The Fourth of July was a big holiday in our family not just because it was the start of summer but because it was my dad's birthday! There was always a party...at home or wherever we were camping. And we managed to celebrate across 2 countries without really trying.
The Adirondacks were our favorite camping site and we pitched our tent (and pop-up) pretty much all over the Park. We spent one Fourth in a cottage at Fourth Lake because that was the winter Mom had pneumonia and 'roughing it' was 'out'. That was also the year my cousin Peter was born and having a cottage instead of a tent allowed the baby and his family to accompany us.
In the middle/late 1960's we left the tent in the attic and went to Canada with our neighbors. The first few years they rented a small cabin...with an outhouse...on Mississippi Lake. The owners lived in an old, small house nearby with very thick walls (10-12") and took good care of us. Joe and Kaisea were an old German couple who lived year round by the lake and had a part wolf dog for a pet. (At least he looked like part wolf to us!) The outhouse was slowly sinking towards the lake and the door tended to stick making trips to the facilities even more exciting! After a few years our neighbors bought a small house in the nearby settlement on the lake with all the modern amenities. The settlement was several miles off the paved road and the people who lived there were honest, friendly folks. When my mom asked one of the kids if he spoke French he was insulted! He told her he 'wasn't no frog!" My father and our neighbor enjoyed fishing on Mississippi Lake and our families made many overnite trips from Herkimer to Carlton Place, Ontario. One summer we even managed to take a bus into Ottawa from Carlton Place! (4 American females -2 in their 50's, 2 in their teens. We (the teens) thought we could speak French but when we got to Ottawa neither of us could even manage to say 'bonjour'!) We missed the bus back to Carlton Place and ended up taking a taxi that cost about $50!! Definately a trip to remember!)
We also camped at many of the state campsites along Rte 30 between Old Forge and Speculator. After spending some time at a private campground on Indian Lake we tried to camp at the public sites on Rte 30 but they weren't for pop-ups. The sites were all 'lake side'...beautiful, close to the water and not accessible for us! Raquette, Saranac and Blue Mountain Lakes were also spots we camped at over the years. But our favorite campsites were in Siberia at Moffitt Beach. Some of those were lakeside and rather difficult for a pop-up to get backed into but when we couldn't do that we always found a site in Siberia that we enjoyed.
The last year we used the pop-up we seemed to be jinxed. Dad got a flat tire while towing the pop-up and shattered the hub. (We spend a week using the camper while it was balanced on a pile of rocks waiting for repairs!) It seemed that every time we headed north on Rte 28 the sun would be shinning but we'd lose it by the time we turned on to Rte 8 at Poland and it would have started to rain by the time Rte 365 joined Rte 8. It would usually be pouring as we turned on to Paige Rd to go to Moffit Beach. My friend Fran and her husband Larry joined us one weekend...in the pouring rain. As they pulled up to our campsite, she stuck her head out the car window and yelled, 'If you're dumb enough to set up in this, we're stupid enough to join you!'
After a summer of weather like that, my mom had had it. I don't know how she did it but the next spring she had talked my dad into selling the pop-up and buying a trailer in the park across Rte 8 from the turn to Moffit. My cousins had a trailer there and Mom liked the set up and the people she met there. Before we moved in, Dad always said he didn't like it. 'Too many people. It wasn't for him'. Once we were there, Dad changed his mind. He was one of the first to put his boat in the water in the spring and the last to take it out in the fall. He hardly came home during the season! Everyone became his friend (and he caught some huge Rainbow trout!) We had the biggest birthday parties for him, too. They got so big we had to us the park barn to accommodate all the people!
Those people at camp became more than summer neighbors. They became friends and we spent the winters visiting their homes. Now most all of them are gone...just like our family members...but they live on in my memories.
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