It was rather overcast that morning of September 4^th.  My father had agreed to drive me and two others to the campsite and drop us off.  However, Laird phoned me that morning and told me that both of the others unfortunately had decided they couldn't make it this time.

So there I was, in the car with my father, making our way through Wasaga Beach, toward Highway 26, my camping gear stuffed at the back of the van, driving through Collingwood, and then along the stretch of the highway adjacent to Georgian Bay, northwest of Collingwood.  With map in hand, I counted the intersections off of the highway, looking in anticipation for the turnoff leading to the campsite.

Finally there we were!  A short drive down a concession leading to Clarksburg and we were making our way up the driveway into the campsite.  There was Laird, Thomas, Glenn, and Rob and his friendly energetic dog Riley.  Dad met them and said hello before I dropped off my gear in my cabin and he left.  The others would be soon to follow.

A nice lunch in the dining hall, and an invigorating game of volleyball were the order of the day to kick off my camping experience on that first day.  It was quickly apparent that Riley was more excited about chasing down the ball than anyone else on the field.

Finally Jeannie arrived in her truck, along with her passengers and fellow members of CSP.  As she got out and prepared to unpack, I was kind of torn between running over and saying hello to her, since I hadn't seen her since the spring, and staying at our volleyball match, since I was an invaluable asset to our team (heehee).

But she saw me and eventually came over and said hello to me and the others.

Steve lugged all of his sound gear into the dining hall... huge speakers, amplifiers, a CD player, and stacks of CDs.. to entertain us!  Laird had another kind of device for entertainment:  a large soap-bubble maker, which was partly successful at making large bubbles that somewhat lasted.

The dinner that night was delicious:  marinated chicken breasts and corn on the cob... yummy!  And it came with "thermally agitated" butter for the corn... butter that was placed in the microwave earlier to soften it (soften the butter, not the microwave), but got a little too soft... that is, melted.  But no matter, the buttered corn was delicious!

After the meal, a group of us hiked down the road into the town of Clarksburg, then turned around and returned.  Later, a bunch of us grabbed a deck of cards and sat down in the dining hall for a fun-filled game of "pig".  As night fell, we sat by the campfire, toasting marshmallows and chatting.  It was indeed one of those pleasant late summer nights.

The next morning, Nancy, Noreen, Linda, Steve and I got in a fun game of basketball while others went fishing.  There was a large sheet of paper for all of us to sign our names on, and put a quote on.

Later that afternoon, the "3 amigos" (Laird, Steve, and I) cranked up the handle of an ice-cream maker, and made homemade coffee-flavoured ice-cream!  Sadly, we didn't have rock salt, so we had to use ordinary table salt on the ice, and so the ice-cream turned out a little runny, but it was delicious!

Then Laird, Steve, and I went that afternoon, on another hike into Clarksburg, this time venturing further around the town.  At the end of one of the streets in town, we met a few little dogs that probably would have liked to come home with us.

For dinner that second night, it was lasagna, and for dessert, cake and that homemade (albeit a little soft) ice-cream.

Then that night by the campfire, it was the evening to end all evenings ...a huge dance party that lasted most of the night (one might say nearly all of the night)! ...well, after midnight anyway.  Jeannie had pulled up her truck by the campfire site, and her turbo-charged sound system inside it, provided the music.  It was indeed dancing under the stars, while the cameras kept snapping pictures.  My dances with Jeannie, Pam, and Linda are something I'll never forget!

But something else I sure won't forget happened a little later....

It was easily after 1 AM by then and I'd say it was about time to turn in finally.  Jeannie sort of stayed up to assume patrol duty in case any miscreants were out wandering around at night.  I headed off to bed.

I was barely tucked in, in my jammies, when perhaps the most bizarre episode of the entire camping trip occurred!  Without any warning whatsoever, a strange woman.... apparently someone running around loose on the grounds that night.... burst into and invaded at least one of the men's cabins..... taking pictures of them no less!  I know!  I was there.  I saw it.  And I was one of her male victims!  As she snapped the camera button like mad, I heard her mutter something about blackmail or some little thing like that.  After that, she left as mysteriously and non-discreetly as she entered.  With questions such as "Why did she want those pictures?", "What's she going to do with them?", "Where will they end up?", and "Who will see them?" still whirling around in my mind a mile a minute, I finally settled into a good night's sleep.

The next morning, with the mystery lady with the camera of the previous night still fresh in my mind, we all enjoyed a wonderful scrambled eggs and bacon breakfast.  I told Jeannie about the picture-taking mystery lady but strangely, she didn't seem to be overly concerned about it.  In fact, she laughed!  Hmmmm.......

By the time we finished breakfast, it was pretty much time to get things organized and get ready to leave.  There was time for one last stroll around the campsite.  Then there was the assortment of vacuuming of the dining hall, cleaning up the last of the dishes, making sure the campfire was completely out, mopping the floor, cleaning up the grounds outside, and clearing out the remaining food.

Then we all gathered together for the last few picture takings.  Then after saying our final goodbyes, we all began to file out of the campsite, heading off on our separate ways, with Laird driving Rob (and of course, his pal Riley) and I home.