camp accommodations

i love going camping. i love the smell of campfire and eating outdoors and taking a morning stroll with coffee in hand. some people wouldn't be caught dead in a tent- they prefer a hotel. i can understand but hotels aren't all their cracked up to be either. with doors slamming from your neighbors, thin walls, weird smells and a blanket that how many people have used? right- I'll share my sleeping bag and air mattress with a few spiders- no problem.

now, we do camp in a tent. no trailer or rv for us. and i don't "hike in" with a load of stuff on my back. that is not fun for me. the car is an essential part of our set up. i also require some type of facilities- preferably a bathhouse with running water, and campgrounds that have actual showers get an A+ rating in my book. (i also seem to require an obscene amount of junk food).

we stayed at sewall campground in acadia national park last week while we were on mt. desert island. it was perfect, quiet, private, wooded and across the street from the ocean. this meant that the entire property smelled like both camp fire and sea breeze- how summery is that?

early on in the spring i had checked the web to figure out where we could stay and what type of accomodations each camp ground had. the national park website said something to the effect of "showers close by for a fee". i figured this meant that the showers were located at a park rangers' station or at another campground in the park. no- it was much more literal than that. the showers were close by (around the corner from the campground entrance) and for a fee ($1 in quarters per min). however they were located here:

let me give you a close up on some of the signage here:

upon our arrival, i was a little skeeved out about the prospect of showering in a camp supply store. i've been in these places before, and they aren't exactly welcoming. they usually sell things like propane tanks, bundles of wood, dry matches, and generic cigarettes and are manned by a hill-billy looking who smokes inside and wears flannel year round. also, this one appeared to have an eatery. can you really shower and get a lobster roll at the same place? well, i am here to tell you that downeast you most certainly can. if you look closer at the signs you can also get both coke and pepsi signs on your store front- which is also weird.

i was a tad disappointed when i read the big sign at the camp ranger station that explained that his was the store to get your shower on. but in keeping with my resolve to "go with the flow" we went to the store to shower and i just smiled. it wasn't exactly luxurious, it got the job done, was plenty private, clean, and had warm water. as much warm water as you had quarters for.

i was proud of myself for not letting this (or the need for a new air mattress pump) spoil my mood. last year this would not have went so well. oh and now i can say i showered at a lobster pound.

get your friggin camp stool

in trying to come up with something witty to say about this photo of grumpy bear lying on the camp stool, i realized that i had nothing to say that grumpy bear couldn't say himself. (he will respond to all inquiries and comments in his spare time. please expect him to be dry and angry in his responses.) for the record, his time in the core was short but that's no matter. he got this bad ass camp stool, a whistle and he is on heightened alert for both fire and disorder. most importantly, he is home to snuggle with joe.

really tall surprises

On the camping trip this weekend, my mother in law kept talking about this “surprise” she had for everyone. after our hike we drove up the winding country highway from the campground to visit fort knox. At first I thought the “surprise” was that we all got there. We had to travel caravan style taking all 3 cars. This would be fine except papa murph was leading the way with his heavy foot. Fortunately it was a pretty straight shot and no one got lost. 40 mins later the signs for the state park started to pop up. As the road winds around you take a pretty sharp corner and on the other side are met with the sight of a massive newly constructed bridge (and the remnants of the old bridge).

The “surprise” was that we got to go up to the observatory on the top of the bridge tower. Some in our group were a bit wary of this surprise but I was psyched. The husband was a tad nervous but was glad it was enclosed in glass. He still has flashbacks to our trip to the Eiffel tower where I kept hanging the camera out the side of the fence in order to photograph the structure. I didn’t get to do that here.
One of the most fascinating things about this was that the new bridge was built right along side the old bridge for something like $1.2 Million, however it is going to cost many millions ($5M, $10M I can’t recall) to take the old bridge down. This is due to the lead paint covering the old bridge and the environmental hazard it poses when dismantling it. It will have to be taken down piece by piece. This was wild to me.

set ups

this weekend we took to the great outdoors for a little r&r- it ended up being more like w&t (wet & tired) but we managed to have a pretty good time. as we walked the dogs around the camp ground i was struck by the different set ups available for camp sites. it seems there is one for everyone.

there was a good representation of huge tour-bus like rv's complete with satellite dishes and flat screen tv's. it was to be expected, i suppose, seeing that we were in the tourist friendly area of camden and it is october. however there were also plenty of pull-behind trailers and tent-cities. there was even a smattering of hard-core campers including a super tough guy who slept in a lean to despite the serious rain storm both nights. i didn't take his picture for fear that such an action would upset him. can you blame me? here are my favorites:

space ship

vw
rain gear

awesomely new

a little old school completely jealously producing

In case you were wondering- we are tent city types thanks to my ll bean working father in law. he rules!

organized ride

insider secret #1....I tend to start organized and end up a mess while on long rides. I have been trying to squelch this nasty habit as I entertain the idea of becoming a professional organizer. my research indicates that I am not alone in my car trip disorganization. with such limited and awkward space coupled with frequent stops, eating in the car and the need to get to everything at some point or another...well it can get out of control quickly.

However, I think I did fairly well on the camping trip a few weeks ago. we unpacked with ease in a matter of an hour or so, so I must have done an ok job. household items were easily placed from their home in the car to their home in the house. dishes were washed and the bins were stored neatly in the garage. the bins were still in good shape and I even thought to have a separate bag to keep dirty laundry. of course I am guessing that this still looks like true chaos:
















packing for camp tips:
1. make a list of everything you need- think big (tent) and small (can opener)
2. make a kitchen bin. keep everything you need for your camp kitchen in this bin. It makes it so much easier to find knives, pots, plasticware, matches, ect when they are all in the same place.
3. check the weather
4. have each camper pack their own clothes. be careful not to over pack but make sure to bring extra footwear.
5. make use of extra space (those sleeping bag duffles also hold the pillow and a sheet)
6. assemble everything from your list in the driveway or the yard before you pack the car.
7. play tetris like a pro and pack the car so you have easy access to the things you may need along the way (cooler)
8. keep it neat while you are there- put things away in their home in the car- don't get lazy it will only bite you in the end.

insider secret #2: yes that is a .99 package of Famous Amos cookies in my messy purse. I have been known to buy them at highway rest areas and eat the whole bag with out sharing. yes I know they are made with the evil hydrogenated oils and yes I know that Amos doesn't make them anymore. I don't care.

day dreaming

long rides lead to day dreams in my world. (I do not have a dreamer catcher hanging from my rear view). lately I have a reoccurring dream about the husband and I owning a fantastic airstream trailer. oh I am in love with this dream lately. I remember I had a paper one that built from an issue of flaunt magazine. it sat on the shelf of my college apartment until I moved. I wish I still had that. I'd find it a spot on my desk at work, as a way to keep the daydreams focused.

at this point though my dream is less about where we go in this beautiful metal contraption and more about what it looks like inside. its certainly more about the dazzling retro curtains, napkin holder, and a set of cast iron cookware. its about the interior color scheme of green and yellow with red accents and vintage table cloths. its about the plastic mixing bowls, checkered linoleum floor tiles, and a red awning off the side. in my dream I sit fireside every evening in the summer and curl up in a dry cushy bed each night. I rise with the birds to make a pot of camp coffee and whip up a batch of flap jacks to share with the husband, and I never get fat. we see the country- each state- even Montana, and swim in rivers, and take pictures of locals and shop at general stores. we visit food festivals in the summer months and take in the history of the southwest after the holiday season.

ok ok I guess its about the look, the destinations, the life that owning such a piece of machinery could offer. maybe one summer we'll rent one and set sail for a while.

other camping highlights

we arrived to set up camp and it looked like rain. I feared that a scary, knock your tent down kind of rain was on the horizon. but instead we got just a few light sprinkles and a rainbow. it was actually a double rainbow- which I don;t know if I had ever seen before.

the .7 mile walk to the outhouse allowed me to photograph the foliage. these babies lifted my spirit after a rough night and a rougher morning.

the blueberries weren't quite ripe yet. they were popping up all over the mountainside. it was just too soon to pick, but I was tempted.

ah- the view of being almost home. definitely a highlight of that trip. where the bad camp karma came from, I don't know, but I have been working hard at reversing its effects ever since.

best sign ever

this has got to be one of my favorite signs. located in the white mountain region of NH in a town between stow and north conway, I only see this sign when we head up to do some camping and venture into town for a little civilization, ice cream, and maybe a trip to the "fancy walmart" to buy a new air mattress. after not making it up to the mts. last year, the husband and I headed up a few weeks ago for a long weekend. and while it certainly wasn't the worst trip ever, there were few high points. the fact that this sign is still up though, definitely a high point.

fortunately for me I also just found this flickr group, where I learned that this advert series was designed by Peter Max. is it true? not sure because I was unable to get to www.petermax.com. however, all signs seem to point to yes. I did learn that he did design a paint job for a jet once but he did not in fact have anything to do with yellow submarine. again- true? who knows.