It is still summer and by my calculation we have been 27 days without camping – ever since we got home from that big summer vacation around the Gaspe and Nova Scotia. Too long! This weekend is one of those urban camping experiences – starting to become an annual tradition. The Johnny Appleseed Municipal Park in Fort Wayne is a beautiful little campground just 35 minutes from home and a convenient annual gathering place for my birthday-girl group. The campout came at a convenient time for me to try out a new camera purchase – a SONY a6000 -- billed to have the fastest shutter speed of any camera on the market today. The fast shutter is combined with miniaturization that allows for a smaller and lighter camera, with many of the functions of an SLR camera. (This purchase is in preparation for an Alaska trip in June, 2017 . . . I have 9 months to learn how to get the most out of it!) At 2:00 Thursday we left Van Wert, and at 3:15 we were completely set up. Steve and Cindy followed in a few hours, and Gail and Lois arrived separately for the girls-only birthday-out dinner. Tom and the boys went bar-hopping while the girls went out to celebrate birthdays. Gail took us to a restaurant in downtown Fort Wayne called the Dash-In – a little café specializing in . . . . grilled cheese sandwiches! Want to know how many varieties of grilled cheese there are???? (I had the Mad Apple.) On the way back to the campground, Gail gave us a guided tour of the downtown area, all of which has been groomed and manicured and improved over the years. It is clean, green, maintained, and very pretty with a lot of stuff going on in the downtown area. Gail and Lois took off before the boys arrived back at the campground. Steve, Cindy, Tom and I sat out until the misquotes chased us inside at about 10:30. Time enough for a couple chapters in my book, and a movie on the ipad for Tom.
I slept until 8:45 Saturday morning – and there were some that slept later than that. A morning fire was the draw that got me out of the camper; breakfast was different time and different picnic tables, according to individual schedules, but coffee was together around the circle. By 12:00 it was apparent that a storm was heading our way – Tom and Dave headed off for a quick skeet-shoot trip. Steve, Cindy and I headed out to shop, but quickly turned around and came back when we saw the storm clouds moving in. I fixed lunch, took a shower, and the storm blew over in time for a late open-grill with shared side-dishes, followed by a campfire. Sunday morning started out hot and muggy and was worse by the minute. After coffee we all packed up and headed for home. As excited as I am about the new camera, the no-action venue for this weekend were not exactly what I was looking for to test it out. Not to worry, after three days at home, we leave for a little Indy Car racing at Watkin’s Glen! Perfect to try out that 1/4000th second setting on the shutter!
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October 2021
We don’t go camping any more . . . we go ‘streamin’ ! The “SIlvermine and His” is our 2018 25' Airstream Serenity with Salsa interior and front twin beds., and ‘streamin’ is the name we use to describe our adventures. Stream along as we document everything from weekend trips to longer summer excursions and full-blown vacations. You know what they say: if you’re not in an Airstream – you’re just camping!
Tom & Ella Brown |