Opening weekend- Memorial Day

We'd been working hard to open on Memorial Day weekend and felt as ready as we could, I guess. We were pretty excited because all our tent sites, our 3 screened cabins and 1 RV site were rented. We were also more than a bit anxious about it. I mean, this is new territory for us. I wish I had taken pictures of people in their sites but I guess I had other things on my mind. Fortunately a few of the campers posted some in their reviews.

Folks began arriving Friday night. We had a big rain storm so a few campers postponed their arrivals until the next morning. The weather was beautiful for the rest of the weekend. Campers steadily filed in throughout the day Saturday. Adam met most of them and led them to their sites and explained where things were. James and I filled in if there were guests who arrived at the same time. I know I'm just being a little romantic about it, but I truly think we had the nicest, most respectful campers. We walked around at nighttime and it was so quiet. We gave some tours of the buildings in the front to people who asked and were glad, and a little surprised, that so many people were interested in the history of the place.

The weekend wasn't all fireflies and wonderful campfire smells. Sunday afternoon a leak sprang in the pavilion kitchen, which Adam and I repaired temporarily until our plumber rescued us. If only that was our single plumbing event. Around dinnertime Adam was notified sewage had backed up into the womens' showers. It had also backed up into the floor drain in the kitchen. We pulled out a toilet and ran a snake through the drain but our snake wasn't long enough so we had to call our plumber - again - on a Sunday night. His longer, more powerful snake cleared the blockage and we were cleaned up and back in business so people could shower before bed. During that time we had a chance to visit with some of the folks camping nearby and it was actually kind of fun. Somehow we got through it and were able to laugh about it later. I should also mention, earlier in the week our lawn mower broke and our internet went down at the pavilion but was restored just before campers arrived. Also, early Friday James and Adam decided 2 dead trees needed to be removed near 2 tent sites, which they got cleaned up before people moved in. Hopefully we'll get the hang of this and always have understanding campers.

Last night the reviews began pouring in. Everyone was so generous with their kind words and encouragement with what we're trying to do here. It gives us hope that people still like more primitive camping the way James and I grew up doing, and don't need all the bells and whistles of resort-type campgrounds.