Happy Halloween.....from camp....
Yes its that time of the year again at the camp. One more holiday to go and then we lock the place up for the winter. Its a sad goodbye though. It means that my mom will be leaving soon to go to Florida for the winter and I wont see her again til April. Im cramming all the time that I can at the camp with her. I miss her when she leaves.
So this past weekend was Halloween there. We celebrate all the holidays there early because we are closed before the real ones occur. We have Christmas in July, Halloween in September and Thanksgiving in October. Every year it gets better and better. Last year we had a lot going on. This year we have a lot of new sites opened with all new people.
This year we had a few problems. One being the rain. Thanks to Hurricane Kyle. Seems that most of them are hitting up north and dumping on us here. But Im not getting into that discussion. So Saturday morning rolls around and I know I have to get up early and get on the road to be there in time for the festivities. In other words, help decorate. I love Halloween and decorating for it is a lot of fun. Mousie comes up with some really great ideas.
I get on the road and its raining. That seems to be happening more often than not. The rain, I mean. I have the truck this time so Im not bothered by it too much. I really hate driving the mountain roads in the rain. Unless I have a rally car. But alas, I dont, so thats another story.
I pull into the camp at about 10am and go into the office to check in for the night. Then I head to the campsite and find somewhere to park the big beast. Not alot of room with a car, a van and two golfcarts around. So I park and step out and discover that with the rain, comes the mud. We have red clay there and it makes for something very slippery.
I get everything inside and then settle down at the table. When I was at the office, I was informed that they will still have the kids party at the Rec-Hall at 1pm and then something about the candy will all be there for the kids since the rain wont allow for Trick-or-Treating. Which in a way is good because Id hate to be walking in all that mud.
Cami is getting anxious for go to the party but I told her that she will have to wait for a while. About noonish the rain stopped and the sun started to peek through the clouds. This is a good sign. So at about 12:45, I got her all ready to go to the party. I decided not to dress up though. I didnt see the point of it at the moment. Now I wish I had because I needed the image for my card.
We went to the party with my mom. She likes looking at all the costumes. Or so she says. I think she just likes to be there to paint the pumpkin with Cami. I think she goes to it to get all the snacks too. She heads right for the jello jigglers. But she never makes them at home. Hmmmm.....
After the party, its time to go trick-or-treating. I try to tell Cami to wait a little while because not everyone is back at their trailers yet to hand out candy. But of course she insists. So I take my time driving the cart around. You honestly dont think I would let her walk through all that mud do you? Not. Im not cleaning that up.
So we head off in the opposite direction of the main crowd of kids. Nothing like hanging out with 80 screaming kids demanding candy. Not going to happen. I stopped and took some pictures here and there. Some of the sites came out cool. I ran into some people that said that the haunted hayride will take place if the weather holds nice so everyone is scrambling to get decorated for it. No one wanted to decorate in the rain.
While I was out with Cami, mom and Mousie started setting things up at the trailer. We are located in a part of the park that is off the main drag. It will take the kiddies a little while to get there. They wanted to be somewhat ready for them. The hayride wont be til after dark.
She had a lot of fun doing all this. And she made sure not to mess up her dress too much. Well except for when her bag handle broke. She went up to Mosuies sons site and they dumped a bunch of candy in her dress. She held it up like a pouch and they filled it. So when she came back to the cart, she set her dress hem on the cart floor and put the candy into the bag. Im sure I will be able to get that all cleaned off though.
After we did all that, we were on our way back to the trailer and I ran into some friends. We chatted a while and I said I would be back later after the ride. I knew this was going to be a lot of fun. We had dinner and relaxed for a while. Watched a few kids come and go for candy and then it was all over. I helped Mousie finish the decorating and we set up all the lights, fog machine and strobs. Got the wolfman in the grave and hung up Bill. Next year we need something new.
It started to get dark and I really didnt feel like going on the hayride. Last year we were in the flat trailer and I wasnt about to sit on the wet muddy floor. I wasnt feeling too well either. Ive been so sick for the past few days. Tonight my sinuses decided to open and drain. My left eye was running and my throat was raw. But my mom was insisting that I take Cami and Cami was also being very persistant. Ok Ok. I will go. But Im only doing this for one round.
Last year we had some really cool walk throughs. This year, there wont be as many. The big one that is usually the scariest wont be set up. The camper there is up for sale. Sad. The other one that I like wont be open as well. That camper is also up for sale. Its sad how the economy is on people that they cant afford to enjoy the things they have loved doing for so many years. No one can afford the gas to come to the place anymore. But I know there are others that have set up the walk throughs. Not sure what anyone in the new section is doing.
We go up to the Rec-Hall to wait in line for the hayride. Its not long before they let the first group go. They are going to run them every 20 minutes and two trucks. Not too bad. And this year, we have the trailers with the seats. We get on the second one and there is a girl all dressed in goth. Cami tells her that she likes her costume. This is how the conversation went.
Cami: I like your costume.
Girl: I always dress this way. (with a smile)
Cami: Oh.
Cami: (paused for a few) But I still like your costume.
Girl: Thanks. (with a smile)
So she was sincere about it and Cami was a little confused. She knows what goth is but shes never seen it up close. But it was soon forgotten and the girl was really cool about it and even talked to Cami during the ride. While going around the campgrounds, we see a lot of campers did decorate for this. We stopped at a couple of walk throughs and also there were people dressed up and jumping out at us. Being that we are friends with most of these people, they tended to single me and Cami out. I took some pictures and they came out cool. If I get a chance, I will post them included in this blog. So you may want to check back for when I do.
We had a great night and we finished it off by sitting by the fire. It was an odd fire though. Usually we put stuff in the fire to make it glow in different colors. Its a favorite thing that I like to do. Nothing like hanging out and watching blue, purple and green flames. But this time it was doing it all on its own. I think there was something in a log that we used. The wood was wet to begin with and we had a hell of a time keeping it going. But once it was well on its way, the flame changed on its own.
Cami watched tv for a little while and then went to sleep on her own. I know she was tired and so was I. My ass was planted to that chair in front of the fire and if it wasnt for the bears in the woods, I would have slept there all night. It was a beautiful night and it wasnt cold at all. Comfortable. The way I like it.
Im dreading this coming weekend because it will be my last day there til Spring. Its a sad time for me as this is one of my favorite places to be. Winter in the city is not a good time for me. Although I love winter, I hate the city.
I did not adjust any color on this picture.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e21/BrowderChick/camp2008121.jpg
Here is some from Halloween.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e21/BrowderChick/camp2008105.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e21/BrowderChick/camp2008106.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e21/BrowderChick/camp2008097.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e21/BrowderChick/camp2008090.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e21/BrowderChick/camp2008086.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e21/BrowderChick/camp2008104.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e21/BrowderChick/camp2008093.jpg
