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Our first stop on our week long camping adventure was Bear Brook State Park in New Hampshire. Touted to be New Hampshire’s most developed state park, the campground loop we stayed in was tent only, located on a lake with plenty of hiking trails. We spent much of the day we had there exploring the various trails, with the dogs of course. Oddly enough, for such a big state park, it seemed as though there really wasn’t much effort or consideration put into planning it. The trails were poorly marked, the staff didn’t know too much, and there weren’t many facilities. Nonetheless, overall it was a nice stay and we spent much of our time hiking the many trails and taking in the different colors of fall.
Then it was off to Salty Acres campground in Maine. Oh, Maine. Let me begin by saying that this post will not do Maine justice, particularly Kennebunkport. Once we got our tent set up at the campground, where we were the only campers in the whole park, we headed over to the water. It just so happened that there was a pretty big swell so we quickly learned of the rather large surfer community in Maine, weird right? There were quite a few people out in the water, in wet suits obviously, paddling around and catching waves, some better than I’ve seen in Florida.
After assessing the situation, Ryan grabbed his surf board and headed into the waves while they were good. I stayed on the shore with the pups and we ran up down the beach playing in the sand. Eventually, once the sun was barely visible over the western horizon, Ryan came out of the water and we got to talking with a few of the locals. I was already convinced of the beauty of this place, but the town enthusiasts went on to tell us about how much the area had to offer. After talking for a while we headed back to our campsite where we went to bed excited to explore the town.
We spent the next morning walking the beach with the dogs. Though the air was crisp with the coming winter, the sun was warm and it felt fantastic to be back by the sea.
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We spent the next morning walking the next morning meandering the coastline while the dogs played in the water. Being the off-season, we didn’t see anyone else on the beach so we let Honey and Mocha run free. The shore was the epitome of a Maine postcard and it felt great to back on the beach. Then we had lunch at our campsite and headed to downtown Kennebunkport. On the way we passed the Bush residence, which looked more like a compound than a vacation home, but was neat to see nonetheless. We explored the downtown area and decided on a restaurant with an outside dock for dinner. We ordered a famous lobster dinner with New England clam chowder…When in Rome.
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Afterwards, we found a quaint, local ice cream shop to get dessert at, which might have been a bad choice considering the temperature was dropping rapidly. By the time we got back to our campsite the cold was easily cutting through our warm clothes, so we decided to crawl into our sleeping bags and call it an early night. It got down to 31 degrees that night, but luckily we have some pretty decent sleeping bags. Oh, and the dogs crawled in with us as well 😉
Then, it was off to Massachusetts. Our destination: Nickerson State Park on Cape Cod. We really couldn’t believe that each campsite would keep getting better, but it truly did. Nickerson State Park was just a fantastic park, with nearly 2,000 acres of trails and campsites. Our site was located right on a lake so we let the dogs swim for the afternoon and then sat around the campfire enjoying the comparably warmer weather.
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The next day we went to the ocean side of cape cod to visit the national seashore. It was pretty deserted, except for the few tour tour bus loads passing through periodically. Mostly full of elderly people, they shuffled to the look out decks and stayed for a bit. We had a few good conversations with some different folks as we made our way down to the shore, mostly becuase apparently older people are just fascinated with Honey’s stubby legs and fluffy hair. Once we got to down to the water, the dogs went right in and we walked the shore letting them run and swim…I’m starting to realize this is more so a vacation for the dogs!
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Though it’s against our conservative camping tradition, we went out to dinner again to get a feel for the Cape Cod fare. We ordered the Fisherman’s Platter, of course, which consisted of fish, shrimp, scallops, and clams, all fried and served atop a plate of fries. It was delicious at first, but we found it hard to finish since we haven’t eaten anything fried in quite some time.
The following morning we were off to Promised Land State Park in Pennsylvania. Again, this park was somehow even more beautiful than the previous. We spent the afternoon sitting at our campsite watching the sun set behind the trees that were perched across the lake. In the early hours of the morning we woke to the sound of rain falling on the tent. Though the rain wasn’t heavy, it lasted all night and into the late morning. With everything soaked, we decided to pack up and head to my dad’s house a day early. Luckily that was the only bad weather we encountered the whole week and there was no better day for it to happen but the day before we were to leave for my father’s.
There’s really nothing like spending a week in something so simple as camping. With plenty of time to sit and observe nature, as well as immerse yourself in some serious daydreaming, it really grounds you. That being said, I couldn’t help but think of Ziggy Marley’s song Dragonfly.
Everybody’s worried about time
But I just keep that shit off my mind
People living on twenty-four hour clocks
But we’re on a ride that never stops
Hey Mr. Tree, the world change, but you remain the same
And I wonder how you’ll survive with the environment going down the drain
Hey Miss Dragonfly, I see you look at me with your beautiful eyes
You must be wondering, what type of creature am I?
Tonya & Ryan
Just as Free 