Again, I'm the first one up. Later this morning than on the trip, I wake up about 7. Matt is up about 30-45 minutes later and I spend my quiet alone time this morning making a few more notes in my journal. Ben and the rest of his family are all getting up now too and there's donuts, coffee, and the whole pot full of berries that I've grabbed from their hiding place in the car.

Ben's family usually lingers on Sundays before returning home, however today our two oldest sons have a Boy Scout event to attend so they're leaving not too long after we depart for Mount Olympus. We get packed up & I do a quick sweep of the floor of the camper to clean up any dirt we may have tracked in.

We pull into Mount Olympus' parking lot and before too long we're parked. I'm happy to see that ours is not the only car with a canoe on top in the lot. A few minutes later we're past the ticket booth and making plans for our time in the park. Evie naturally wants to RIDE ALL THE RIDES! whereas Grace isn't really feeling the whole amusement park thing and really wants to get home to see their dogs. We end up compromising where we find an outdoor bar that overlooks the tidal wave pool and Matt, Grace, and I all hang out while Evie goes and does the things in the water park that she wants to do. She does very well on her own and comes back to check in around the times we agree to. She also doesn't complain at all when it's time to be done with water so we can have lunch then go on some rides.

I go with the girls on a couple roller coasters and all of us go on some go-karts.

I was disappointed to find out that the Trojan Horse karts no longer use the spiral that goes up and through the horse. Maybe the structure is no longer safe for karting, I don't know. On our way out of the park I go with the girls on Hades, which is a coaster that travels under the parking lot of the park to a set of loops by the street before returning to the main coaster structure by the same underground tunnel. All of the coasters at Mount Olympus are wooden rides so the bumpiness adds to the fun. While we were waiting in line we got to behold the gum tree. Yuck.

Evie is a fan of sitting in the front seat on coasters wherever possible, however seeing we'd have to wait 5 or so trains before we'd be on made the girls decide that the second row wouldn't be too bad. We got on the next train and had a fun ride.

Our group reunited at the exit, we headed to the car and our final three hours on the road.

We pulled in to Matt & Grace's house just as night was falling. We quickly unpacked their items from the car and drove the extra couple minutes home. My son Gavin helped me get the canoe off the roof and then it was time to start the process of unpacking, sorting, cleaning, and putting away all our gear.

All in all we had a great trip. Matt & Grace said they'd be interested in coming back some time, so maybe in two summers we'll try it again. Maybe it'll be the four of us again, maybe it'll be both our families since we'd be at the magic number of 9. Evie had a great time too and also wants to go back. Ultimately, that was the best endorsement I could get. I brought three canoe trip newbies into the wilderness and everyone got along well, worked great as a team, and exited wanting more.