writeup by kathy
June 2001,Ogunquit, Maine

The last week of June 2001 marked our first real vacation together. Silly me, I was so nervous to go on vacation with Kris, because I was certain that in this, the longest amount of un-interrupted time together, we would surely drive each other away. I remember freaking out over packing the right amount of clothes, and of course, as always, ended up packing way too much! Kris seemed pretty calm and relaxed on the way there-thank goodness somebody was. We arrived at Pinederosa campground, a camping site in Ogunquit , Maine .

Pinederosa is an especially great place to camp because it is close to attractions yet extremely quiet and set apart. You can fall asleep to the sound of crickets-and that’s it-no tv’s, no cars, just crickets. I would like to think that Kris and I are capable of roughing it-us tough Vermonters!-but I do have to say we were very grateful that the campground had both showers and a swimming pool. The majority of campers at the time of our stay were from Quebec and mostly French-speaking. It gave me a wonderful opportunity to practice my French! The campers next to us had two small girls and when we went strawberry picking one day and picked way too much for ourselves, I went over to their site and said “Excusez-moi, aimez vous do fraises? Nous avons trop!” The woman was very kind (thank goodness! I hoped my French could be understood) and the girls were delighted. They even decorated a little sea shell for us to thank us on our last day. We still have it ! Most of our vacation consisted of eating out, walking on the beach, and relaxing at the campground making smores for dinner. The best thing about camping is being away from everything and doing NOTHING. (Which sort of makes it hard to write about, though!)

One day we did go to Water Country-and we were glad we did, because it was the hottest day of the week-hitting the high 90’s! So it was nice to go to the water park and splash around. Our legs were killing us from running around and climbing all the stairs to the slide the next day, but it was worth it. Another day we went mini golfing at Pirate’s Cove. ARRgh, matey! Kris also taught me how to play chess-I knew the basics but was a little rusty on most of the skills. We survived on leftover pizza and peanut butter and jelly for the rest of the trip. We had great weather, and it rained only on the day we left!