THE CAMP INSANITY JOURNAL

My Dad was an optician who worked in Schenectady, New York. The General Electric (GE) began in Schenectady and still is there. This is a photo of a day planner that my Dad received from the GE every year that he was contracted to take care of the GE's employees who needed safety glasses.

Neither my Mom nor Dad used a day planner and because they never threw anything away, my sister Elaine and I were happy to find one of the day planners and use it to plan our first trip (1986) into the woods with our kids, to camp at the Sacandaga Campground in Wells, NY.

This day planner started out as a place to put our lists. Supplies, equipment, clothing needs, menus. We would use it to edit our menu plans and shopping lists and because the food plan was in it, it went to camp with us. We would check it daily to know what the menu plan was for that day for all our happy campers and it kept us on track so we didn't run out of food for a two-week stay.

What it turned into by accident was not only a place to put our plans, but also a place to put notes on what we forgot or needed for next year. The best part was it became a place to write down what was going on with our happy campers. It became our journal, our diary and from the first year on we have never been without it.

Since 1986 we've filled quite a few of these day planners.  We don't pay attention to the dates on the page, or the year on the front. We just start our new camping experience at the next empty page and title it with the year. We write day by day, putting down the stuff we don't want to forget, the funny stories and sometimes the not so funny stories. Things that tickle our funny bone and things that make us mad. Food disasters, first aid needs, poison ivy, bears, great hikes, laughter and great tubing on the Sacandaga River are all included.

Last year our journal come home with me to transcribe and get it on the computer to be sent to my sister and it becomes the next chapter in the big book called the HISTORY OF CAMP INSANITY.

 Last weekend I transcribed what we wrote and sent it off to my sister.

It started off with Elaine writing, "This is a year that tells we are aging". She had surgery on her hand and I was not well, newly diagnosed with Crohn's but that wasn't going to stop us. Kate and Jessie (two of Elaine's daughters) showed up to help us get set up. It was wonderful and a blessing to have the help.

I am happy to say Elaine and I are both back to our old selves, strong, well and  ready for camp! All the kids are showing up for the first weekend for a reunion this year. YEA! They will all be there to help set up camp. That includes, our tarp, our sleeping tent and the kitchen tent  including hooking up the Coleman Stove. All our kids have their own tents. We've reserved three sites to accomidate all of us.

A tradition is to tell about the weather. This journal reminds us of just how hot and humid it was last summer. It was so hot and humid we did the unthinkable – we drove to the recycle and garbage shed just so we could turn on the air conditioner in the car. Normally we would hike with our trash.

We also spend a lot of time in the river when it's that hot. This photo of our kids when they were small.

It reminds us what we tend to forget. Like a backscratcher.

And how much fun our kids were to be around.

 News flash last year was of an electrical storm that blew out the campground pump and closed the bathrooms and opened up the out houses for a night and day. Yikes!

Last summer we had a few solid days of rain. Since we put up a huge tarp we stay dry during the day and because we have a really good tent we stay dry and warm at night. Last year we became bored with several days of rain so we ventured out to Speculator and the neighboring towns to look around the shops and pick up some groceries.

We talk about food. How good the scallop/bacon/mushroom K-bobs with rice and fresh green beans were but how the mushrooms didn't cook so next year we will use pineapple instead.( For example)

We write about the people we've known on and off for years while camping with kids. We have friends who come up to camp at the same time so we can share water play, meals and laughter with them. We are friends with the camp ranger and she tells some hilarious stories and entertains us when she stops by to say hello or fill us in on the latest gossip.

Some of our kids came to visit. Kate and her friend Kim and my Christina and Michelle. Michelle and Kate and Jessie are Gather girls). They cooked for us and we had a wonderful meal (any meal we didn't have to fix is fantastic.). As adults they set up their own tents – YEA!

One of the highlights of the girls visit was the town of Wells Town-Wide Yard Sale.  Everyone spent money and we all got great stuff. Big cushions for us to sit on at the picnic table, lots of candles to light up our night, buttons for my sister the seamstress, books, magazines, dishes and even Maple Syrup.

Our hike to Hope falls with Michelle and Christina is in there.

Over the years we have wonderful stories of hiking with the kids, of their adventures, of our neighbors and of lots of laughter and fun.

We talk about the wildlife we see. A beautiful Heron we've watched for years, baby ducks in the river and a small bear we spotted across the river.

We also kept tract of the things that scared us a bit. Things like the bears, weird neighbors, of trees falling down and even a flood. We included dead car batteries stories too.

 What I didn't know about transcribing last year's journal was that it would make me yearn to be there, next to the Sacandaga River, right now! We don't camp for another few weeks but it certainly lit the fire of anticipation.  I am now dreaming nightly of camping on the Sacandaga river.

All photos were taken by myself  and my sister Elaine M.

If you want to read more about the Sacandaga Campground and Camp Insanity, check out our other articles about our adventures.

Inuksuks in the Mist

The Sacandaga Campground