The straw that broke the back

I believe advertisements, unfortunately.

     We had camped, scaled a mountain, attended a picnic.....just one little jaunt to go.
     I decided we should go to Bar Harbor, Maine.
     As we drove, we saw signs about a campground on Frenchman's Bay.  Wooded sites.  Flush toilets. Hot showers.  On Frenchman's Bay.  Formerly KOA.
     We also saw lots of cars that looked like they might be campers.  So Jackie said to find a pay phone and make a reservation.
    I called.  They had one tent site left and no, it is not wooded, it was in the prairie section.   So I made the reservation.
    We arrived at the campground very late in the afternoon.  I went to register and a guy walked in just before me.  Turns out, the campground had a cancellation and this guy was in luck.  One wooded campsite along the Bay opened up within the past half hour.  That should have been my spot!.
     So we got the prairie spot.
     Drove over to it.....it was a field.  Across from us was an RV area....generators were humming, lights going on, cooking being done on stoves inside because they were running AC.
     We put up our two tents and looked around.  It was hot.  We were tired.  We were hungry.
    And I was depressed.  This was not the kind of camping I imagined.
     But it was Maine, and that means fresh lobster.
     We got in the car, drove a little way and found a roadside stand that sold lobster and chicken...so we were all happy.
     We went back to the campground and it was still hot.  Plus, the mosquitoes were pretty thick, so we went to bed.
     Julia did her search the tent via flashlight for 10 minutes and we all settled in.
     I really did not pay too much attention to our location, other than noticing the huge RVs parked 20 feet away.  I could even see some people watching TV, safe from mosquitoes and out of the heat.
     But at 1 a.m., it became very apparent where we were.
     The noise started low, then grew louder, and louder.  Suddenly the tent lit up as if it were noon!  The noise was deafening and I unzipped the fly and looked out to see the jet touching down literally feet away.
     We were on the end of a runway!
     Evidently there was only one flight a day in and out, because at about 2:30, our tent was literally buzzed by a big ass jet.  It scared the bejezzus out of us.
      The wooded sites were really just a bunch of shrubs.  The sites were small and packed together.  We were actually fortunate we did not have one because I am sure they were mosquito breeding condos.
      Cadillac Mountain was about 20 minutes from the campground.  That is the first place in the US where you can see the sunrise.  So I got up at 4, and drove off to the mountain with wifey and two kids.  It was cloudy.
       The next morning I got up at 4 a.m. by myself and drove to the mountain top.  It was cloudy.
      On that  day I made a startling discovery.
      The floor in the men's shower was not actually dirt and sand.  It was concrete.  But it was covered in dirt and sand, so unless you dug through with your toe you would not know that.
     It could have been the worst campground ever....and I understood why it was advertising itself as formerly a KOA.....it must not have met their standards.
     I never asked the family to go camping again....and even if I had, they wouldn't have.
     But we had a great time on the trip.  Great memories to share.
     Just not over a campfire.