Memorial Day Camping 2024

There is a 15 year history with Memorial Day Weekend, the Boyer Family, and Sandy Cove. In 2024, we went with friends from the neighborhood and church. The Gallahers, Boyers, Blanchards, and Randalls took over four spots together in the Pioneer Campground. This was the first time the Boyer's would show up with NO CHILDREN. There was some pre-trip scuttlebutt about Tom being allergic to kids now, but it turned out to be false.

We all showed up Saturday afternoon in the midst of beautiful weather. The Ranalls were in a cabin and Gallahers and Blanchards had their campers, ready for glamping, and we had our tent. Not a lot people tent camp these days, so we had a gravel driveway rather than a grassy knoll. Fortunately, we had a thick tarp and cots, and we made it work.

As soon as camp was ready we headed straight for the pool to combat the heat. Of course there was also Palmer, putt putt, and the play ground. 

Lynne and I made dinner Saturday night, sausage, taters, and green beans plus chilli and salad. We were afraid we did not have enough food with the big Randall boys and so many others, but it turned out we had plenty of food to go around and a lot of leftovers, which we shared with the neighbors. Of course we capped off the meal with brownies. After dinner we headed to the frisbee golf course. Lynne and I were steady eddy the first eight holes. The problem was there are nine holes. At the last hole Jake, Lynne, and I were tied. Jake started the hole with a great approach and nearly picked up a stroke on Lynne. Unfortunately, I completely collapsed, and fell back into third or fourth or something horrible. But congrats to Jake and Lynne, the co-champions. Back at the camp we sat around the fire for a long time, and Gabe Randall played his guitar. We ate smores, and told a bunch of stories until we all collapsed into our beds.

Sunday morning we woke up to fresh eggs from the Randall’s farmette, and they were so good. One was sweet and the other savory. Unfortunately they brought ghost pepper hot sauce. It stared at Tom until he relented and drank a teaspoon straight. It was so hot I sweated profusely and my mouth burned for 15 minutes despite a cup of milk.  After our delicious breakfast we all headed to the pool and Marina. Mr shawn fell sound asleep in an Adirondack chair under a tree by the water. We swam, passed the ball around and then played basketball in the pool for hours. We finished the day with tacos from the Blanchards, sans ghost pepper sauce thankfully. 

After dinner we played beach volleyball while Jake, Evan, and Marcus fished. Volleyball was a lot of fun and full of laughter even if lacking in skill. The fishermen caught a number of fish but no blue catfish for me to eat. 

Eventually we all showed back at camp and collapsed into our beds for a much needed sleep. Well… all but one. I got a late call that my mother might have appendicitis, and I had to secretly exit, and that’s a whole other story…

In the end, we spent some great time with some of our favorite people in the world in our family’s favorite place in the world, gladly trading time for memories.