I’m back from our annual camping trip in Rhode Island. My family has been making this trek to Fishermen’s State Park for nearly three decades, almost my entire life. Since Avery’s birth, he’s never missed a trip; his first was at four moths old. We have very, very few traditions in my family, and I’m pretty sure that this has been the longest surviving. Well, this one and drunkenness.
Although I did take a daily photo each day I was away, I took noticeably fewer photographs overall, compared to last year. An obvious reason for this is simply the bulkiness of carrying a digital SLR and assorted lenses. Not to mention the fact that, while traipsing around the public beaches and parks, it’s generally a good idea to keep your valuables on the d/l. I think we’ll be adding a more portable digital camera to the family wish list soon.
Also though, I think the fewer photos is due to reading Ansel Adam’s autobiography for the past several weeks, finishing it up on the trip. All his talk about straight photography and the art of composure and understanding camera functions totally subdued my trigger finger. Not a bad thing at all, as my desire to be authentic, simplistic and deliberate in all areas of my life should include the act of making a photograph. Reading the book and being on this trip, surrounded by so much natural beauty, made me realize that I’ve never gone out with the sole mission of composing a photo; it’s always been a secondary objective. “Let’s go for a walk — oh, I’ll bring my camera!” I definitly want to make a day trip soon, with my usual missions reversed: A primary mission of taking a fabulous photograph, and the secondary mission being reading, snacking and napping under a tree by the water. Had the camping trip not been of the family variety, meaning had I had more alone time, I reckon I would have accomplished this already. But I was far too (happily) distracted by the joys and action of family time to, ahem, focus on photos.
Once again this year, we made sure to patron several local farmers’ markets and the natural food co-op. A few nights before we left for our trip, Jason and I were hanging out with a friend of ours who is a chef. He love fresh, natural ingredients and gave us some tips on how to make a meal over the campfire. A meal consisting of more than beans in a can, I mean. Our first campfire meal included bluefish (caught by Jason, his mom and friends, June and Lynn, earlier that day), steamed beans and carrots (from the farmers’ market), roasted corn (from the farmers’ market) and baked potatoes (brought with us from our CSA share). The fish was fileted and put in a packet of parchment paper with lemon, salt and pepper, then wrapped in a foil packet. Similarly, the beans and carrots were in a packet of parchment paper with a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and a sprinkle of water, then wrapped in a packet of foil. For the corn, we removed the silks, closed the husks back up, and soaked the ears in water. The potatoes were simply wrapped in foil. Everything went on top of the fire, on a grate from our old charcoal grill, except the potatoes which were thrown right into the bottom of the pit. Brookie, June, Sharon and I did the prepping, Jason managed the cooking, and while a local brew would have been nice, it seemed nothing but a limed Corona would carry the evening. We did a couple open-fire meals like this, and otherwise made sure to indulge in the harvests of blueberries, summer squash, scallions, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, and garlic. Of course, there were more than a couple pizza strips consumed along the way.
This year, we had a record number of people on the site, capping out at 13 one weekend. I’m pretty sure the campground rule is no more than two tents per site, but we had six at one point. It was like tent city! A neighbor said our site resembled a homeless persons village, though I beg to differ because really, what better home than a tent? My dad, Jason, Avery and I were the only ones there for the entire two weeks. We had four days to ourselves before Rodney, LeAnne and Aren headed up on a Wednesday, followed by my dad’s friends Ann and Lynn, then Jason’s mom Sharon and friend June, and finally my mom and sister. We had several non-camping visitors stop by for a day at the beach of a beer by the fire, too. People started leaving the following Sunday afernoon and by Tuesday afternoon, we were four once again. It was great having everyone there, made even better by the fact that we had the last few days of the trip to ourselves.
Besides taking (just a few) photos, eating lots of local foodies and collecting tons of visitors, we went to the beach nearly every day. This was probably the best year weather-wise with only two rainy days and one wicked, scary, but awesome thunderstorm. The waves (and undertow) were absolutely incredible thanks to a hurricane and severe weather south of RI. Honestly, it was like nothing we’ve seen in previous years. At the beach, there were constant guard whistles and every hour, two or three rescues of swimmers stuck in rip tides. Swimmers were restricted to waist-deep water every day we were there and playing in the water was tiring, but so much fun. We also visited my favorite place on earth, Beavertail State Park, drank a banana rum cocktail out of a ridiculous laughing Buddha glass with my cousin and her boyfriend at Misquamicut beach, finished two books and started a third, had no desire AT ALL to check in on the internet, discovered that Yellowtail makes a Pinot Noir (and drank a bottle), rode to the docks at Galilee with Avery on our bikes to meet the gang after their fishing trip, made the bed every morning, avoided sunburn (but not Jase), visited three state beaches, had 11 campfires, befriended one cardinal, paddled an evening sunset cruise with Narrow River Kayaks, caught up with various grandmothers, cousins and aunts, had a fabulous view almost every morning, lived simply, and cried when it was time to come home. No really. I did.
I already can’t wait for next year’s trip. Daily photos to be posted soon :)
July 31 ETA: July 10 - 20 daily photos are up.
August 1 ETA: July 21 - 26 daily photos are up — all done!
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