Things to do in the Area

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Yesterday, I was listening in on Tami’s phone conversation with a camper, and they asked her what there was to do in the area.

“Why would anyone want to LEAVE the campground?”  I grumbled, after she’d hung up the phone.

“Maxx, Maxx, Maxx,” she laughed.  “There’s more out in the world than just the campground you know.”

GASP! “Bite your tongue!” I said.  “Everything they need is right here!

Like swimming and kayaking and fishing in the lake

Wildlife watching too!  Especially the eagles, beavers, loons and herons.

What about races in the pool, huh?

and other cool kids activities like ice cream making, horseshoes, kids candy bar bingo, Wednesday night campfires with popcorn, pool tournaments, arts and crafts and sports and games and stuff

I mean, we’ve got lots of wicked fun themes and stuff happening every day, all day in July and August!”

I was on a roll now!   “And . .  and . . .  there’s spectacular shows like BJ Hickman, The Steelgraves and Mad Science . . .”

Tami held up a hand to interrupt me.   “All those things are fun Maxx, but so is going to the  Maine Wildlife Park just down the road.  I love to watch the moose, raccoons, mountain lion, lynx and coyotes, porcupines and black bears.

And you know how much we like to go hiking and geo-caching.  Especially on our two new favorite trails,  Mt. Apatite and Mt. Rattlesnake The views from the peaks were amazing,  and our customers will think so too.

exploring Portland’s  Old Port, is always fun, and so is taking a cruise around the harbor, spending time in the  museums, hanging out at the   Head Light

and exploring the rocky coastline of Two Lights.”

Tami shook her finger at me.  “Even David and I escape one day a week to play outside the campground.  There’s so many places to go and things to do, we always have a hard time choosing.  Beaches, museums, shopping, restaurants, tours  . . . I had to make a booklet for our customers about it all.”

I folded my arms.  “Yeah. Okay.  So, maybe your right.  But we have one thing that NONE of those places has.”

“Really? And what’s that Maxx?”

“None of them have ME!

Maxwell Moose!”

Tami patted my nose.   “You are one of a kind Maxx.  That’s why we keep you.”

Tami adds:  Click on the tags to the right: hiking, day trips or things to do to bring up blog posts about other fun things to do in the area.

Book your campsite early!

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Hey Maax here!

Don’t worry, Tami doesn’t know I stole the blog back.  She’s too busy doing this  . . .

Poor, poor Tami.  She’s been soooooo busy taking new reservations and processing deposits to hold existing ones, that she fell asleep at her desk!   I took a little peek over her shoulder while she drooled all over her lap top and I saw 28 confirmations ready to go out in tomorrow’s mail.  Yesterday, she processed 22 and the day before that 25!

Sites are going fast I tell you . . . fast!

So I visited with Ben instead.  He’s more fun anyway.  We  wrestled jumped on the couch celebrated the beginning of February vacation, and I asked him if he had a clue what theme weekends were booking the quickest.

“Well,” he said, while digging into a carton of ice cream,  “I heard Mom grumbling about Memorial Day almost being booked and wishing she had double the sites.”

“That one has fun kid’s activities” I said.  “Remember the  awesome Pots and Pans Parade!?  There was red, white and blue all over the place.  They decorated wagons and bikes and clothes  . . .”

Ben waved his spoon at me, splattering my antlers with ice cream.  “Oh, and she said there were three calls, back to back,  for Super Hero weekend too.”

“Da, da, da-DA!  Mighty Moose!”  I said.  “Good times, good times.”

Ben nodded.  “That one’s pretty cool, but I like Halloween best. You know, all those games and prizes and 132 sites to trick or treat at.  Hey!  I still have some candy under my bed!”

We were just unwrapping our fourth mini snickers when the camp phone started ringing.  Ben threw his candy bag  back under the bed.  “Fun’s over.  Mom’s gonna wake up to take that call.”

From down the hall we hear Tami snort, stretch and answer the phone, “Poland Spring Campground, can I help you?   Labor Day?  Three families?  Sure!  I can do that . . . ”

Take it from me . . . this is no time for a siesta!  Book your camping vacation early!

Labor Day Weekend

I really didn’t want Labor Day Weekend to come, ’cause I knew it was the last one with fun recreation stuff to do.  But you know what?

It was a blast!

Debbie and Bryant picked all their favorites like  teen ping pong, waterballoon slingshot, adult bingo, egg games, jewelry making, a seed spitting contest, and a labor day parade

These guys made soooo much noise with their pots and pans, and the shakers they made at arts and crafts!  It was awesome!   Their bikes looked really good too . . . all red, white and blue.

I decided I wanted to lead this rowdy, patriotic group around the campground.  Debbie said, “Go right ahead, Maxx.  Jump on the golf cart.”

So I did.

Bryant jogged right over.  “Debbie meant you could ride on the cart, Maxx.  Not drive it.”

“I’ve watched you,” I told him.  “I know where the gas pedal is . . . and the brake thingy.”

Bryant rolled his eyes.  “You need a drivers license Maxx.  That’s the rules.”

Rules, schmules.  Who makes them anyway?

There was a horseshoe tournament too, a scavenger hunt, hayride

and Kid’s Candy Bar Bingo!!

Bryant and Alex said there were 90

90!

candy bars!

Can you believe it?

The winner of the cover-all game walked away with 23 candy bars!  Hmmmm – I wonder  -   if I asked reeeeee-ally nice . . . . pretty please-ish . . .  I wonder if he’d share?

And that was just Saturday’s stuff.

On Sunday we had story time and a snack with yours truly

ceramics, pool relay races, ultimate frisbee, volleyball, waterballoon target practice, arts and crafts, capture the flag and an adult dart tournament.

Whew!!

It all came and went so fast.  One minute I was in front of the store with all my little camping buddies around me.  The next minute, I was trying to figure out where they all went!

I hope everyone is having a good school year so far . . . can’t wait to see you all again!  The campground’s open till Columbus Day, so if you get the hankering to camp one more time, to have s’mores over the campfire or kayak the lake while the trees burst with red, yellow and orange . . . come and see us!

Adventure Weekend

Hey everybody!!  Adventure weekend was loads of fun!

We had all our usual recreation, plllllll-uuuuus

we made bug catchers, went on a bug hunt and then raced them!

Can you see two daddy-long-legs and a beetle?  I don’t remember which bug won, but everyone had a blast!

We made some paper airplanes and helicopters too!  Then we had waterballoon target practice, you know, in case any   evil villains were lurking around the campground.

There were loads of inside party games, lasso training and tattoos for everyone

Except me, of course.  Tami still hasn’t found any tattoos that’ll stick to fur.

On Sunday, there was story time, bubble play, ceramics, Spy Training Camp, and then a Clued Treasure Hunt!  My camping buddies started out with one clue, that led to another, that led to another

until they had all nine!  The last clue told them to put the pieces together to find the hidden treasure spot, so they turned the clues over

and rearranged them until they saw

the climber!!

So they hurried to it and started digging until they found gold coins, necklaces and rings!!

Afterward there was ultimate frisbee and darts too.

Now Bryant and Debbie have their heads together, planning Labor Recreation.  They’ve taken all their favorite things and crammed them into one weekend.  Candy bar bingo, egg games, arts and crafts, ultimate frisbee, ping pong, adult bingo, a parade and much, much more!

You’ll just have to see it to believe it!

Medieval Weekend

Maxx here!

There was so much for my little campers to do over Medieval Weekend!  Charging and jousting

ferrier fetching (horseshoes),  bocci,volleyball, boat races,

princess and Robin Hood hat making

shield making, cannon ball target practice, a penny hunt, viking ships in arts and crafts, swordplay

a scavenger hunt, porridge eating

and hayrides

Halfway through Saturday, Bryant the Red Knight and his friend Dan the Blue Knight,  had a liiiiii=ttle argument.  You see, Bryant thought Cookie Dough ice cream was the best Ben and Jerry’s flavor ever made.  And Dan thought Cherry Garcia was  tastier.  There was only one way to solve the argument . . .

they dueled!  The crowd cheered them on . . . rooting for their favorite flavor. Um,  I mean, their favorite knight.

Cherry Garcia won the day, but everyone came together in the end.

It was awesome to see so many ladies-in-waiting and knights

Princesses

Robin Hoods and Maid Marian’s

I really, really think it makes the recreation that much more fun when my camping buddies dress up!

On Saturday night Bryant hosted Trash Bag theater.  Three teams came up with the most excellent plays ever!

There was Every Man in a Dress across the  Time Space Continuum

and The Mystery of the Golden Bone

the last was simply titled, Camping.

I had so much fun watching them do their excellent acting, that I got a little carried away and kind of . . .

sort of . . .

conquered Bryant.

Tami shook her head at me.  “Maaaaaaxx!  We can’t do Adventurer Weekend without Bryant.  Help him up!”

Sheesh.

Halloween Too!

Our second Halloween Weekend was a hit!

Tami and Paula checked in a gazillion people Thursday and Friday

All our recreation was a little different aaaaaaa-nd a little the same!

there were all new relay games, arts and crafts, Scavenger hunt and Story Times. We had kickball, volleyball and water balloon target shooting too.

We had a mummy making contest,

a watermelon innards eating contest and a Halloween Hayride.

I bet your wondering if we had a second trick or treating night . . .

WE  DID!

And Tami almost DIDN’T let me go!

“Maxx!  You still have a ton of candy stashed away from last weekend.  Why on earth, do you need more?”

“Tami, Tami, Tami,” I said.  “You just don’t get it. We can never, ever, ever, have too much candy.”

After mega pleading, whining and begging, she finally said okay . . . I could go.  If I did one thing.

Can you guess what it was?

I had to (gasp) share .. .  it . . .  with . . . her.  SHARE IT!

“Oh, okay,” I said.  “But I get all the Twizzlers.”

“Deal,” she said, shaking my hand.  “If I can have all the Smarties.”

After trick or treating, we had a party in front of the office!  There was fishing for spiders

pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern, tattoos, a balloon walk

a sponge toss

a quarter toss, hitting the stack of cans

and fruit snacks!

The best part of the party is that I get to hang with all my friends.  They had some really cool costumes too!

After the party, I almost had Tami convinced to go into David’s Haunted House.

But then the screaming started.

Lots of screaming.

There was some laughing too, but I don’t think Tami heard it because she locked herself in the office again until it was over.

Sheesh.

I wonder if she’ll come out in time for Medieval Weekend?

OOoooooo!  I wonder if Bryant will let me joust this year???

Halloween #1

I told Tami that this Halloween Weekend was the very bestest ever!

She said, “Maxx, you say that every year.”

Well  they DO get better every time.  And lots of our campers said so, too!

Debbie and the kids did a lot of cool Halloween stuff Friday.  They even made some lake monsters to help decorate for Saturday’s party

On Saturday, all the kids and I could think about was Candy, candy, CANDY!   But Tami said we couldn’t start trick or treating till 6:30PM . . . sharp . . .

So we went to Arts and Crafts.

And the water balloon slingshot.

After lunch, I asked Tami what time it was, and she said it wasn’t time yet.  Soooooo . . .

we played relay games and entered in the scary scavenger hunt!

I was about to call Tami on the radio to see what time it was, when Debbie announced the Witch’s Brew Eating contest!

Look Ma, no hands!!!

Until it’s time to lick the plate, anyway . . .

When it was all over, I hunted for Tami and asked if it was time to get my trick or treat bag out yet.   She said we had to have supper first.

I groaned and rubbed my belly.  “It’s not spaghetti, is it?”

Finally, it was time!  We all got into our Halloween costumes and showed up at the office.  Tami loooooves seeing everybody  before we get going.  We listened carefully for The Official Trick or Treating Rules

until fiiiiii-nally, Tami said, “Go!”

We had so much fun going site to site

Some of Tami’s campers said they gave out over 150 pieces of candy!

Can you believe it??

We didn’t want it to end, but there was a costume party at the lake and we didn’t want to be late for that!

I saw lots of my camping friends down there getting tattoos and tossing bean bags through the ghost holes

and playing cool games like tic-tac-toe toss, eyeball golf or the inner tube toss.  Some friends headed straight for Terry and Joanne’s snack table, ’cause they were hungry after all that walking site to site to site to site . . .

What a bunch of cool costumes my camping buddies wore!  There was a Lego Block, Dracula’s Bride, Angel Kitty, cowboys and a

Cowgirl with her cowdog.  There were ghosts

and bumblebees

magicians, ghouls, goblins, princesses, Darth Vader, fairies, Power Rangers, kings, Super Heros, 70’s guy

and pumpkin girl

Don’t you love the green teeth???

After the party, I asked Tami what was next.

“The Haunted House,” she said.

“Are you going in?” I asked.

“I’ve . . . got to work. Yeah – work. In the office.  It’s a busy night, you know.”

“But Henry’s closing the store tonight.  C’mon!  It’s not real monsters, you know.  Just some guys in costumes.”

Tami shook her head and backed away.  “No, no.  That’s okay.  I think I hear Henry calling me – ”

Ha!  I think she’s scared of David’s Haunted House.  Maybe I’ll get her to go in this weekend, when we do Halloween all over again!!

Super Hero Tryouts

Check out our Poland Spring Campground Justice League!

Don’t they look super cool and brave?  I was .  . .

Miiiiii-ghty Moose!  Defender of  little campers, protector of woodland creatures,  lover of Debbie’s Wednesday ice cream!

We started the weekend by finding stolen treasure, making get away boats then racing them in the rain,  playing ping pong  and bingo too.

When Saturday dawned bright and sunny, everyone bowed down to Storm for arranging it !

The first important task on our long list of things-to-do, was to design capes and masks to hide our secret identities

Then we went right into the Tryouts!   My little camping buddies were tested by Daredevil Debbie and Spiderman

to see if they could run faster than a speeding bullet

did they have teamwork skills?

Could they jump through hoops to capture an enemy?

Leap tall buildings?

Squeeze through tight spots?

Everyone did such an awesome job!  They passed every test we threw at them!

Then, from out of nowhere, we were surrounded by the Poland Spring Campground Tie-Die Villians!

So my Super Hero campers got together and chased them away . . .

With our handy, dandy, waterballoon slingshot!

They got scared, I tell you.  Scared!!

Then they shot balloons at us, and let us catch them.

Later that day we practiced tying up villians . . .

had important discussions about Super Heroes past and present . . .

and hung out with Storm, Spidey and Bat Girl!

Actually, we hung out with lots and lots of Spideys!  Including Bear Spideys .. .

On Saturday night, Almodarr and Angelique: The Magic of the Steelgraves, magically reappeared this year to amaze and astound us!   Tami could hear their laughing and clapping all the way up at the office!

I wish I could’ve gone too, but Tami told me I had to go to bed early, ’cause I had to be at story time Sunday  morning. Early.  Really early!  9am!

My friend Sammie .. . well, she and I loooooove story time.  But we think it’s kind of early in the morning for a Sunday.  So, I tried to tell Bryant it was toooooo early.

But Bryant said it’s never too early for a story and moose feed . . .

So I tried to tell Ben.  But he said, that if he and Amanda had to get up at 7am to deliver the Sunday paper to all 132 campsites, I can get up to go to story time.

So I complained to Dave.  He said that he’d gladly get up at 9am to listen to stories over his morning coffee  . . . buuuut he has to do security rounds till at least 2am the night before.

I’m not even gonna ask Tami, ’cause I KNOW what she thinks about storytime.  I guess it has to stay at 9am Sammie!

Now we get ready for Halloween!

A whoooooole week of it!

Fiesta Weekend

Ole Amigos!

Fiesta weekend was NOT the time to take a siesta from camping, I tell you!

The weather was great – and we had mucho recreation to share with all my camping buddies.  Mexican bean games, horseshoes, sombrero and maraca making

relay games, bingo, jewelry making and so much more!

Saturday night, was our Fiesta Party.  Yeah, you heard me, a FIESTA PARTY!   I couldn’t believe how many campers showed up.  At least two quadrillion and three!    The playing field was full, full, full!

When Tami brought me I didn’t know which game to choose first.

Then I saw my favorite.

The bouncy house.

But Tami was right behind me saying, “blah, blah blah.”

No.  Really.  She was saying, “Maxx!  You know better . .. no bouncy house for you.”

When I pouted and scuffed the dirt with my sneaker, she said.  “No worries, Maxx.  There’s lots of fun things for a big moose like you to do.”

She took me to the Mexican Jumping Bean game

and then to the ring toss

Some of my friends suggested we go see Nancy at the dart game

I didn’t try that one, ’cause . . . well . . . moose don’t have fingers and I didn’t want to send a dart flying into the trees.    So I went to the pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey game!

First I got my eyes covered

Then I tip toed ahead until I felt the donkey poster under my hooves.  I pinned the tail and was only a liiiiiiii-ttle bit off.  My friends thought I did great!

I watched Alex give out some tattoos. I wished for the forty thousandth time that they’d get the ones that stick to fur.

Tami said, “Yeeeee-ah.  I’ll get right on that.”

Then Tami and I went to see Debbie and Ron who were cooking up sopa pias . . . fried dough!

They said they fried up 160 of them!  Some people put honey and some put cinnamon sugar . . . some used both.  They were so yummy, I gobbled down three.  Shhhhhhh!  Don’t tell Tami, ’cause she said I could only have two.

Finally, we went to the pinata breaking.

Bryant is a brave, brave kid, let me tell you!

Three pinatas were broken and lots of treats were given out.  One of my little friends even shared her winnings with me!  That red candy was yummmmmmmy!

Now I’m off to find my cape and mask so I join my crime fighting friends as  . . .

Dah . . . DAH . . . DAAAAAAAH

MIIIIIII-GHTY    MOOSE!

Pirate Weekend!

Ahoy thar, me camping maties!

The weather was perfectly perfect for doin’ pirate-y things, wasn’t it?  We competed in pirate races, had a water canon contest and made hook hands and parrots.

Lots of my friends dressed up while joining in the fun!

Alex and Bryant did a little skit right before the ol’ sea roving hayride around the camp.  They called it, “So You Wanna Be a Pirate?”    And you know what?  Bryant

tried to tell Alex

that she couldn’t be a pirate.

Why?

‘Cause she was a girl!

Oooooo!   Alex didn’t like that!  So she bet him his whole treasure chest that she could do anything a pirate could do. Better too!

Even sword fight.

It looked like Bryant was going to win . . . but then she tricked him!  He tripped and lost the treasure to her.

Awwww.  Poor Bryant.

But Alex shared the loot with everybody

Even Bryant.

Aren’t they a fierce looking bunch?

Arrrrrg!

Later that night Paul from Mad Science came to perform his Fire and Ice show!  He talked about low pressure and high pressure . . .

He showed us how fast fire can burn up

made water disappear

and his head disappear

He showed how to make a hard boiled egg get sucked through the thin neck of a beaker. . . without breaking!  It was so cool, he did it twice.

Then he astounded everyone when he made clouds appear in the rec hall

Everyone wanted to be squirted in the face with them!

He put bubbles on my little camping buddy’s heads too . . .

It was a very cool show!

Alex took all the pirate decorations down this afternoon and I was so sad.  But she told me to cheer up -

because next weekend is Fiesta Weekend!