Riverbend

There is a town called Omer, not far from the base of the "thumb" of Michigan and only 2 1/2 hours from our house. In Omer is a campsite called Riverbend. Kai has gone there twice with her friend Olivia's family and has come home raving about how fun it is, especially the cliff jumping! My other kids, always up for an adventure, have wanted to try cliff jumping and see what Riverbend is like. Since we didn't do a big family trip this summer, we decided this would be the perfect time to go to Riverbend. 

I knew there was a possibility that Victoria would have to work since she was gone for most of July at EFY and Cougarette Camp, but luckily the drive was doable for her to meet us for the kayak trip and cliff jumping on Tuesday.

The rest of us went up Monday afternoon and discovered an almost empty campsite. Our site was at the very end and so we pretty much had a whole area to ourselves. Besides us and another family with a boy my kids played with at the playground, the other campers were full-time summer residents of Riverbend who we didn't even really see much of. It was so peaceful and relaxing! We were a stone's throw away from the river. One morning we even saw deer frolicking in the water! 

I'm standing right in front of our camper here.

The deer leaving

The playground was amazingly fun with the best twirly swing ever! The kids spent hours there. We also played games, star gazed, sang songs to Kai's guitar, played volleyball, explored the woods, and of course, for the main events, went down the river.

Round and round they went! It's amazing Erik didn't get sick from it!

There was a port-a-potty really close to our campsite, even though the bathroom wasn't far. I guess it's for the late-night potty-goers. I finally checked it out because Jason told me how clean it was. Yeah, it was the cleanest port-a-potty I have ever been in! That SUV to the right was the closest camper to ours at the end there. I never really saw the people at their site much.

Pretty flowers on our walk.

Wading in the river.

They have buses that take people up the river with kayaks, canoes, or inner tubes. Tuesday, we went later so that Victoria could meet us and we kayaked, so it would be a little faster. It took about 2- 2/12 hours to kayak back to our campsite and it was so fun! Toward the end of that run, just before arriving at Riverbend, is where the cliff jumping is. At first, the cliff didn't look very big or exciting, but it was a good first try for these kids and was still plenty high for them to have a ton of fun! They definitely got their thrills out of it. Even Jason jumped once! It's interesting because the river itself isn't very deep, but there are a few places along the river that have really deep pockets right off the side that allows for cliff jumping and a rope swing that Victoria and I discovered as we were catching up to the rest of the family after she arrived. 

Austin loved that flower was growing out of a log in the middle of the river!

Cliff jumping!

Victoria left later that evening after dinner. We got ice cream just before she left at a cute place called Sundaes Afternoon. The next morning, after I went for a speedy run with Austin, we took the bus to the starting point and floated on inner tubes down the river. The other kids had to stop at the rope swing since they missed it the day before. It was much easier to do the rope swing from the inner tubes than the kayaks since there's not really a place to leave the kayaks. I had to hold onto a root from the cliff to keep from floating down the river while Victoria swung from the rope. With the tubes, it was easier for the kids to keep their tubes in the brush. Though Jason and I still had to hold on to roots so we wouldn't float away while waiting for them. 

Victoria wore the life jacket for the first 5 minutes. After jumping off the rope with it on, she quickly shed it! I noticed the others had theirs off when we caught up with them as well.

I actually got good pics of the rope swing when I wasn't holding onto two paddles, a kayak, and a root!

The food raft!

They were on this cliff somewhere...

The tubes took about twice as long to float down the river as the kayaks. So yes, it did take about 4 1/2 hours. We did have our food on a little raft attached to mine and were able to take breaks for that, along with more exploration and play for the kids along the way, but we really didn't think it would take that long. The kids still had a blast and Jason and I enjoyed a lot of it, but we decided that was way too long. Jason even got motion sickness from being in the heat and sun and floating down a river that would sometimes turn you this way or that. While the kids jumped off the cliff, he rested in the shade. 

Once we made it back and Jason was somewhat recovered, we enjoyed the rest of the evening and the next morning at our site before heading back home. I felt so refreshed after a few days out in nature with hardly anyone around. We're so happy Kai introduced us to another favorite place here in Michigan!

Master chef!

Austin, eating handfuls of peas!