Elk Neck State Park

This weekend I told Tom I really wanted to go camping (as I have many times before), but this time he said, Okay! Why has he never wanted to go camping before you ask? Well he has, but you see, I always spring these ideas last minute. I don’t like planning ahead because, well, what if I don’t feel like doing such and such a thing when the time comes around? I prefer to be spontaneous. And Tom is too busy with work to plan these things out. So I was thrilled when he decided to go along with my last minute, hair brained idea. We packed and hauled everything out to the car, called a campground we thought we would like and found out we could just show up, so off we went. We headed an hour and a half north of Baltimore up into Elk Neck State Park. We drove over the lovely Suquehanna River on our way:

Shortly thereafter we arrived at Elk Neck Campground and set up our tent. The children found it quite the novelty and enjoyed playing, Go Fish, inside the tent while Tom cooked and I kept getting everything else set up and organized:

We found out at the campground that the admission fee (just $25 a night) also included free entrance to a large recycled tire playground and “beach”. We wondered what the beach would look like, but it was actually a nice little area with coarse sand and water gently lapping at the shore. Too bad we didn’t bring our swimming gear. We mostly just stayed at our campsite, playing catch and enjoying the awesomely perfect weather and crackle of the fire. Oh, and Tom made, I think, the best chicken he has ever made. Here is the master at work:

Before we left he made a spice rub using paprika, pepper, cumin, red pepper, chili powder, oregano, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, sugar and celery seasoning. He then butterflied the chicken and slathered the rub both outside and underneath the skin and let it sit in the fridge for 6 hours to absorb the rub. When we got to the campground he first roasted the chicken inside our dutch oven with some Mesquite wood chips and then he finished it on the grill.

It. was. DIVINE! Fully flavored throughout and juicy with super crisp skin. Mmmmmm! We had S’mores after dinner (mine were with Reese’s Pieces) and we sat around enjoying the sounds of the night and the fireflies’ sparkling dance. At one point, as I shone the flashlight toward the tent I saw a little orange toad hopping across our camp site. He was so cute! We all went to bed after that and slept pretty soundly, except for me waking at 3:00 in the morning having to pee! But at least I was able to fall right back asleep. Do you know that it’s a wee bit scary to have to use the bathroom at 3 AM and hear sounds of snapping twigs all around you coming from the forest. The forest was definitely alive, but I figured (and hoped) that most of the creatures I was hearing were small.

In the morning we ate breakfast and took a hike. I just love daddy’s and tiny daughters holding hands, don’t you? Also, little girl pigtails. Too fun!

Along the trail we found some neat “Tarzan” vines:

Of course, the children all wanted to hang on them, but we were a little wary:

After about 8/10 of a mile we reached Turkey Point Lighthouse:

Turkey Point Lighthouse is on a 100 foot high Bluff, overlooking the Elk Neck River and the Chesapeake Bay. the Lighthouse is 31 1/2 feet high and visible for 13 miles. It’s no longer in operation though. The last lighthouse keeper, Fannie May Salter, retired in 1947. We were able to go up into the Lighthouse, which was a pleasant surprise. The lighthouse stairs are very narrow and windy. They lead up to a short straight ladder which then leads into the Watch Room.

The Watch Room and Balcony were both very small and we weren’t allowed out onto the Balcony. Here is the light:

And looking out from the lighthouse at the Elk Neck River and Chesapeake bay:

We had a really wonderful time disappearing for the weekend. We were in an area on the Penninsula where no one could reach us by cell phone and we had no household cares. No TV or radio or other distracting noise. We just had each other to spend time with and it was so wonderful!