The Lorelle Batallion takes Frog Hollow

Having conquered all the nearby territories, we loaded up Lewis, Clark and their Indian guide Sacajawea to cross the Great Plains (aka I-40) into the wild woods of Frog Hollow (otherwise known as West Point on the Eno). I confess that when Roger threw out "Hey, let's take the kids canoeing today!" I didn't react with the same enthusiasm that Lewis and Clark did when President Jefferson sought volunteers to go battle the buffalo and find out what was on the other side of this great land. I sort of swallowed, considered the physics of three kids and two adults in a canoe, and then decided, What the heck, they can swim. Bring on the buffalo! 

One of the first things we saw at the park was a sign saying "Don't bother the snakes. There are no poisonous snakes on the Eno." The second thing we saw was a snake. As it slithered by I leaned in to take pictures and a guide called out, "Er, I wouldn't do that, ma'am." At the same time Roger said, "Isn't that a copperhead?" Time to take down those signs. 

Many minutes of life-jacket-buckling later we were situated in a silver canoe and pushing off into the water. While Lewis and Clark, I'm sure, asked Sacajawea plenty of questions along the lines of, "Are those Indians going to scalp us?" our kids had their own sets of fears. As we paddled up the river the conversation went something like this:

CATHERINE (shrieking and pointing at rocks sticking out of the water): "Is that a crocodile???"

VINCENT (whimpering): "I think the canoe is tipping over. Are we going to hit an iceberg?"

ROGER: "Let's go look at those turtles on the log."

CATHERINE: "Are they going to eat us?"

ME: "Yes."

Meanwhile, Dominic had his arms locked in a death grip around my neck. If we were going down, we were going down together. 

The experience brought on a new appreciation for the explorers and Sacajawea, whose infant son Pomp was with them. No wonder it took them so long to find the Pacific. Luckily, we only had to find the place where our canoe suddenly ran aground on some rocks before we decided that it was time to turn around. As soon as we stepped out of the canoe Catherine twirled a paddle and exclaimed, "That was so much fun!"

And it was. Truly. 

We ended the scouting expedition with root beer floats. Because if there's one thing I know for sure, it's that Sacajawea took Lewis and Clark to the nearest Dairy Queen to celebrate as soon as they spotted the sparkling blue Pacific.