A not-so-far-away camping escape in Maine...and my first try at campfire cooking

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The start of August finds me trying to squeeze in as much of summer as we still can—for me, August is always a double-edged sword. Sure, it’s still summer, but back to school is right around the corner. I’m looking at the calendar, seeing my return to work just ahead, watching the weekends fill up with plans, and wondering just how many weekends we can still manage to camp before it gets too cold (for us, at least) and we’ll have to say goodbye to the van until the spring…I’m delaying that as much as humanly possible!

Since coming back from our road trip, we’ve been itching (I more so than G) to get back out in the van and to camp; however, with all the plans for the road trip, we (I) didn’t think to make any plans for after our return. Ooops! But as luck would have it, I stumbled across a fantastic park in Freeport, Maine, not far away from us. Freeport was on my radar, as camping at Wolfe’s Neck Oceanfront Campground was one of the places we hoped to camp at this summer. Unfortunately, as one might imagine, prime spots at an oceanfront campground in mid-summer are tough to snag at the last minute. Enter Winslow Park and Campground.

At just about an hour and 20 minutes from home, Winslow Memorial Park is close and yet far enough away to feel like we were actually getting away for the weekend. Plus, we figured, if it wasn’t great, we’d just go shopping at the Freeport outlets! The campground is located within a town park situated on Casco Bay, with 100 campsites, many of which are waterfront (ours was not). We had site #85 (see arrow below), and honestly, the site was pretty great. We were secluded a bit (but not too much) and fairly close (but not too close) to the washrooms. Another awesome benefit is that I was able to book our site online, as this is not the case for a lot of campgrounds. Since I wasn’t sure about the differentiated pricing, I chose the “RV” option for $30/night instead of “tent” for $25/night—the sites are all the same, and there aren’t hookups at any of the sites, so I’m not sure why the different prices. For $60+tax, this weekend getaway was a bargain!

Now, time for a confession: Cooking anything more complicated than a s’more over an open flame intimidates me. So, for this weekend, I wanted to try to actually cook over the campfire, using the cast iron skillet I bought in the spring (but hadn’t yet used). I figured I’d start easy with a menu of campfire nachos for our first night and fajita veggie tacos for our second night—followed by a blueberry cobbler. I bought the necessary groceries, did some prep ahead of time (cutting up and packaging the onions and peppers, shredding cheese, and assembling the cobbler topping), and then packed everything up in our YETI cooler. I was feeling mighty accomplished (it doesn’t take much). On the way up, we made a quick stop at Stonewall Kitchen in York on the way up to pick up some queso for the meals I had planned.

We pulled into our campsite shortly before 6, and soon, we had a fire going, and I started assembling our dinner of nachos. We cracked open a few non-alcoholic beers (the Cerveza Atletica—N/A light copper ale) from Athletic Brewing Company, watched the fire, and waited for dinner. Soon, dinner was ready, and we were two very happy campers.

We might not have had a waterfront site, but the sun setting behind the trees and the trail just on the other side of our site provided some spectacular views.

The next morning, we enjoyed a Maine-inspired breakfast of anadama bread from When Pigs Fly in Kittery, Maine, cinnamon sugar butter from Casco Bay Creamery, and Wild Maine Blueberry Jam from Stonewall Kitchen. Mmm, so good.

After breakfast, we were off to town for a bit; we made a quick stop to the Yarmouth Wal-Mart to get After-Bite for G and a mat to place outside the van for our shoes (he’s a neat freak, I tell you!). Then, we were off to Freeport because…well…L.L. Bean! And can I just say—if we didn’t have the van, I would TOTALLY want this beauty as my adventure-mobile!

And since we weren’t too far away—and because G has an incredible sweet tooth and he’s now obsessed with Gelato Fiasco—we, of course, made a side trip to Brunswick for gelato.

We arrived back to Winslow, excited to crash and relax at our site—only to return and find our wood and our fire poker gone. UGH. We went to the office, inquired about our missing stuff, and bought more wood. It’s funny—one of the biggest advantages to van travel is also one of the downsides: you’re always taking everything with you. My guess is that it looked like we had left our site and someone scored an extra bundle and a half of camp wood. Minutes after returning to our site with two new bundles of wood, a man drove up in his tractor/cart with wood and our fire poker! Yay!! The man, Ranger Bob, is one of the campground’s rangers and had assumed we vacated the site. We had a fantastic conversation with Bob, which left me imagining how I could eventually become a campground ranger and, like Bob, spend my summers camping and the rest of the year in Florida! Now that’s the life!! Ah, dreams…

The afternoon could not have been more perfect: reading by the fire, a walk around the campground (to scope out sites for the future!), a few games of freestyle bocce (G beat me, two games to one), snacks, and meal prep. This camping thing is getting easier and easier!

Now came time for me to try out dinner plans. I started out by prepping the blueberry cobbler and getting that on the grill so it would have time to bake and then cool. To be honest, I really had no idea what I was doing—I just assembled the recipe as I would have at home and then crossed my fingers that it would cook on the open fire. How long? Who knows? How hot? I have no idea! Later, I grilled up some peppers and onions, and we had fajita-veggie tacos, complete with leftover black bean salsa, cheese, and queso from the night before. And the blueberry cobbler? It might not have looked as pretty after the fire as it did when I put it on, but it was SO good! Honestly, though, doesn’t just about everything taste better when cooked and eaten outside? And what’s better than following up a great meal with watching a roaring fire? Not much.

Camping at Winslow Memorial Park was such a fantastic surprise—we loved it so much that we’ll be returning in just a few weeks. While I’m all for getting away-away, sometimes getting away just an hour or so away is escape enough. We returned home early Sunday and still had the entire day ahead of us—enough time to take a walk at the beach before Sunday dinner with my family, a great ending to a weekend filled with the very best of all worlds.

In case we needed the reminder to slow down and soak it all in, Winslow Memorial Park has a final reminder for visitors leaving the park. Maine: the way life should be.