I had a super amazing time up in Rhode Island this past weekend with my family. It’s always so nice to get together with them and I’m already looking forward to next year's trip!
I arrived on Thursday night and everyone that was there already was gathered around the fire. This was already a step up from last year, when it had been raining and no significant fire was to be had.
On Friday, Mum and I got up and hung around the picnic table on our site, doing a bit of journaling and chatting, before others came over to have some breakfast.
After breakfast, Mom and I went to the beach. We sat there for hours, just enjoying the warm sun, the cool breeze off the ocean, and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore.
On Friday night, my Aunt Beth and my cousins, Sam and Jenn, and Sam’s son, Logan, arrived. We helped set up their site and then headed back to ours to make some dinner before gathering into vehicles for a trip to Watch Hill to catch the sun setting over the harbor. It was beautiful!
On Saturday morning, we all got up for a special breakfast of fried dough. I’m not sure where the tradition started, but Mom often makes fried dough at family camping gatherings.
After breakfast, the whole crew got ready and headed out to Watchaug Beach, a place from the childhood of my Mom and her sisters. There we sat by the water, enjoying the sunshine and an occasional dip in the perfect temperature water, and had lunch all huddled together at a picnic table, where we celebrated my Aunt Cindy’s birthday with cupcakes and a group photo.
We spent most of the day at Watchaug and then went back to the campground to freshen up and have dinner, which was actually breakfast. We had gathered so much breakfast food, it seemed like the thing to do so it wouldn’t go to waste.
After breakfast/dinner, we went to Atlantic Beach Park to ride the Flying Horses. I hadn’t done this in years and it was a wonderful treat!
Following the horses, we stopped at a place called Dusty’s for a cold treat- some got ice cream, but I and a few others got Del’s frozen lemonade. It was another thing I haven’t had in a long time, but boy was it delicious!
On Sunday, we got up and disassembled our respective campsites. We were going to go for a walk in the bird sanctuary, but it wasn’t to be, so my Mom, Aunt Beth, cousins, and I had lunch and then they all headed north and I south.
There was so much more to this weekend than described here, like wonderful amounts of laughter- some of it the kind where your stomach hurts after, old jokes and new, a few serious topics mixed in with the lighthearted joy of regular family conversation, and so on and so forth.
I’m so glad we hope to make it an annual event and look forward to additional family coming in the future!
2 comments:
You will enjoy knowing this--fried dough is really GRAMA's job. I can remember seeing her in the back of our camper at BURLINGAME, cast iron frying pan sizzling and fresh dough laid out, ready to cook. Fried dough is a Burlingame tradition. So, it was only right we made some. I loved it was fresh dough too--Grama NEVER used frozen.
I thoroughly enjoy knowing that! It makes it all the more special... and more excited to make many more memories in the future at Burlingame.
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