What a terrific thread, Coley - this has been one of the best threads and I have truly loved reading everyone's comments. One used to think about the fun little things we did as “lake traditions” and wonder that if anyone ever heard us, would they think we were nuts, and after reading all the replies to this thread, found that we were not. I now have the great good fortune to live here full-time so don’t have to say “goodbye lake” and “goodbye camp” anymore. Our family rented here for 20 years before I bought here but these were some of our traditions below, arriving and leaving. I do have to comment, though, about the “Indian” on the top of the hill that Aquadeziac spoke about. Wasn’t there a teepee too with a spotlight shining on it, just adjacent to the Indian? As a small child with a very vivid imagination (including an imaginary friend), and inspired, I’m sure, by the Indian statue, I solemnly told my parents every time we passed by it that I had “come from the Indians”!
Arriving:
Getting excited the nearer we got to the lake and swiveling our heads back and forth, trying to take in all the changes from the year before…Meeting our relatives at Frankensundae’s in Meredith (which we called Frankenstein’s) for a sandwich and ice cream…Stopping at Jojo’s on the Moultonborough Neck Road on the way in to pick up ½ gallons of Weeks Ice Cream – particularly their coffee fudge…Unlocking the cottage or “camp” as we called it (we grew up with our own cottage on Cobbetts Pond in Windham that we called “camp” too) and putting up all the blinds/drawing back the drapes to “let all the good air in” as we called it…Making my bed up reversed (pillow at bottom, feet at top against the headboard) so that I could lie awake every night with the drapes back, the window open, all nice and cozy in my blanket, and listening to the sounds of the lake and if you were real lucky, for a loon’s call…Quickly unloading the car and putting the stuff away (always so much fun) and then racing to be the first one asleep for a nap that first day (how delicious!)…Hoping that we would see a loon out front and (we never failed to see one)…That first night, going out to the deck that ran the length of the house – with its built in seats with open backs and climbing into them backwards so that your feet hung out over the side, resting your head on your arms on the top board of the seats, and listening to Taps from Camp Tecumseh, sighing, and trying desperately to hang on to that first day, knowing the 2 weeks were going to fly by…Putting our handmade “Camp Loons R Us” calendar on the refrigerator and writing in who was arriving when.
Leaving:
For years we always made it a point to clean the camp on the last day till we wised up and had someone come in and clean it while we took all the remaining ½ gallons of ice cream down to the lakeside and ate them…Saying “goodbye, camp” and “goodbye, lake”…Hoping that a loon would appear that last day (like the Thayers in OGP) and it always did…Trying to catch the very last view of the lake (from the 2 scenic views on Route 11) and then Alton, and stopping for a hot dog and ice cream at Shibley’s. One thing we did as small children when we had our camp at Cobbett’s was to be lucky enough to stumble across a blanket at home that we had had at camp, inhale deeply of its fibers, and announce to everyone “Smells like camp!” Our parents would groan and mutter "it's only musty" and we'd yell back "uh uh, it's camp!"
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