Megan and Glenn's Annual Father/Daughter Camping Trip: #2 (August 4-5, 2007)

Ages:

Glenn: 37

Megan: 6

Place: VERMONT (Greenwood Lodge - outside Bennington)

Duration: 26 hours

Activities: row-boating, fishing, catching salamanders, Reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner from Azkaban, BlackJack, mini-golf, GO-CARTS, and most of all, the TOOTHFAIRY!

After last year's inaugural father/daughter camping excursion - dampened by, well, rain (and lots of it), Mother Nature was quite kind to Megan and me. This trip to Vermont happened under the most pleasant of weather conditions. That helps!

Of course, it wasn't all peaches and cream ...

A few years ago, I happened to pass Woodford State Campground on Rt. 9 in Vermont. Gosh, this seemed like such a perfect part of New England for a campground - and only two hours from New Paltz (being in the very Southwestern corner of the Green Mountain State and all). Since that time, I've had my heart set on camping there. Once Megan and I decided that our second annual camping trip would be in Vermont, I knew it would be at Woodford!

Ever-diligent, I called a few weeks ahead of time to reserve a site. The very-nice young person working at the campground indicated to me that they don't do reservations for stays of only one night - but that they haven't filled up yet a single night all summer - not for Memorial Day Weekend, Fourth of July, etc. We should be all good just driving in, she said. So we did ....

Megan and I left the (magnificent) birthday party of four-year-old triplet boys (Bialey, Jagger, and Lux) at about 4 on Saturday (in Rifton, NY) and headed straight to the Green Mountain State. It was a beautiful drive - and Megan read her Harry Potter book for about half of it - apparently reading more than 100 pages (I have no idea how she does it ...). We get to Woodford State Park ... to find a sign with some strange hieroglyphics ... looked something like, "NO VACANCY" ...

Remember, the unwritten but very-real parent's guidebook has "Show no fear" as one of the main rules. "No Problem" my being says. "Of course, we're staying here tonight. ... Watch this ..." Megan had no clue that I was even the least bit concerned ...

I grew up in Jersey - in a familial culture that emphasized getting what you were due - standing up for yourself - pushiness was not altogether off limits. So I go up to the 15-year old blonde-haired boy and the 14-year old brown-haired girl working at the desk of the Main Office. I explain that I'd been told that I didn't need reservations - that I'd driven all the way from New York ... that we could starve and be eaten by coyotes ... that it wasn't fair ... etc., etc., etc. ...

After speaking with these lovely young people for 10 minutes, of course, I politely thanked them for their time before Megan and I (with my tail between legs) walked back to the car.

Plan B!!!

It actually wasn't a problem at all. 4 miles west of there was a small, private, and perfectly acceptable campground with exactly two sites left open. We had a place to sleep!

So we did the usual - set up camp - made a fire - hot dogs - marshmallows - playing cards. There was, however, a detail. Megan had lost a tooth that morning. Of course, this is no small thing. Further, regardless of issues tied to location, the toothfairy delivers. Not too difficult, I suppose, given her magical powers and all.

Megan's toothfairy is quite special. She delivers a really cool typed note with each crisp dollar (per tooth). Megan writes back. They have some relationship. I told Megan I was afraid that Prudence (AKA Megan's toothfairy) might not get to Megan this particular night - what with camping and all. Megan, in all her wisdom, assured me that this all would be no problem for Prudence.

So we put the tooth in a plastic bag in the small pocket at the top of the inside of the tent. And we slept.

Megan's eyes opened at 7:30. A second later, her gaze directed straight upward. And she smiled from ear to ear. And she screamed. "LOOK!!!" - she pointed to the top of the tent. Lo and behold, there was an envelope where the tooth had been. I followed her instructions and got the letter from up there. Not only was there a dollar bill - but, amazingly, there was a typed letter from good old Prudence. Prudence knew we were in Vermont - and apparently that was no problem for her at all. She's something else!

So, of course, this all kept Megan quite happy the rest of the trip. In fact, Megan would actually come to spend that particular dollar on a Hershey Bar at a Country Store in Bennington hours later.

We had the best time. We took out the rowboat on the cutest little pond right at the campground. Megan caught this itty-bitty fish - no clue on the species - but it was something! After we took the boat in, we both decided we'd love to swim in that pond. Megan's very conscious of explicit rules, and she asked me to interpret the sign reading, "SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK" - after trying to articulate the concept of risk - using a delicate balance of example and metaphor, Megan's puzzled face told me to simplify things a notch. I'm a teacher so I can do this kind of thing. "It means we can swim!!!" I exclaimed.

So the rest is history. We got on our suits and swam in that little drop of a pond - it was SO FUN! We swam to the rock in the middle and jumped off. We caught salamanders with our bare hands. Some strange woman took a picture of us while we were swimming around and said we looked like a postcard for Vermont. Good enough for me!

On the drive back, we hit up minigolf (Megan rocks that game) and the GO-CARTS. It's been about 30 years since I've been on a go-cart - they're still fun!

Then we headed home - when Megan wasn't reading Harry Potter in the car, we played car games and shared stories and laughs. And not a drop of rain! Can't wait for 2008!