Summit Lake State Park

Last March, in the continuing throes of the pandemic, we increased our camping experiences in an attempt to safely fill our time, take Thea on adventures, and explore the great outdoors. For one of our next camping trips with Miss Thea, we joined Thea's grand-pawrents who generously share their RV camper with us on their adventures. We joined them at Summit Lake State Park in New Castle, Indiana (about an hour east of Indianapolis).

Summit Lake is a beautiful, simple camping spot for local exploring. The lake allows fishing (we don't fish, though) and the campground allows direct access to and views of the lake. While camping with our in-laws at the campground, we had the opportunity to kayak together on the lake. This allowed the first opportunity for Thea to KAYAK with her mom!!!!

We knew we wanted to try kayaking with Thea ahead of time, so we purchased a life jacket for her since we weren't sure of her swimming abilities and wanted to be safe. We also allowed her into the kayak on dry land to get used to it ahead of time. I was feeling worried about Thea jumping out and swimming away, so we also tied in her life jacket to the kayak with a leash; we made the leash loose enough that if she wanted to swim, she would be pulled along with us comfortably, but wouldn't stray too far. At Summit, however, Thea did not wish to swim and stayed in the kayak throughout our paddle. She looked around and saw lots of turtles, birds, and the occasional fish.

For kayaking, our in-laws brought fabulous inflatable kayaks that do the job well. These were lovely for small lake paddling, but are not recommended for choppy water. They have two seats which allowed Thea to sit comfortably in her own seat. The water is also very shallow and clear near the launch which allowed some flexibility if Thea had difficulty getting used to the kayak or if I needed to get out of the boat to help her. Thea, being the absolute perfect sweetie pie she is, did phenomenally kayaking. We had a blast together and felt bonded through the experience.

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In addition to general camping fun, spotting wildlife, and kayaking, during our trip to

Summit Lake we also enjoyed some disc golf nearby at Boondocks Farm Disc Golf Course. Thea's dad LOVES disc golf (and is pretty talented at it) so we had to visit the nearby course. This course is on private property and may require you to contact them ahead of time. Boondocks was a beautiful course through the woods and farmland where we were able to see some beautiful plants and adventure about. The course is complete with its own farm dog, a golden retriever who befriended Thea quickly. (Thea interacts very positively with other dogs - which we knew ahead of time from taking her to dog parks and engaging with others; we know that may not always be the case, no matter how submissive she is - sometimes other dogs don't want to be engaged with! Make sure to know your dog's comfort level with other dogs before you put them or any other dogs at risk carelessly interacting them! Thea's grand-pawrents' dog, Buster, does not love other dogs besides Thea, so he stayed away from this new dog pal.)

The course was undoubtedly beautiful and cool, but be sure to exercise caution as some bridges are out throughout the course. Disc golf is a great, fun activity to take your doggos with you, but be sure to not interrupt other players by letting your dog wander if there are others on the course. Also, from experience, make sure your pup does not trip you while you're teeing off.... that can be a painful lesson to learn. Overall, we are really glad we could explore this space all together.

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Overall, this weekend trip was a perfect way to continue getting to know our Thea girl and bond over some physical activity, new sights, and quality time. Thea and I even took a sunrise walk to enjoy the morning view on the lake. This turned into a fun photoshoot with some of my favorite photos of Thea. She enjoyed this time sniffing the geese and staring at fish in the water. Our dogs teach us lessons in these quiet moments if we just listen - there are always things happening around us that are worth our time and senses if we just spend the time together to look.

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