Sunset Haven

This is Day 7 of the First Annual 10 Days of Heat writing challenge hosted by P. J. at A ‘lil HooHaa. Today's prompt is Camp Life. Please join me in checking out the other hot stories.

Hey guys, this is a tough topic. I have never been camping. I never went to summer camp as a kid. The closest I've ever come to camping is driving through a campground and going to an RV show.

Image from Pixabay*

Having said that, back when I was a kid, my parents and I would visit relatives up North each summer. My aunt and uncle lived in New Hampshire a few miles from the coast, so occasionally we would go to the beach. Other times, we would drive to their "camp" on a lake in Maine. The camp consisted of a red wooden building complete with a picnic table, lawn chairs, and some old kitchen cabinets. That was so long ago I don't recall if there was electricity.

We used an old 55-gallon oil drum cut in half lengthwise as a grill. The menu was hot dogs and hamburgers, likely accompanied by garden-fresh veggies, and homemade cookies, cake or pie.

There was no running water so we had an outhouse. It did have a regular toilet but you had to use a hand pump to fill the tank to flush. It was a courtesy to pump after your visit so it would be ready for the next person.

While there were tent platforms out back, and perhaps a loft inside, we never stayed over night. That doesn't mean we didn't have our adventures. One day we drove all the way out there only to find that we had forgotten to take the key. Daddy and my uncle had to take the door off the hinges, which shows just how secure the place was, but it was so far off the beaten path and this was back in the 70s...things were pretty safe.

On another day, we strapped a row boat on the top of my uncle's station wagon and took it to camp. As far as I know this wasn't a large lake, but maybe a brackish water lake or pond or possibly even an inlet or cove on a larger lake.  There has been a lot of water under the bridge since then so my memory isn't exact.

Anyway, Daddy, and my uncle and I went out in the boat. I was probably about 12 and at that time I couldn't swim. Of course there were no life jackets in the old row boat. We all managed to get back safely after our excursion across the lake to look at the big rock on the other side where there was a snake happily sunning away. Fortunately my aunt did not come with us. She probably would have screamed to be heard clear down to the main road. To say that she didn't like snakes was an extreme understatement.

Other activities included fishing, exploring and picking wild blueberries, visiting with the ducks that came by sometimes, and swatting mosquitoes, because, after all, this was Maine...in the woods, on a lake, in the summer.

So while I haven't really experienced any actual camping, this was my camp life experience at Sunset Haven.

*I have actual pictures of Sunset Haven, but it would take way to long to find them for this post.



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