Earl and I have set up camp here at Hillside Campgrounds in Northeast Pennsylvania. We are here until Sunday. The weather is perfect, the birds are singing lovely little tunes and there’s just enough people here at this gay campground to keep the area feeling populated, but not too overcrowded.
I fired up my PowerBook to write the first of my daily blog entries and lo and behold, there’s wi-fi here. In the middle of the woods. At a campground. For some reason, I’m not surprised. And as you read this, you probably shouldn’t be surprised that I brought my PowerBook along camping. I always bring my PowerBook along whenever we travel because you can take the geek out of the city, but well, I’m sure you understand. Unfortunately I didn’t bring my camera USB cable along so I can’t share pictures until we get back home. I guess we’re roughing it after all.
Our campsite is in an area called the “Landing Strip” in that it looks like a long landing strip carved out in the middle of the dense woods. Instead of runway lights, there’s rainbow flags lining the roadway. Come this time tomorrow there will be a good number of campers and tents lining the roadway as well.
I was a regular here at Hillside back in the mid 90s, as “first Earl” and I had a permanent campsite that we used quite often. Ten years ago this weekend, “my Earl” and I celebrated my birthday together for the first time here at Hillside. It’s a birthday that I will always remember, because it’s one of the first occasions that Earl showed how much he really cared for me by throwing me a small birthday party. We didn’t come to Hillside many times after that until last year as we tended to just keep to ourselves and do our own thing. I also learned that year how much Earl doesn’t really like camping in a tent. Hence, our pop-up camper.
This year we’re here again on my birthday weekend and are keeping it to just the two of us here at our site. We’re looking forward to making some new friends and perhaps seeing some old.
As I write this entry, I realize that ten years ago I wouldn’t have dreamed about writing about camping at a gay campground in my blog. I guess I really have grown over the past ten years.
It’s going to be a great weekend!
