Yesterday I walked around checking out the gardens and found blooming crocuses by the beach and along the stream towards the ocean tenting area…We open in exactly one month!  For a moment there was the exhilaration in my stomach of sitting on top of a roller coaster before it zooms down the hill as I looked at the knee deep patches of snow…but I go through this ritual of astonishment every Spring.

This morning I woke up thinking about what we should eat during clean-up weekend…you know it’s true…this campground really is my life…in my sleep I’m planning doughnuts and yogurt shakes for people I might not even have met yet! 😉  But let’s not dwell on my obsessions…

In keeping with the tradition that started last year, we’ll kick-off  Saturday morning with homemade doughnuts.  I’ll use my grandmother’s recipe with a hint of nutmeg and we’ll have brown paper bags of cinnamon sugar or plain white sugar if you want to give them a good shake for added sweetness…of course we’ll have Rock City coffee and OJ to help rinse them down.  Continuing the sugar theme for energy, I as thinking that we’d have homemade marshmallows (some with roasted coconut) and decadent hot chocolate (my grandmother’s recipe too made with chocolate bars and condensed milk) available for an afternoon snack break by the ocean bonfire if it’s not too windy…or by the fireplace in the rec hall if we need the shelter.

We’ll need to balance the sweets with something savory at for lunch so we’ll fire up the beach BBQ and roast hotdogs, hamburgers and veggie burgers…adding some pickles and carrots for color.  I haven’t asked Jim, Becky and Lorrie yet, but I’m hoping that they’ll cook sweet potato and regular fries while we stand around and debate which is better.  Then for supper, I was thinking that we could either roast a couple of turkeys or maybe grill spareribs on the wood fire…I’ll have to see which is more available when the time comes…but if you all bring the sides, we’ll have a terrific potluck supper…maybe followed by some scratch ticket/lottery games in case any of us are lucky enough to become big winners…one can only hope!

So now that the menu is planned, the dates are as always, Mother’s Day Weekend, May 9-11.  Everyone’s welcome until we run out of space but I need you to contact us ahead of time so that I know how much food to prepare.  Basically, we have a list of chores that includes raking, painting, gardening, playground creating, building and spreading good cheer…we offer the camping, you offer a few hours on Saturday…it almost always rains so dress in layers…and like I said, EVERYONE is welcome!

This a great way to see the park if you’ve never been here, a chance to re-connect if you’re an old friend and a perfect venue for making new friends and getting excited about camping.  If you’d like to join us, call me at 207.548.6059 or send me an e-mail at relax@campocean.com.  Either way, tell me how you camp (you’ll choose your perfect site when you get here) and the number of adults, children and pets who will be coming with you…oh, and tell me the ages of the kids so I can plan something special for them.  If you want to come on Thursday or stay until…we can work something out.

I’m off to the gardens for a few hours in the unexpected sunshine,

Astrig