Week 6: Place

Albany, New Hampshire June 1994 was the first time my family ever brought me. Of course I was a year and one month old so this place wasn't special to me yet. Pine Knoll Campground is about 10 minutes outside of North Conway and its just your regular campground. At around 5 years old, maybe 6; is when I felt it. This place became some magical place where I'd meet random kids my age and have the best week of my life. We would go every year in June for Laconia Bike Week for a full 7 days. This yearly thing just became something I could always look forward to. It's my special place to go where I feel nothing but relaxation, happiness and solitude.

As I grew up and got a cellphone in 7th grade so did my other friends I had met throughout the years from New Hampshire. We were all able to stay connected throughout the months were were apart and for years to come. Now being 20 it's crazy to think I have been going there for literally 20 years. Nothing major has changed there and I guess that's what I love, I want to have ONE thing in life that remains the same. Now I'm old enough I go there whenever I want to, I even had a boyfriend from there when I was 18 and traveled there about 6 times that Summer.

Every time I drive there and I am crossing over the New Hampshire line I am like a kid in a candy shop. I went this last June for a weekend and brought my best friend, we had a sun filled, motorcycle, beer drinking hell of a time. What makes this place so special to me I'll begin to explain by route of the map, from the entrance of the campground, looping around all the campsites, and out the exit. I can picture every detail like I'm there right now: The entrance of the campground is on the inside of a wide bend on route 16 in Albany. It had always made me nervous for on coming traffic or speeding bikers. The sign is big and yellow, my face lights up as I make the turn. On the right as I turn in is the house where Dan and Tina the owners live and the barn where on special weekends would be barn parties. I was never old enough to party with them but even being younger it was fun, it was special.

As I drive up the hill up to the check in building I walk in and see a older lady. The nicest of women you could ever meet. She has every possible kind of candy in this store! My favorite when I was younger was those candy cigarettes. Buying them I felt awesome, like I was really buying real ones. My cousin Jessica and I used to walk down to the beach and sit by the ducks pretending to smoke them. Crazy kids. After the check in window which is at the top of a hill; you drive down a very steep hill which they finally changed in 2012. Dangerous for people walking at night, "drunkies" used to cruise around their golf carts and race down the hill with no head lights. They recently changed the campground rules to: "NO GOLF CARTS!" At the bottom of the hill is the beach, Lake Iona rests here and calmly touches the shore. It's small enough that it's really pond but Iona pond doesn't sound good... This lake is unbelievably pretty.

There are mountains beyond the horizon of trees you can see and only one large house on the other side so its mostly woods you see, especially during the day you barely see the house. It's quiet here, perfect for a boat ride to fish. The beach it self is always so sandy. They bring in new sand every year or every other year, it always feels so good between my toes. After the bend is where I get that butterfly exciting feeling. This is where the actual campground is. The little road opens up wide into a large field, a bunch of tent sites, a couple rows of camper sites. The baseball field is always groomed perfectly. The bathroom building rested kind of in the middle. That place literally has not changed in 20 years. I usually go there first after the 3 hour drive. The wooden doors are always written on with names, dates, hearts and love letters. This past June I went and saw "Ashley was here." My aunt signed her name next to mine. Some of the doors where painted over but not that one. I think its because Dan and Tina know we always come back and would get a kick out of it still being there. It was about 13 years ago we wrote our names on it. Now that's a good feeling. Bringing back memories like that. Pine Knoll has nothing but good memories for me.

Behind the bathroom is a row of about 7 large trees. During bike week my dad and his "crew" would take up all the sites on the front and back side of the trees. We were literally in the middle of the whole campground, central party zone. Even at 10 years old I'd love sitting around a fire with all them and my friends, roasting marshmallows and smoking candy cigarettes. In the morning my friends and I would usually take walks around the little roads around PKC. (Pine Knoll Campground for short.) We would start by going over the bridge next to the Musto's campsite. They are from Massachusetts and have a seasonal campsite, which always made me jealous. They became very close with my parents and still stay in contact today. --- Crossing over the bridge is another circle of campers rested under trees with decorative camping lights and fire pits still smoking from the night before. In the morning all you smell is fires, burning rubber and motorcycles. If you can't tell by my personality already, I love all those smells. The roads here are big enough for one vehicle at a time, barely a camper so I don't think half of those campers are ever getting out of there.

Coming up on the 2nd little bridge, about 12 feet long a quiet clear stream runs below it. Someone has a little fairy garden around one of the bends of the stream. She never changes it either, but always has it looking nice. This part of the campground is one of my favorites, it feels like a tiny little village of campers and some of the sites have built little buildings off of their campers almost looking like tiny houses every where. All the sites are pretty well kept and everyone SO friendly; always waving and saying how old I've gotten. I smile and wave back. As we loop back around to the end of the road it comes back out by the entrance of PKC. Facing the field again I see my camper on the far side. We walk up the right side of the field and I'd sometimes yell "I'll race ya!" And my cousins and I would race back up to our sites for breakfast with the parents before they went out for the day on the motorcycles and left us with our older cousin Amanda. I'd sit half the time facing the ball field, starring up at the big Oak trees gazing at the hopefully blue skies. When they were blue, the air was fresh and I could take a deep breath and feel such solitude. I didn't care if I sat there all day not doing much. I was in my place, my favorite place in the world.

The exit of PKC was just as steep as the entrance. If you go left you'll head back on 16 towards Laconia where bike week is held, or right, towards North Conway on the same route. From Conway to Ossippee I know my way, I know every road for miles around there. 20 years will do that. PKC could do a lot of things to make money and make cosmetic changes that most campgrounds do now a days. I hope they keep it though. Dan and Tina keep that place feeling like home away from home. It's clean, friendly and welcoming. I'll be bringing my family there some day and hope to god I have my own seasonal site so I can go whenever I want. 3 hours to solitude and out of Maine? I'll take it. I think I'll be planning a fall vacation there soon.