Sullivan Lake

For something like ten years we camped at Sullivan Lake during my childhood. We usually went over the 4th of July weekend - and camped in the group site with four other families. Besides Priest Lake they are some of my best memories. We'd bike the trails for hours, jump off rope swings and the bridge, swim to the floating dock, create passwords to our secret hiding places, crush rocks to make natural "make-up"paint to rub all over our arms and legs (totally normal, right?!), and play silly card games around the campfire that were usually funny MASH (you know, mansion, apartment, shack, house)-type variations.

So I'm not exactly sure why I hadn't been back in almost ten years. It's just two hours away, after all.

This past weekend we broke the Sullivan Lake-less streak and convinced our friends to try Sullivan instead of Farragut this year. Mostly it was my trying to convince them, which actually wasn't all that hard. They were totally game for trying a new space. It was me who was just a bit nervous. The place was almost larger than life to me as a kid. I didn't want to be disappointed - or for anyone else to think it was lame. ;)

The good news is that it was far from lame. It was actually every bit as awesome as I remember. We did many of the same things I did growing up (minus the make-up paint & MASH games).

Another perk to Sullivan is the fact that it lies far beyond cell range. There is just something wonderful that happens when you are forced to shut down all electronic devices for 60-ish hours. We all decompressed. Our kids collapsed into bed at night and slept soundly. We spent lots of time around the campfire, barely staying awake to 10pm each night. And I swear to you the stars shine brighter up there - only ten miles from Canada ;). Here's how we filled our days at Sullivan...