Becoming Camp Hosts

The day we left the farm was foggy and cool. You could feel the moisture in the air, and you could only see so far ahead of you before it all turned into white nothingness. It made things seem faded, like an eerie filter that changed the way you saw everything. This might have made it a bit harder to drive, but I loved it for some reason. 

We had just left the farm and were still a little queasy, but we were all excited to be on the road again, after being parked for so long. We'd stayed at a truck stop or a Walmart the night before, and we were heading towards a campground on the bay, called Lamoine State Park. Supposedly, it was across the water from Acadia National park, with a nice view of Cadillac Mountain. 

When we pulled up, we could smell the ocean. I got out, barefoot, and followed my parents across the parking lot to check into the campground. The women in the little building (we'd later come to know her ) was kind, as she checked us in. We had just received our 'business' cards, which explain who we are and what were doing, so my dad gave her one. She seemed surprised, and said we'd be perfect camp hosts. We jumped at the offer (Free camping!) and asked her more about it. She explained it, and it sounded great. Just put in a couple hours a week cleaning bathrooms and chopping firewood, and we could stay for free and get full hook ups (RV slang for water and electricity). 

So, we singed up. We'd put in about 22 hours per week, and the work wasn't that hard. everyone except for dad and Teensie did the bathrooms, which was fine because I got to spray everything down with a hose. We also got to chop and bundle wood with a hydraulic wood splitter that could split wood (or your bones) like a knife through butter, which was fun (dangerous) to use. We ended up staying for month or so, and we all loved it.

A couple of my favorite parts about Lamoine:

1. The Bay
You can smell it when you get in the park, the salty, alive, fish gut smell that, somehow, you like. When you walk down, you can see all the boats anchored there, bobbing alone in the green water. They all have a name written on the back, maybe something clever like "Ship Happens", or "Aquaholic". Most of them are lobster boats, what Maine's famous for.  When you're able to see what's under the water, it's even cooler. Purple starfish, anemones, hermit crabs, and more line the sea floor. We were able to see all of it when we went in our kayaks to a place called Googen's Ledge. You can only go during low tide, but if you do, it's worth it. It's brimming with sea life.

2. Cadillac Mountain. 
If you walk out to the water and look south right before sunset, you can see little car lights slowly moving up a mountain in the distance. They're all tourists going up to see the sunset from the top, and man what a view it is. It's actually the highest point on the east coast, so if you take a (really) early mourning hike up there, you can be the first person in the U.S. to see the sunrise. Don't get me wrong, I did NOT see the sunrise from the top. I can't even get out of bed before eight to eat breakfast, much less get up at four and hike up a mountain. But I can tell you the sunset is amazing from up their. The mountain itself is an island, so when you're looking out, you can see water all around you. The little islands that surround the big Mt. Desert are spread about, seemingly floating in the shiny blue water that reflects the pink sunset. Sometimes the top is in the clouds, and the wisps fly by you, obstructing your view a little, but it's so pretty, you don't even care. Iv'e been up there 5 times, and each time it took my breath away, and I was left in awe. 

3. The Tree House 
There's a loop trail that circles the campground (which I hiked many times) that leads to a huge tree house in the middle of the woods. It's about 40 feet high and has got a rope that taunts everyone who goes there. We've tried to climb it a lot, and so have our friends and family that visited, but no one's ever succeeded. It leaves you mad and frustrated and you feel like a wimp and the next day, your arms are real sore and they hurt, and you can feel it in your core, and you're tired, and you know what I take it back, I don't like that tree house. 

4. The Trees
I don't know if you've ever been to New England in the fall, but if you have, you'd know how freaking amazing the colors are. It seems like it it happens overnight, almost. All the sudden you wake up and the trees are on fire in this amazing way. All of the greens have been replaced with bright reds, maroons, and deep oranges. Just like the fog, it somehow changes everything, making it all a bit more dramatic.

Finally, it just got too frickin cold to be up there any more. There were nights that were under 32 degrees which doesn't work when you live in a school bus. So we left to spend Halloween in Maryland with our friends.