A day at the Eno....




My sweethearts ... Chris,
Andrew, Shannon and Sam



Holiday weekend ... house full of kids and some free time equals a day out at the Westpoint on the Eno ... a true oasis in Durham.  We just love the Eno River and the surrounding park.  It's sort of dear to our hearts ... one of the first places that we took the kids together as a group to get to know each other and we've gone back several times since.   But the true draw is the natural beauty... the fact that you can spend hours just enjoying nature around you ... its a treasure in this area and one that many people don't know about.

So Sunday, we got out of bed and decided it was going to be the perfect day to take a picnic and spend a few hours paddling up and down the river, swimming in the swimming hole and hiking the trails.  After deciding on a menu, I set about preparing a wonderful picnic basket and we rounded up three of the five kids to join us on our adventure.  Avocado chicken salad wraps, tortellini salad and summer pickles were on the menu ... paired with big pitchers of sweet tea and lemonade .... we had the foundation for a great day. 



Well hello there!



We packed up ... a bag with beach towels, sunscreen, a medical kit (a must have on an outing like this), hand sanitizer, a change of clothes, and our delicious lunch ... and headed Northwest to our destination.  Chris had been reading an interesting book that I've had in my collection for a few years called "Weird Carolinas" by Roger Manley and found a  surprise for the kids.  A quick stop just outside the Museum of Life and Science (another Durham treasure) ... a small diversion to our trip.... and a small walk up one of the walking trails and ta da!  What fun it was to see the kids expressions when along the bike/walking trail there stood a brontosarus.  It stood there in all its majesty .... a testiment to a different time ... having weathered hurricanes and storms ... it was beautiful.  I was impressed at how amazing it still looked at the age of 44 ... yes, it was built in 1967 as part of a nature trail system that included several other statues just like it but unfortunately the others were not quite so fortunate.  Thanks to a conservation effort, this bronto still delights pedestrians and cyclists today.  You have to go see it sometime.

Back into the car and back on course we finally pulled into the entrance to the Westpoint on the Eno.  Just in time too ... we were all starved.  This park is fantastic and very "user friendly".  You can park in a number of places that will give you access to the gristmill (still working), the farm house, the river and dam, or to a multitude of picnic tables scattered near the water or near the woods.  We opted though to spread out a quilt that my Grandma Calaway made when she was a young housewife and have our picnic the old fashioned way ... the kids really love it.  In a great place too ... a beautiful spot under a big shade tree next to one of the streams that flows into the river .... absolute perfection.  As was the food!

Tree along the Eno River

I had made a promise to Sam, my son, earlier that morning that we would rent canoes and paddle up and down the river.  The great thing is that its very affordable ... just $12.00 per hour for a canoe.  They have everything you need including the life jackets ... its perfect!  After packing our lunch back into the car, we rented a couple of canoes and set out on an adventure.  Let the fun begin!  The water is really calm and reasonably shallow here ... there are a few spots that are deeper ... so its easy to see all the little creatures swimming along beside you or under your canoe.  We were having a great time just exploring, counting the turtles and trying to spot any wildlife along the shady tree lined banks.  Its funny how the kids really enjoy this, especially given that there are no cell phones or video games involved ... just good old fashioned fun like we had when we were kids.  We spent an hour just paddling around and exploring little coves and then decided to return them and take a hike to the swimming hole and the rope swing ... woohoo!

Andrew gives the thumbs up!

The kids won't even complain of the hike back along the river trail to a spot that is like something out of the past ... like you see in old movies.  The river has an area where it has naturally pooled up and formed a swimming hole that's pretty large and deep enough that you can jump into the water from a rope swing attached to a very large tree.  We had these in the Shade River when I was growing up in southern Ohio and I remember how much fun we had as kids playing in the water.  Our kids ... no matter how big they are ... get so excited to have the opportunity to swing on that rope out over the water and make a big splash when they let go.  They could do it for hours ... and over the next two hours they did just that ... went from jumping from the rope swing to playing on the rocks in the water, a little further up stream and back to the rope swing.  Little explorers and even bigger explorers have a blast climbing on the rocks and playing in the little water holes.  You can find so many interesting things here.  Its just fun to make an adventure out of it and get dirty!  Chris and I were exploring while the kids were playing and found some of the tiniest, cutest little dark green frogs.  They were just popping all over the place.  Chris is an amazing photographer and was able to grab some beautiful  shots of all kinds of interesting things but mostly of natures beauty. 



After being at the park for over four hours, we decided to make the trek back to the car to leave.  Not really wanting to go ... its really hard to say goodbye to this place where time seems to stand still ... but realizing that darkness would be coming soon we decided to leave.  We made our trip back to Cary .... exhausted from our day of fun and exploration ... eager to get showers and curl up for a movie together.  And absolutely satisfied with the wonderful day that we had shared together ... as a family.

If you get the chance, please make this park a must see for you and your family.  You won't regret it and will fall in love with it just like we have.