Thursday, May 9, 2013

Camper

Got four kids in the city begging to go on a summer vacation? What to do? Head to Disneyland? Are you dreaming? With all Dad's assorted extra jobs? Our mom invented 'staycations, but sleeping in tents in the backyard got real old, real fast. So Mom dragged out the old road map, and we headed down Route 1. Our destination was Camden Hills State Park for a week of campfires under the stars, baseball in the big field nearby, hiking Mt. Battie and meeting new friends. Mom secured a large yellow wall tent from neighbors for her and dad, the girls and supplies. Marchin and I threw our sleeping bags into our pup tent and we were happy guys. I can't speak for my brother( he claims he can't remember) or my sister, but the back to back years spending a couple of weeks here were summer highlights for me. A camper like this would have been nice, but it probably would have taken some of the nuances of a week of livin' under the stars away. Not to mention the memories.
"Mom, there are mosquitoes in our tent!"

ps. When Elenka and I first went on a camping trip, I took her here. It poured ALL weekend. Even visiting Camden got old after awhile.

13 comments:

  1. I remember the Wall tent,softball at the field, and pup tent, but thought it was at another campground. I must have been too young or just disinterested.

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  2. I remember many camping trips with the kids also Birdman..these days I like my comforts too much :) maybe the camper van!

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  3. We did lots of camping cross country with our kids when they were small, but I have to laugh now...no-one ventures to a campsite anymore. Did we OD???

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  4. what a great time that must have been!

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  5. From the time I was a toddler, my parents took me along on trips every year. When I was very young, dad worked at a factory that closed for two weeks every summer and he always packed up the car and headed somewhere with mom, me and my sisters. As I approached 12 or 13, dad was self employed but, the summer vacation was still a family tradition and he purchased a travel trailer similar to the one you've pictured. Over the years, it evolved from truck campers, to tents to mini-motorhomes. But, the tradition stayed, we always went somewhere on a summer vacation. Must be why I have wanderlust to this very day.

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  6. It's rained every time that I've gone camping!

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  7. I camped there once, as an adult. Tents only, no camper...loved it...I can see why you enjoyed it as a kid.! Mount Battie State Park is a unique place! As far as rain: I remember a week's camping trip on Isle au Haut (sleeping bags in a lean-to shelter): rain 6 out of 7 days. What a challenge it was to start a campfire!

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  8. I have fond memories of camping with my family as a kid. We had the camper on the back of the truck. I used to love sleeping on the top bunk with the little roll out window open to the stars.

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  9. My family didn't camp in the summer. In fact, we took only one vacation in my childhood, a week to Quebec in the eighth grade. I don't think I would have enjoyed the mosquitos.

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  11. To sleep in a tent as a kid is a high level adventure, even when you sleep in the backyard! Being outside at night, what a thrill! Later, much later, you realise that it hurts your back, that you don't sleep well, that you want your bed : you became old...

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