Activities Wristband: Friday was originally meant to be a free day for everyone to pick the activities they wish. Upon first arriving at Glade Springs, we had stopped at the guard shop and while my dad conversed with the guard on duty there, I read a poster board advertising activities wristbands. My parents, Peep and I later walked over from our rental to the hotel to inquire with the activities concierge about the wristbands. Armed with this new information, and considering my family members tend to be quite active in their daily lives, my parents decided to purchase wristbands for everyone to enjoy.
Disc Golf: For our first activity, Peep and I made plans with my brothers two children to get out early and play a round of disc golf. We had invited my brother Mark to come along as well, but being an endurance runner he decided to take the morning to drive to a nearby park to do some trail running. The disc rental was included with the activities band, but we still had to pay greens fees. At sign up, we received a bag containing three discs: a driver, an iron and a putter. We also got a scorecard. After a couple shots at a practice target set up in a field by the parking lot of the activities center, we headed into the woods to begin our nine-hole round of disc golf. The course was new and in very good condition, but very challenging to keep the throws in the fairway and free of wooded roughs. As were nearing the end of our round, my sister and her kids arrived at the activities center for our next planned activity, archery.
Archery: My parents had made reservations for the archery course for the entire family. So we all showed up for the instructional speech and practice on the practice target. Just as we had with disc golf, we headed into the wooded area by the activities center to shoot at eight separate stations, each with a unique target.
- Station 1: Boar
- Station 2: Tom (male turkey)
- Station 3: Buck (male whitetail deer
- Station 4: Doe (female whitetail deer)
- Station 5: Raccoon
- Station 6: Hen (female turkey)
- Station 7: Havlena (small pig)
- Station 8: Black Bear
It took an hour and a half for all eleven of us to complete each of the stations in turn. By then, it was back to the lodge for a quick lunch before heading over to the hotel and prepare for combat on the laser tag course.
Laser Tag: At the hotel we met up with the same instructor for archery, who now assigned teams and instructed us on the use of the laser tag guns. In addition to my entire family a second family was there, ready to battle it out as well. We all walked a short distance to the laser tag combat zone, complete with a building, obstacles, mounds and ditches. We spent forty-five minutes playing multiple games before returning to the hotel to turn in our equipment.
Mallard Lake: From there, Peep, Calaen and I headed directly over to Mallard Lake in one of the shuttle vans offered by the resort. Mallard Lake offered canoes, kayaks, paddleboats and paddleboards, the rental fees of which were all included with the activities band. Calaen and I started out on the paddleboards, while Peep grabbed by camera and got pictures of us from the deck of the boat rental house. More of my family showed up in short time and we spent the remainder of our time switching between the different types of rentals, making our way around the sizable, man-made lake. And Peep did make it out on the lake in one of the paddleboats, accompanied by my niece Calaen.
Mountain Biking: Once all back at the lodge, Mark and I decided to check out the mountain biking. So, joined his two kids, Calaen and Robbie, we headed over to the hotel to pick up our helmets and select our bikes. Being in West Virginia, the territory at Glade Springs is pretty hilly and therefore has some quite challenging mountain bike trails. We started by heading to the equestrian center and back, after which Calaen was ready to call it a day. We started out on a longer trail, but shortly after we started out Robbie took a spill. He wasn't seriously injured, just a few small scrapes, but the experience soured him on the idea of continuing, so he headed back while Mark and I continued on. The next trail was demanding, being hilly, rutted, rocky and even muddy in some places. It definitely required walking in places to get through. We were tired from our experience, but happy we had took on the challenge.
Driving Range: By the time we returned to the rental lodge, most of the family had already gone to the driving range, so I headed over on my own to join them. After meeting up with them, I headed over to the pro shop to get practice clubs and then over to collect my basket of range balls that were included with my activities band. We all had fun hitting the golf balls as far out into the driving range as we could while my dad, who is an avid golfer, gave each and every one of us tips on improving our swing.
Bowling: After dinner it was back to the Leisure Center where we had four lanes reserved in the bowling alley. Our activities band included a full two hours of free bowling, and the entire family made very good use of those two hours. A half hour into our session, they turned out the lights and we enjoyed night bowling the rest of the evening. Just as we were finishing our time on the lanes, my brother-in-law Tim and his son Samme showed up after a long drive back from home in Ohio. Even though we were returning the next day, they came to spend the late evening hours with us and our last final day in West Virginia.
Campfire: It was our last night at Glade Springs and we had yet to make use of the nightly campfire. We had purchased everything needed to make s'mores during one of our trips to the grocery store earlier in the week, and it seemed almost criminal not to make use of them. So, while Peep gathered the ingredients, I picked out some sticks and Calaen whittled a point in them. Then the three of us headed over to the campfire. My sister and her family, along with Calaen's brother, showed up a short time later, but without marshmallow roasting sticks of their own, so we let them use ours after we had had our fill of s'mores. It was midnight by the time we made it back to the lodge to crawl into bed.