Our second camping trip of the year was up in York, ME with our friends Matt and Katie and their daughter, Raygen. I mean, we brought our kids, too, but I'm pretty sure that was assumed. We headed up on a Friday after work, and because it's only a 90 minute drive, we had the camper set up, a fire going, and dinner cooking before sundown. Matt and Katie cooked, and used their cast iron campfire sandwich pans to make some pretty delectable pizzas. The kids fell asleep rather easily, and before long the four adults were heavily imbibing and disregarding the early wake up time we faced. Were clothes shed? Now is not the time, nor is it the place to discuss such shenanigans. We're a family joint, here.
Morning came, and with it came four tired, cranky little animals who paid no mind to our headaches and general malaise. But with faces that cute, our animosity faded within seconds. I fired up the burners on the stove and made 10 cups of coffee, followed by my famous, best-in-the-world pancakes with sausage. That surely snapped us out of our haze and we then packed the Suburban, all climbed in, and headed to downtown York where we let the kids run around the beach after spending too much money of cheap souvenirs. You know, that classic American tale. We then treated the kids to York's Wild Animal Kingdom, which is a combination zoo and amusement park. They really hit a homerun with the name, though, as the vast majority of its visitors would have qualified as "wild animals." The kids found amazement in all of the animals, while the adults found amazement in literally every single passerby. It was, quite possibly, the greatest people watching I have ever enjoyed. After the "zoo," we headed back to the campground as dark clouds rolled in and rain threatened to dampen our spirits. See what I did there? Ha. Gold. While Matt and I got a great, big, borderline illegal fire going in the firepit, Brooke, Katie, and the two babies headed back into town to the Union Bluff Hotel to get about $200 in takeout for us to gorge ourselves on. The boys, in the meantime, broke sticks, peed on bugs, and went in search of more Lyme disease. Good times were to be had. The gals returned with a literal smorgasbord of seafood, and we proceeded to destroy this piecemeal buffet in record time. This meal was consumed at a later than normal hour, so dinner got pushed back to quite late in the night - which was ok, because it gave us time to forget about how much we drank the night before and go ahead and make the same mistakes all over again. The kids were properly cared for, so calm down. No need to get the authorities involved. The rain did arrive, and Matt's genius plan, which was dubious at the time, really was a stroke of brilliance. He positioned his EZ-up (you know, the tent-like things that fold up small and when opened provide you with a 12x12 area) over the campfire, which allowed the smoke to escape but managed to retain heat in a way that Google hasn't been able to answer. We stayed dry while enjoying the campfire, too much beer, some under-cooked chicken, and behavior that would make most churchgoers blush. Bedtime was later than the night before, and we paid for it. Oh, did we pay for it.
The kids woke up bright and early. Hooray for all involved. Matt made breakfast that morning, and wowed us with hash browns and scrambled eggs with sasuage, peppers, and onions. Delish! We cleaned up after breakfast, then decided to break camp instead of lingering at the campground. We all had plans to get home at an early hour. Getting home and unpacking after a camping trip is more work than the entire trip itself, so getting home at noon was the greatest decision we made. We had a great time with our friends, and we're sure to have more. Round two this fall? Why not?
Morning came, and with it came four tired, cranky little animals who paid no mind to our headaches and general malaise. But with faces that cute, our animosity faded within seconds. I fired up the burners on the stove and made 10 cups of coffee, followed by my famous, best-in-the-world pancakes with sausage. That surely snapped us out of our haze and we then packed the Suburban, all climbed in, and headed to downtown York where we let the kids run around the beach after spending too much money of cheap souvenirs. You know, that classic American tale. We then treated the kids to York's Wild Animal Kingdom, which is a combination zoo and amusement park. They really hit a homerun with the name, though, as the vast majority of its visitors would have qualified as "wild animals." The kids found amazement in all of the animals, while the adults found amazement in literally every single passerby. It was, quite possibly, the greatest people watching I have ever enjoyed. After the "zoo," we headed back to the campground as dark clouds rolled in and rain threatened to dampen our spirits. See what I did there? Ha. Gold. While Matt and I got a great, big, borderline illegal fire going in the firepit, Brooke, Katie, and the two babies headed back into town to the Union Bluff Hotel to get about $200 in takeout for us to gorge ourselves on. The boys, in the meantime, broke sticks, peed on bugs, and went in search of more Lyme disease. Good times were to be had. The gals returned with a literal smorgasbord of seafood, and we proceeded to destroy this piecemeal buffet in record time. This meal was consumed at a later than normal hour, so dinner got pushed back to quite late in the night - which was ok, because it gave us time to forget about how much we drank the night before and go ahead and make the same mistakes all over again. The kids were properly cared for, so calm down. No need to get the authorities involved. The rain did arrive, and Matt's genius plan, which was dubious at the time, really was a stroke of brilliance. He positioned his EZ-up (you know, the tent-like things that fold up small and when opened provide you with a 12x12 area) over the campfire, which allowed the smoke to escape but managed to retain heat in a way that Google hasn't been able to answer. We stayed dry while enjoying the campfire, too much beer, some under-cooked chicken, and behavior that would make most churchgoers blush. Bedtime was later than the night before, and we paid for it. Oh, did we pay for it.
The kids woke up bright and early. Hooray for all involved. Matt made breakfast that morning, and wowed us with hash browns and scrambled eggs with sasuage, peppers, and onions. Delish! We cleaned up after breakfast, then decided to break camp instead of lingering at the campground. We all had plans to get home at an early hour. Getting home and unpacking after a camping trip is more work than the entire trip itself, so getting home at noon was the greatest decision we made. We had a great time with our friends, and we're sure to have more. Round two this fall? Why not?