I have SO many photos to share...

...from our camping trip to Maine that I will be posting them all week.
First, let me say we, of course, had a fabulous time.

I love camping.
REALLY love camping.

This astonishes many people who look at camping as work; who visualize camping as a bunch of dirt and bugs; who think sleeping in a tent means sleeping on the ground (ugh!); and think bathroom facilities are pit toilets and cold running water with no showers.


Well, that is not the way we camp.
Nope. Nope. Nope.

Most importantly, I need a comfortable bed (20 degree rated sleeping bags, good air mattress and my own pillow from home) ..and with that satisfied, I am a "happy camper" lol. Everything else pales in comparison.

The "work" of camping is fun for me; bugs and dirt are minimal, and a hot shower every day is a must.


Over the years I have reduced everything that we need (other than the kayak, life jackets and paddles) into four containers-
-a cooler,
a "food" box,
a supply box,
and a "kitchen" box.
(and duffel bags that each person packs for himself)

We also choose campgrounds (99% of the time) that are state or government owned that almost always have clean flush toilets and hot showers.

We occasionally choose a privately owned campground, but it must satisfy a few criteria:
1. It can't have too much "people" noise (that eliminates campgrounds with pools, video games, huge RV's, etc) so that we feel like we are getting away from it all..however, I have NEVER heard such loud crows and red squirrel chatter at 5 am in my life. The call of the loons at 10pm is awesome, however.
2. Clean bathrooms;
3. Attentive owners who immediately take care of issues that can crop up (noise, etc);
4. Sites that have privacy and give you the feeling of nature
5. The majority of patrons have tents, not RV's.


These criteria virtually eliminate most private campgrounds, but not all.
We have found one or two that we love and return to them every year.

Here are some photos from the campground in Maine that we return to year after year, as it satisfies all 5 criteria and then some:

This campground has a small building on site that sells ice, wood, coffee, and ice cream in the mornings and evenings. It also has some spotty wifi that we took advantage of to check emails one rainy morning.

 Along with the coffee, they have local bakeries that bring in some baked goods most mornings...I will tell you more about these sticky buns (heaven on a plate) later this week.

 

 That's Norma, retired teacher from NJ, who is, and always will be a teacher. She lives at the campground in the summer and helps out in the store.

 Here is the picnic table when it is nice and neat....

 and keepin' it real..how it usually looked during the week...
 

Our 6th criteria, which I forgot to mention, is that the campground accepts dogs :)

We are big into doing crossword puzzles when we camp...
both during the day...

 ...and at night by the light of the campfire and a flashlight (that Jim has tucked under his chin)

Cold beer + campfire + view=heaven, I tell ya.

 Cooking over a fire at night is one of life's greatest pleasures in my opinion...

 ...and reading by flashlight snuggled in your sleeping bag is a close second.

 We stare at this view and it lulls us into a state of relaxation you can't even imagine.

This is a picture of our campsite, taken while paddling back home in our kayak.

Another keepin' it real picture...the car packed to head home.
We just push it all in and pray nothing falls out when you open the back :)


More pictures tomorrow!