Say Cheese

Hello World, Good morning, campers and camping fans alike! I am back once again in the bosom of my family from adventures in Vacation Land, and lived to tell the tale, which is not to be taken for granted, believe me. We left on Saturday morning, when much of the country was gripped in the sweaty paw of an intractable heat wave, and I can tell you that it was a long hot drive out there, and setting up two campsites in those conditions was more a test of endurance than we were really prepared for, and this is not our first time at the rodeo, as they say. We basically threw together the tent and spare tent, and then hurried to the beach, because as Bill kept pointing out, "It's the water that makes it all worthwhile." Well, the water did not disappoint, but unfortunately in every other way, our luck finally ran out. Apparently out of the blue, this year the evil minions at the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historical Preservation decided to tear down and replace the entire bathhouse on the boardwalk, and even though we found signs at the beach assuring us it would be finished in "summer 2012," it was obviously still a long way from being complete in the middle of July. This unwelcome surprise limited the amenities at the beach to just about the water, the sand and the lifeguards, as we and everyone else had to do without the concession stand, gift shop and bathrooms for our entire stay. I said to Bill that if they had at least let us know when we registered (online or at the Registration building when we arrived) we could have been prepared to bring our own lunch, or even better would have been to drive a hot dog truck down there for the duration. This was a low blow indeed, especially since we had been pining for their yummy cheese fries since last year, and now we were left high and dry with nothing instead. Of course, Wildwood beach is always a special place, but without the bathhouse, it was a far cry from the magical paradise that we had been anticipating, alas. It was a long hot walk back up from the beach, and even hotter when we set up the rain fly and clothesline at the campsite, so we were glad to make our way to Coram and check into the Gaslight Motor Inn, where we have stayed the last few years. It was just as quiet as we remembered it, and with a first floor room this time around, it was also very convenient. The shower was a welcome relief after a challenging day, and we looked forward to dinner at Denny's, which is a new treat in our vacation experiences lately, thanks to the recent appearance of the franchise in nearby Centereach. Not so fast! It turned out they were woefully unprepared for us at Denny's for whatever reason, and we had to do without our favorite meals and drinks that we always enjoy. For our first Saturday on vacation, this certainly was a strange and unfamiliar wrinkle in our typical food options during the day, that had been consistently predictable up until then, and no kind of improvement, that's for sure. The park was crowded and noisy over the weekend, but by the time Bill went home on Monday, it had really emptied out, so I and the tattered remnant had the run of the place to our hearts' content. There were plenty of squirrels (both gray and black) for peanuts, but no chipmunks anymore, which is one of the things I miss most about Wildwood now, compared to even just the recent past. There were blue jays and crows in abundance, and I even heard chickadees and flickers in the trees, but I never saw a grackle until the very last day when we were packing up. On the unexpected side, I was surprised to spot a gopher in the bushes at the beach, and I don't know which of us was more startled when a tiny gray mole wandered out from under the tent in broad daylight. I found this year's version of what I have come to describe as "The 7:30 Deer" as usual in D Section when I come back from dinner, and like their predecessors, they are so tame that they will stand right there as you take their pictures, and merely flap their ears at you while they chow down on the various underbrush they find to their liking. It could be said that the "blurry deer pictures" are replacing the traditional "bad chipmunk pictures" that have been the mainstay of my family's camping experiences over the decades, but the purist in me still insists that it's really not the same thing at all. Meanwhile on the clandestine front, I thought the spy site would be C-16 on the corner behind me, but I discovered later that they were just a very well-behaved middle-aged couple with extremely quiet habits, and I never heard 2 peeps out of them the entire time, although they were often at the site puttering about or relaxing, in between their forays for hiking, jogging or sight-seeing. The spies turned out to be in D Section instead, and were easy to spot because they were right on the outside circle, so I went past them at least twice a day. The site sported a tiny tent with matching camp chairs, and the usual tell-tale signs of no car, no kitchen, no beach towels, no grill - and it goes without saying that I never clapped eyes on a person there the whole week. This may be what they call the New Camping, like New Math, but as far as I'm concerned, it's just the same old spy game. During the week, the park was empty and really quiet, and the weather was perfect every single day - although admittedly, some days it would have been considered oppressively hot, if I had to go to work in it, rather than going to the beach. The water was clear and cool, but not as calm as it usually is, and it was an interesting change of pace to have actual swells or choppy surf with strong currents, like swimming at some unfamiliar beach, instead of the glassy stillness that Wildwood is so famous for. In fact, it may have been too much for one family that I spotted there later in the week, who went to all the trouble to actually bring their own kiddie pool all the way down to the beach with them, which for me, strikes a new high (or perhaps low) in the annals of outrageous camping oddities through the years. Although when it comes to outrageous, I think Bill would agree with me that taking the prize for that this year, hands down, would be the campsite along the inner circle of C Section, where they brought their own satellite dish and propped it up on a makeshift platform of boxes and boards, no doubt to the great appreciation of their neighbors during their stay (NOT) and which arrangement was so precarious that when it remained behind after they left, the park staff hurried over to dismantle and cart it away before the relentless pull of gravity turned it into a public menace. Of course, that meant that the raccoons had to find somewhere else to get their fill of "Keeping Up With The Kardashians," but frankly, I though the protest signs were just way too much. Here was perhaps my favorite moment from the whole week. It was at 6:00 PM on Thursday when I was leaving the park to have dinner, and noticed that they had put out the "Park is Full to Capacity, No Sites Available" sign outside of the entrance. Mind you, I had just walked through the campground on my way back from the beach, so I can assure you that at that time, there were exactly 4 people in C (of which I was one of them) and 2 people in D. There was not one single solitary soul in all of A, from one side of the section all the way to the other, and if there was anybody in B at all, I never set eyes on them, so it certainly could not have been more than one, if that. A person who saw the capacity sign while floating over the park in a hot air balloon, would have been forgiven for finding its claims fanciful in the extreme, if not downright spurious, and I ought to know. By Friday night, the joint was jumping, making me start longing for the peace and quiet of home, sweet home once again. Bill showed up bright and early on Saturday morning, and it didn't take long to have both campsites all packed up and ready for the next inhabitants. We checked out and went back down to the beach for another day in the sand, and it was not nearly as crowded as we would have expected, considering that the park was mobbed, and the weather was beautiful. When it got late enough for us to start thinking about dinner, we hit the road and headed west, young man. Since our previous outing at Denny's had proved to be less than perfection itself, we decided to try Friendly's instead on the way back, and we already knew there was one handily located near the Gaslight motel, since we had passed it numerous times while we were there. Anyone who hasn't been to Friendly's in a while might want to give them another try, because their menu has expanded to include a welter of new meal, drink and dessert options that are sure to please. You can believe me when I say that their Ultimate Grilled Cheese is everything they claim, and one of the best things I have ever put in my mouth - although I admit that I did not spoil the moment by looking at the calorie count, which is something they display so prominently on their menu that it would make anybody lose their appetite. The trip home was uneventful, and although there wasn't traffic to speak of, it still took us until after 9:00 PM to finally get home, and at that point, I can tell you that we just left everything in the cars to unpack another day. The cats greeted my return with their patented "deer in the headlights" gaze, with the implication that they didn't remember who I was, or if they did, they couldn't exactly recall if they liked me or not. Heck, I was more popular with the 7:30 deer at the park, than with the jittery felines at our own house, for heaven's sake. So that's all the news from the campground that's fit to print, and while the week had its ups and downs, overall it was a fun frolic in the woods, and a refreshing break in the ordinary routine. I'm already looking forward to next year, with the promise of a brand new (and hopefully improved) bathhouse at the beach, not to mention, the return of cheese fries, which will be even more appreciated after being deprived of them this time around. As usual, I expect it will take months to plow through all of my dirty laundry, and there will probably be snow on the ground before everything is all packed away again, but I'll still have my memories to keep me warm. In fact, I should certainly hunker down and get started on that right now, but I can hear the neighbors complaining about the raccoons watching the Kardashians at full volume, and I have to go tell them to turn it down - and personally, I couldn't care less about their protest signs. Elle