Camping at Rocky Gap State Park

   Friends in my neighborhood gather every September to go camping for fellowship and fun in nature. For the past nine years, we have camped at a county park, Little Bennett. This park has beautiful nature, great facilities and is a half hours drive from our homes. Camping at this park allows us to participate in our kids weekend sports activities and be close to home for families who are new to camping. Each year, there are the regulars and some families trying camping for the first time. Two thumbs up for them! Sometimes camping for the new families has been successful and they have become regulars but others have packed up in the middle of the night to return home.

   This year on our tenth anniversary, the regulars decided to mix it up and change the location and duration. Instead of one night, we camped the weekend at Rocky Gap State Park. It is a gorgeous park tucked in the mountains of Western Maryland very close to the Pennsylvania border. The park offers an outdoor experience for the novice to the expert: a resort lodge to a campground and mountain bike trails.
I reserved six campsites on Lake Habeeb, each site with their own access and view of the crystal clear lake. We arrived at night to see a mystical fog hover over the lake in the moon light. The kids immediately had a blast exploring the trails to the lake with their flashlights. After hot and humid summer days, we experienced the crispness of fall. Something our bodies were not physically used to. We layered our fleece both morning and night to sit by a campfire and chill while the kids kept warm with a pretend game of Star Wars in the woods - boys against girls! Morning coffee never tasted so good. As the day passed, the sun peeked through the sky providing some warmth. The sun encouraged us adults to move. Some hiked the lake loop while others mountain biked it. To complete my outdoor adventure, I put on my wetsuit for an open water swim in the lake. Refreshing but chilly, as the sun descended over the mountains. As day turned into night, no camping trip is possible without roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over an open fire. Before quiet time descended over the campground, the kids lead us in song from yesterday and today.
   Living in a neighborhood with an "it takes a village" mentally is a true blessing in life; where a sense of community is real and shared by all. The gift is even great when the same sense of community can be shared in nature.

A Secret No More: Patuxent River Park

My wish for Mother's Day this year was to camp with my family and friends at Patuxent River Park about 45 minutes southeast of Washington, DC on the Patuxent River. Over the past couple of years, our family has hiked the trails in this park from the upland woods to the boardwalks in the wetlands. This park is special because you can't image that you are so close to an urban area with its quiet peacefullness, abundance of wildlife, and lack of people. I debated whether to tell my secret or keep it to myself. In the end, I decided everyone needs to feel the peace and joy that this park deliveries once you have spent an afternoon or a weekend in its boundaries. So now the secret is out.
I reserved the campsite on January 3rd.  It is very difficult to reserve for weekends because there is only one campsite and it is such a gem. Our family arrived on Friday evening after tackling beltway traffic. We opened the gate and drove to the site, got out of the car and said wow. The site has a magnificant canopy of mature trees covering it with three picnic tables and a campfire ring. The campsite is big enough to stake down four tents. The campsite sits on a bluff on the river. After checking out the campsite, my kids ran to the river's edge to discover a dock where I heard, "Oh mama, look." This is where we spent most of our time over the weekend: reading, talking, playing, bird watching, canoeing and kayaking.
On Saturday morning, we rented a canoe and a kayak for two days. The rental is cheap at $12 a day or $17 for the day and overnight. The kids had a lot of fun learning how to paddle a canoe and kayak, many of them taking the kayak out themselves after gaining some confidence in their skills. At various times during the weekend, different combinations of parents and kids explored the pathways amongst the reeds to discover, turtles, snakes, beavers, ducks, geese, frogs and lots of osprey who were nesting at the time.
On Saturday afternoon, we hiked the trails to Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary connected to Patuxent River Park by a long boardwalk through the wetlands. Even though the hike was not a highlight of the trip for the kids, they used their imagination to create an adventure on the trail. For them, the best moments were play on or next to the river and the "secret" fort they created near the campsite. For me, the best moments were listening to nature's quiet and my children's laughter, sitting next to and on top of the peaceful river and sharing the natural, beautiful spot with family and friends.