for when I cried but we'll get to that later).
The first thing I'd like to pass on to my friends about the tour is how amazing and wonderful the staff was! They were friendly, knowledgeable, encouraging, had your safety as their #1 goal and your enjoyment as a close second. They explained each line thoroughly and always left you feeling comfortable and excited. When I went I had Rob and Missy as my guides - they were both wonderful.
I'll bypass all the details on getting you safely harnessed in and through the practice zip. I will say that watching Zoe, the dog, escort you up to the top of the hill was a treat! Over the course you go through several (I think 7) zip lines, a couple sky bridges, and do 2 free rappels. The zip lining was great fun. They start you off with a smaller zip so that you get the feel of things. The harness was comfortable and I felt fully supported. Here's a picture of Nicole on a zip line. Depending on the elevation drop, your weight, and how you position your body your speed can vary on the lines. We were trained on how to properly slow down and stop, but they also had safety measures in place if you were entering the stopping pad a little too fast. The lines had you mainly going through the trees. It was a lot of fun to zip by trees and have your feet dangling. I'd compare the feeling you get to going down a slide. You go down the lines quickly but definitely had time to look around and enjoy the view. We had a group of 8 in my group, plus 2 guides. I was never bored waiting on my turn to go because there was so many great things to look at in the beautiful setting. It was also a great way to relax and a unique perspective of the forest from high up in the trees instead of on the ground.
My favorite zip line is the one that takes you above the trees where you're overlooking the tree canopy. I will post a video I took during this zip at the end of this blog. I believe that this was the longest line, and it was amazing to fly over the trees and have that view. I remember thinking at that moment that I am very blessed to grow up in such a beautiful area. Everyone should take the opportunity to view nature this way. Here's a picture of one of our employees in the middle of that zip. Behind her you can see the open valley. You zip across that valley above the trees. Make sure to check out the video at the end of the blog, and then make sure to come visit the area and see for yourself!
Okay... so now to the part where I cried. I am a big wimp and afraid of heights. Despite my heightened fears, I felt very safe on each zip line... then we got to the free rappels. Let me make it clear that you are VERY SAFE on these rappels. You are strapped in, the friction on the rope does not allow for you to fall quickly, and if you would ever start going too quickly both guides are in control of your line, making it impossible for you to fall and go splat on the ground. Despite all of these safety precautions, I could not get my mind to believe that my body wasn't going to hit the ground... hard. Maybe it's because I kept looking over the platform at this view. The advice "DON'T LOOK DOWN" comes in handy at this point. When it's your turn to go, you have to kind of swing your body out and off the platform. It's a mind game that's played to convince your body to step itself off of the nice, sturdy platform. On the first rappel I did this step - twice. I'm not exactly sure what happened (my mind blocked the experience from my memory) but I had swung myself off the platform, and the next thing I knew I was on my hands and knees back on the platform, crying. Again, I have to reiterate here that I am a wimp and that in no way was I ever in any danger. Do not be afraid to take your child or yourself on this tour. I have a history of crying 10 feet off the ground so this part of my experience is definitely on me and not the Tree Frog Canopy Tour. Missy, one of our guides, was absolutely amazing at this point. She reassured me, offered to have me take a step back and watch a few others go, etc. A minute later I was off that platform and having the time of my life. Here I am going down the first rappel. The second rappel I did without hesitation and I'd like to credit the Canopy Tour for helping me get over my fear of heights. In fact, a week later I jumped out of an airplane on my first skydiving adventure!
The tour also has a couple of sky bridges. The brides are fun to walk across. They kind of bump and sway with you and the only thing I can compare it to is walking on clouds, if I had any experience with walking on clouds.
I highly recommend the Tree Frog Canopy Tour as something to plan when visiting the Loudonville-Mohican area. We did the tour during the summer, but I can only imagine the beauty you'd get to see during the peak leaf-changing weeks in the fall. The tour possesses excitement, nature's beauty, fun, and self-challenge - everything that a Mohican adventure should have.
Here is the video I took during the zip line that takes you above the canopy. Enjoy!
Winter has officially slapped us with a huge snowball. So what better way to deal with cabin fever than to start a blog? I've had several requests for a blog to be started and just haven't gotten around to it - and then this snowstorm hit and I couldn't think of anything better to do than to curl up indoors next to a fire with a cup of hot chocolate and start writing to all of you. Sadly though I'm sitting in an office with a wall heater instead of burning logs and a Coke from McDonald's instead of hot chocolate. We can dream though.
I wasn't sure what to first write about to start this baby off and then the Ashland Times Gazette dropped a topic in my lap. The area paper did a photo gallery feature this week on the 1969 flood. (Click to be sent to the Times Gazette's photo gallery on the flood.) While I personally was not around for the 1969 flood, that's how my boss, Doug Shannon, got started working for Dick Frye, the founding father of canoeing in Ohio. Fast forward several years and Doug bought the canoe livery from Dick and here we are - getting ready to celebrate our 50th year in business and 50 years of canoeing in Ohio (but that's for a different blog).
Thinking of the July 1969 flood made me want to share some of my pictures and experiences working here during the July 2006 flood. The day started as a very sunny, blue-sky day. By the day's end our lake overflowed into our pond, our cabins were evacuated, and the bridge to our primitive tent sites no longer existed. Here's a picture of our lake with our Super Log cabins in the background. To be completely frank, this day at work sucked. We had to move all of our boats away from the river, everything and everyone was drenched and exhausted, and we were watching a place very special to us get swallowed in the flood waters. However, looking back this day holds one of my most favorite memories in all 10+ years of working here.
The people. The number of people that showed up to help still gives me chills and brings tears to my eyes. People just poured (pun definitely intended) in to help us. Some were past employees who worked for Dick Frye or the Shannons many, many years ago. We had employees show up who were scheduled to be off that day. People from Loudonville and the area who had never even worked here before came down to lend a hand. We evacuated everyone from their cabins and campsites and got them to a safe location in our shower house or in town. We moved over 500 canoes, 250 kayaks, and 100 rafts before the river could sweep them away. In the end of the day we were left with some property damage, some cabins that needed muck to be cleaned out of them, and boats to be put back in order... but in the end of the day every single person here was safe, and dare I say happy. It's a story that our repeat campers often tell us when they check in. Some say that was their first time camping with us, but that they'll always come back here now because of what they witnessed that day. One family brought us back our football a year after the flood, having packed it up with their belongings before evacuating. If you're ever our way, stop in our campground office and view our scrapbook on the flood. Until then... enjoy a few more pictures captured that day. Paddle boat rental, anyone?
Tom is known for driving around the park on the golf-cart with no hands (see picture right). Tom is one of several work campers that live here in our park. He and his wife, Bettye, are two of the nicest and most caring people you could ever know. Tom opens and closes our regular season with leading the worship service on Memorial and Labor Day weekends. Bettye can often be found reading a book or greeting our campers on their arrival. When they're not working they enjoy spending time with their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Tom is an ornery Adventurer, always trying to find more efficient and out of the box ways of getting things done. Here he is trying to take a short cut across the park by crossing the creek and nearly taking his ride off the waterfall. See what I mean about him on the golf-carts? 
Here he is shown with his sidekick, my dad, preying on a pack of mushrooms. In case you don't recognize him, this Adventurer goes by the name "Melvus de Wienerus Wagonick" or "Mel of the Wiener Wagon". You can find him selling hot dogs, chips, and drinks outside of the canoe livery office. He's always up for a laugh and offers "service with a smile". 
