Memorial Day Weekend

We went to our camp in Potter County last weekend for the Memorial Day holiday. That was my first time there in 17 years. I love it up there and missed it for so long due to always working at the golf course for 20 years. We did manage to get up there once while owning the course, but it was so hard to get away. I guess that's all in the past and we'll be able to take our grandkids up there now. What a blessing! It is an old hunting camp that my Dad belonged to with a bunch of other guys. After my Dad died, my brother Bob got his share. Years later, Larry bought a share of it and he was able to get up more often with the guys to fish and hunt.

It's not much to look at. The camp has no running water and no toilet. You have to use the outhouse and bring water in from the spring and boil it on the stove to wash dishes and cook. Good thing I'm not too much of a girly-girl or you probably wouldn't be able to drag me up there! My dad used to work at a steel mill and the plant would shut down for 2 weeks in the summer. One of those weeks was always spent at camp. We didn't have much money and it was a cheap vacation. There was always something to do though. You could take long walks, there are many state parks in the area that had swimming "beaches", and there are little towns to visit. Jeanine, Megan, Paige and I went shopping to look for a Potter County shirt for Paige, but we couldn't find any in her size. We also went shopping for citronella candles and fly swatters, as the fly population was incredible up there. We were bombarded with them. They looked like an average house fly, but were almost triple the size! We managed to have a good time even with those pesky things. If you want to clean up, you have to take a sponge bath and if you dare to wash your hair in the icy spring water, you're hair will come out so soft and shiny. I did wash my hair while suffering through a hot flash and it felt like heaven!

Being there brought back alot of memories of my Dad. He simply loved it there. The walls are adorned with old pictures from back in the early 60's when the camp was being built. Of course there are tons of pictures of my Dad, my Uncle Len (who sadly also passed away too young) and all of their old gang. It made me think of Dad alot. Especially at night when everything was quiet, right before I fell asleep............They were such nice memories. "Bitter-sweat", but nice!
Can't wait to go back...............