Camping in the Woods

We got back late Sunday evening from our weekend camping trip with our friends Tom & James. They have a very nice camper that they keep at The Woods Campground.*

The Woods is an all-gay, clothing-optional campground; it's very easy to become immersed in that environment and returning to straight-majority, clothing-required civilization is a bit of a culture shock. No doubt it doesn't help that we had such a serene, relaxing weekend, a mood that one would like to maintain. I'm longing to return already although it's easy to see that it probably wouldn't be so serene and relaxing as a permanent home, of course.

Anyone who knows me is likely at this point to exclaim something along the lines of "Jeff? Camping!". Well, yes, and I have done it before although I'm not really the outdoorsy type. However, this wasn't all that rugged and it was a friendly, comfortable atmosphere. Isaac seemed almost surprised that I really had a good time and wasn't just going along, but I did. I also got some sun burn but, fortunately, none of my tender bits were affected.

Think about the environment for a moment and you'll easily imagine that we met quite a number of eccentric and fabulous people.# Many of the permanent sites had lovely gardens with unusual and creative landscaping features. Some of the residents get around on golf carts — at least one was pink and several were decorated with fairy lights. It also happened to be bear weekend at The Woods, so we felt right at home.

There seemed to be three main activities to occupy one's attention. One was simply sitting at the campsite greeting passersby and making conversation with some; the bawdiness of the conversation seemed to depend on whether it was daylight or after dark. The second was walking around the campground so that one could be a passerby, greeting and making conversation with other people sitting at their campsites. Third was spending time in the pool, talking and sunning and bobbing in the water. Clearly conversation was a major activity; perhaps this is a consequence of not having pockets to carry other distractions in.&

Nighttime was particularly charming. The golf carts had their lights on and many campsites were also decorated with colorful lighting displays. Passersby were generally in high spirits — or were high from spirits — and campfires created their own magic. The fires were useful since the evenings could be quite cool and one felt loathe to put on clothes just because of that.

Not surprisingly many of the residents were there just for the weekend, so there was packing-up that began late Sunday morning and departures into the early afternoon when it got rather quiet and much of the mood dissipated in the hot, glaring sun. We lazed around for the afternoon, and spent some time in the depopulated pool sharing desultory conversation with some new acquaintances who hadn't left yet.

We finally tore ourselves away about 5:30 for our long drive back home.
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*If you look at the map of the campground, their camper was parked just to the left of the word "Field".

#If you happen to be someone we met this weekend, leave a note so we can say "Hi!"

&As a consequence, one almost never heard a mobile phone ring, nor did one have to suffer through loud, one-sided conversations from people talking on them.

Posted on August 7, 2007 at 12.13 by jns · Permalink
In: All, Faaabulosity, Personal Notebook

2 Responses

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  1. Written by Bill Morrison
    on Tuesday, 7 August 2007 at 15.50
    Permalink

    Hmm, sounds delightful, Jeff. And it's not far from Kirkridge, the retreat centre in the Poconos just south of Stroudsburg and right on the Appalachian Trail, to which both Chris and I (to say nothing of Robert) have been many times, attending retreats for GBLT persons.

  2. Written by S.W. Anderson
    on Wednesday, 8 August 2007 at 00.08
    Permalink

    Sounds and looks enjoyable to the point of being idyllic. You and Isaac obviously know how to make the most of summer. More power to you.

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