Weathering the Weather!

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?