Camp Ramblings

If you've never camped in a trailer campground before, I recommend it be added to your bucket list, along with more lofty goals such as climbing Mount Everest or sailing around the Greek Isles (wink wink Jay and Alicia).

It's a true study in humanities. You have your high-dollar rigs, like mom and dad's, and you have everybody else.

The big rigs usually have a nice screen porch with chairs, tables and a little sign out front announcing their name and where they're from. They are often out walking their teacup doggies.

Everyone else is the middle-class set, and it appears that they travel with no less than 10 to 15 to a trailer. It should be noted, however, that even the trailers aren't cheap. You can't even get a small pop-up for less than $4K, and most pull-behind campers are in the $15K an up range. I guess if everyone pitches in together...

Anyway, most have set up elaborate campsites complete with decorative lights, camp chairs, screened porches, makeshift kitchen set ups, and fake flower arrangements. The adults are usually slung back in one of the camp chairs zoning or people watching... I suspect that most are trying to take their mind off of a factory job they left behind for the week.

The kids, on the otherhand, are busy. If they aren't in the pool or running in and out of their camper, they are riding their bicycles, round and round the campground. They also love a campfire, especially if there are marshmallows and sticks around.

Clothing is optional. If you've ever been to Emerald Pointe Water Park, you know what I'm talking about. Lots of cleavage and tattoos that most of us would rather not see. Not even a hormonal teenage boy would enjoy some of the skin we have seen. Ladies, keep it under wraps, please!!

All this said... Cheryl and I really need to trick out the trailer. We have no pink flamingo lights, no fake bouquet and no matching lawn chairs. I can probably yank my tank top down a bit because we like to think we are the best-looking people out here.

Awww heck. We're rednecks, aren't we? Friends, I'm sure you've been afraid to tell us all this time, and we surely appreciate it, but from the looks of our dirty, beat-up kids with stringy hair, riding their bicycles around the campsite and playing with fire, we are just one string of tacky lights away from fitting right in.

Baltimore, Annapolis, and Gettysburg

We've only been away four days, and we've already hit three destinations -- quite a contrast to last year's trip out west. We spent a day in Annapolis, seeing the harbor, touring the Naval Academy, and eating crab cakes. The Naval Academy was beautiful...if you looked closely, the decoration on the buildings had naval themes, with boats, fish, and rolling waves. John McCain attended here, as did Ross Perot and Jimmy Carter.

The shopping alone was worth another visit someday, and, of course, when you're travelling with children, there's no time to shop.

Baltimore was wet, and the children learned a new term: panhandler. We focused most of our time on the Chesapeake Bay-area of the city, touring the USS Constellation (civil war-era sailing ship) and a submarine from WWII.

We packed up and headed to Gettysburg for a day touring the battlefields and a brand-new museum. As we passed through the town, Cheryl and I salivated at the sight of more cute stores... no... we are here to honor the dead... so get on to the battlefield, people!

It was an awesome sight. The shear number of monuments erected on the 10-square-mile site a testament to the importance of this place in our country's history. Tens of thousands of men died over a four-day period. It's still hard to believe that American men could just run at each other like that. Honestly, you really need a couple of days to fully digest the magnitude of the battle and what was left for the people of Gettysburg to clean up afterwards.

We are now in Hershey, Pa. for two days. Thanks for traveling along with us!

Jennifer

Off to New England

To borrow a phrase from Willie Nelson....

"We're on the road again. Here we are back on the road again. Our friends and family think we've lost our minds, but then, we can't wait to be on the road again!"

The Holland extended family crew is back on the road this summer, and while we saw a lot of corn in 2007, we expect this trip will be marked by lots of traffic.

We have headed north for three weeks, with a northern-most destination of Bar Harbor, Maine. On the first day (yesterday) we made it all the way to Annapolis, Maryland, with few complaints. Even the campground is fairly decent. I don't know if we've just lowered our expectations or if the "new" of traveling has just worn off or if I am just a little more excited about our itinerary, but it seems that we just got in the car and took off this time. No drama, no nothing, just gassed up and went.

That said, my mother spend two weeks cooking ahead of time, and Cheryl bought new tires and a vanity plate for her pull-behind camper, so I'm sure someone put in some work before we piled in.

This year, we should be posting a lot more, as I have an Alltel wireless internet connection. No more connecting in the laundry room, middle of a field, or at the mercy of a coot in the middle of nowhere. Where is the fun in this trip???? It's only the second day... I'm sure there's an overnight in a Wal-Mart parking lot somewhere in our future.

It's time to shower our dirty children. I will post pictures from our day in GORGEOUS Annapolis, MD tomorrow.