A Time to "Rember"

 

 

 This camp has been in my family since 1960, and before this one was constructed, there was another one a couple miles down the road that was built in 1947. The area has served it's purpose for decades. Lots of memories. I remember one Halloween my great grandmother decorated the road with torn up ghost sheets. As you can see by the pictures, it does have a little bit of a spooky feel.

Hunting camp in my family is mostly used by the men. It's understood that women don't go to stay to interrupt the man time. Every fall we lose them for days at a time to their playground, and they return refreshed with a new batch of memories. Some are said out loud and others are only whispered and giggled about. Sunday is a safe day to pack up the kids and a lunch to take in to the menfolk to enjoy a nice family afternoon! But come two o'clock we're usually "heading er' for home".

 

 

Awesome day spent with my Dad, Mom, brother, and the boys. <3


The lunch we brought for Dad. Um...yum. Homemade meatball subs. Awesome camp lunch.

 





Views from the top of Washington Bald Mountain. The lake in the top left is 3rd Machias.

When we found out we were moving to Clayton lake, news spread in our small town and the peppering of questions began. I wish I had a few reactions on tape. They were priceless. People seemed to be quite concerned, and I found myself feeling a need to defend myself....to justify our decision to move there or to explain why I thought I was going to be ok. I always came back to this place in my defense. I would explain that I knew what it was like to spend the night in a real hunting camp with no running water, no indoor toilet, no electricity, miles from the nearest paved road or store, no cell phone service, and a guaranteed sign of mice inside the camp. Really, I think I was trying to convince myself just as much as I was them that I was going to be fine. Was I positive that I would be? Not really. I had no idea how I was going to feel about it. I told Evan almost everyday that

I wanted for nothing more than to love it...the alternative would be just be an inconvenience!

 

I am so happy to say that I'm loving it. A couple of weeks ago, Jason Aldean's song "Fast" came on Pandora and there's a line in it, "Goodbye gravel road, thanks for the ride" and I started crying!! Evan looked at me and said, "What is wrong???" I think after the last year of spending SO much time apart because of police training and warden training....Clayton lake is the first place in a long time that we've had the chance to be together. I know that when we leave the North Woods, it will be the end of an era for our little family. I don't like to think about it. Funny how my concerns have completely changed from 6 months ago. Now, to survive winter!  

 



Family <3