Confessions of the Happy Camper, Day 2

Day 2- Saturday

Things we saw today that we’ve never seen before:

1. The most, ehm, “incredible” campground ever
2. A dead porcupine on the side of the road
3. Portsmouth, New Hampshire
4. Actually, New Hampshire in general
5. A handmade ornament of a baby chick wearing a top hat and bow tie in Gorham, Maine. I am now the proud owner. $6 was never better spent.
6. “Beware: Moose Crossing” signs that actually meant it.
7. A dead porcupine on the side of the road!

Kid you not, those porcupines made my day. I’m sorry they were dead, though.

We woke up in the beautiful (insert sarcasm) town of Salisbury, Massachusetts at the amazing (insert scorn) Black Bear Campground. We could not get out of there fast enough. I asked Lenny if he wanted to check out the nearby beach, and the answer was an emphatic no. So we hit the road and didn’t look back!

Our first stop was in Portsmouth, NH. Saturday was beautiful, and we found a great place to park on the side of a street. We paid two meters (one for the car and one for the camper) and set out to check it out. I took a deep breath, turned to Lenny, grabbed his hand and said, “NOW I feel like I’m on vacation!”

We got a delicious cup of tea for me and a not-so-delicious cup of coffee for Lenny at a little shop. Portsmouth is completely adorable. Lots of little local shops, very few chains, and all in very old, architecturally interesting buildings. We meandered for about an hour an a half, finding a farmers market along the way and picking up some green beans and- get this- a gluten-free moon pie! They actually had a whole gluten-free stand. That moon pie was the highlight of Lenny’s morning. That, or the hilarious Golden Retriever in the dog park who decided to flop himself into a filthy kiddie pool of water and then look at the world like it was the greatest moment of his entire life.

We hit the road again and decided to stop at Walmart for a few odds and ends of things, namely batteries for the electric lantern, bike helmets, and some stuff for lunch. We drove for about another hour into Gorham, Maine, a town I wanted to see because it was founded by my ancestor John Gorham. Such a funny little town! We made gluten-free sandwiches and walked around the two blocks of "downtown." It’s actually a college town for the University of Southern Maine, Portsmouth campus. There’s a beautiful couple of churches, some funky little restaurants, and a couple of cute shops. We spend awhile in one antique shop, chatting with the owner and looking for something to buy. (I just had to have a Gorham souvenir, come on now!) I finally settled on a hilarious handmade ornament made to look like a chick wearing a top hat. Perfect.

We drove about another 3.5 hours and finally arrived in Bar Harbor, where we were supposed to have arrived the night before. Let me just say, the drive in- spectacular. Trees, water, mountains everywhere you look. I was nervous about our campground after the night before, but when we pulled in the, the couple running the office was so kind and sweet. Bar Harbor Campground sits about three miles from the entrance to Acadia National Park and runs only $34 a night for a water and electric site. They told us to go pick any open site we wanted, then come back and register. We drove around the camp and were immediately relieved; big, open sites with plenty of space between and lots of trees and shrubbery for privacy. We came to the top of the crest of a hill were hit with an amazing view of the ocean and misty, tree covered mountains.

Lenny turned to me with a big smile and said, “Baby, this is why we came here.”

We set up the camper (in daylight, nonetheless!) and got settled in, taking our bikes for a stroll and enjoying the perfect evening. My husband is amazing for figuring all this technical stuff out on his own! We decided to go check out Bar Harbor’s little town, which was cute. Our favorite part was walking out on the sandbar that is uncovered in low tide. It’s about a quarter mile stretch to Bar Island on the other side. The twilight was perfect, the stars twinkling and little lights blinking on boats swaying in the water. The town itself is awfully cheesy and touristy, but still cute. We picked up a bottle of raspberry hard cider and came back to make dinner.

Our first dinner was tricky, but a success! I did create a lot of smoke, but we had squash, beans and hot dogs to our fill and it was good, even if the camper does still smell like hot dog smoke. You win some, you lose some I suppose, and this day had a lot more wins than losses, so I’ll take it.

Oh, and the stars last night? Beautiful.

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