A few weeks ago, a friend and I reconnected, and we decided to plan a camping trip. Labour Day weekend was only two weeks away when we got together, and we wanted to take full advantage of the long weekend so that we could enjoy our escape into nature.
We booked our lots at the Seaside Campground in Saint Martin’s, New Brunswick, Canada. One lot had water and electricity, while the other was without. As we planned to share our camping adventure, naturally, we agreed to share the utilities between ourselves.
Check-in was at 3 pm on Saturday, so we started packing on Friday night. I had the idea to make homemade pizza and pack the leftovers. It was great to be able to sit at the picnic table after pitching tents and have cold pizza ready to eat. We planned to camp from Saturday to Monday.
When you camp over three days, you really only have the middle day for the full camping experience. The first day is busy setting up the site, and the last day is when you tear it all down to pack up and go home. As a result, the middle day becomes the highlight of the whole trip.
Coffee
I love 2-3 cups of coffee every day because I need the coffee to do all of the things. Me packing coffee for this trip is not a surprise, however, packing Bailey’s Irish Cream to have in my coffee was a treat. On Sunday morning, I discovered that I did not pack my french coffee press. (It was still home on the kitchen table, waiting to be packed). Consequently, this created a dilemma.
There were options to go get coffee on the site and at Huttges General Store, across the road from the campground. I am known to be a bit stubborn at times and was ready to cry when I realized I had left my coffee press at home. Determined to make my own pot of coffee, I trudged over to the store to see if they had any way to help me out.
We had a kettle and a pot. We had already started boiling water on the camping propane BBQ when I discovered that the coffee press was missing. I went with a plan to see if there was a way to buy a sieve and some paper filters. Not only did the store have the very items I went looking for, but they also gave them to me without charging for them. The coffee dilemma was resolved, and I happily made a pot of coffee. I was also delighted that my friends packed some Jamieson’s Irish Whiskey to create a true camping Irish Coffee experience!
Two walks on Sunday
After a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs and blueberry pancakes topped with pure maple syrup, we cleaned the dishes before heading down to the beach. A short walk from our tenting site brought us to the shore, and the beach is not very sandy when the tide is in. It is a rocky beach.
My friend Kayla and I sat by the water to chat for a bit. I am not in the best physical shape of my life, and I appreciated the rest. The rocks were warm to sit on, which we did until the tide got too close to where we were sitting.
I also tried to film ocean waves while we were sitting still. I learned earlier this summer that I should not be near people who are talking when I do this. This time, I learned that the wind can be picked up on the mic louder than the sounds of the ocean. In the future, I will try to get my ocean waves video again next year. One of these times it will work.
Roy did not join us for this walk, as he had gone to the beach by himself before anyone else was up. When we came back, we found him waiting at a picnic table.
After we were all together again, Roy, Pat and I decided to walk to an ice cream parlour. Along both walks, I had my camera, and I decided to take pictures of whatever inspired me throughout the day. Here are some of those pics.
White Wildflowers 
Pink wildflowers 
A monarch butterfly taking a rest 
A bush with berries 
More pink wildflowers 
A colourful bench with a Little free Library 
The bench between the two edible plant garden boxes. 
What a neat idea! 
A tree along the path to ice cream 
An unripened chesnut 
More chestnuts in the chestnut tree 
A larger view of the whole chestnut tree 
A single chestnut, almost fully ripe. 
A dogwood tree with berries 
A decorative wreath 
The tiniest little pink flowers I have ever seen!
An evening hike
Kayla, Pat’s wife who is the friend from the beginning of this blog, wanted us to go on an evening hike. She wanted to show us where the Caves of Saint Martins were. We decided to drive closer to the destination, and as we found a parking spot, we saw tourists all over the area. There were also tourist shops, a cafe, a restaurant, a food truck and another ice cream parlour.
We could see the Caves from the beach at our campground, but it was really neat to explore them more closely. After crossing a stream and finding our feet all wet, we had to pick our path carefully as some of the rocks were slippery. It had been a few years since I had been rock hopping on the coastline, and never at this location.
The Caves of Saint Martins as seen from the campground beach. The tide was high, we had to wait for it to go out to go on our evening hike. 
A closer look at The Caves of Saint Martins from a distance.
Now that we were committed to exploring after walking through the stream…we were able to get into the caves and take some pictures. If you aren’t familiar with what the locals in every area call tourist traps, it is very difficult to get a picture of what you are there to see without other people being in the shot.
People in one of the caves 
Tourists also out for an evening hike 
Looking from the beach towards the caves. Here you can see the stream we had to cross to get there.
I did my best to not take pictures with people in all of them.
A closer pic of one of the caves 
Looking up from the base of the cave 
Inside the mouth of the cave looking up at the trees growing on top of the cliff 
I thought the trees hanging down would make a nice picture 
Looking at the rock formation and the seaweed 
Looking back towards our campground. 
Looking out to the Bay of Fundy when the tide was out 
Pat and Logan overlooking the Bay of Fundy 
Looking back to the trees outside the cave 
Inside a cave 
Another look at the trees. I found them to be resilient and fascinating. 
Just outside the first cave. 
Getting closer to the first cave. 
Heading back towards the first cave 
A natural path between the caves. 
A trickle of water falling down from the cliff. 
The precarious stone path we took back across the stream. 
A little waterfall 
The sunset over The Bay of Fundy.
We did pose for a few pics as well!
Me with Logan 
Pat, Logan, and Kayla 
Me at the very end of our evening hike
Even though we had a very busy day, we made time for relaxing and for fun. If you don’t make time for these things, consequently you will be less likely to want to pack up and go on another adventure.
You can camp all year round, however, it is a different type of adventure after the snow is on the ground. Personally, I prefer to camp in the summertime, when the nights are not so chilly. It is also nicer to camp for a longer stretch, although I was really pleased with how well our trip went over the long weekend. As a result of reading this blog, I hope this inspires you to go camping too. If you want to see what I packed in more detail, you can read all about it on the Coffee House Writers website. My article will be published there on September 9th, 2019. Here is the link for 7 Categories Of What To Pack For A Short Camping Trip, to help you start your own list of what to pack when you go camping!
Do you enjoy hiking and camping? Have you got any great stories about your own experiences? I would love to read all about them in the comments 😉