There's no better way to end a work week than to drive to the Eastern Shore for a camping trip at Kiptopeke State Park. We have always preferred First Landing State Park as our beach camping spot, but we all decided to branch out and try somewhere we hadn't been. It was between False Cape and Kiptopeke. Needless to say Kiptopeke won the battle since they had shower houses.
Once we arrived at Kiptopeke we made a quick stop at the office to register and get the Secret Trail Code and then we were off to choose our campsite. After choosing just the right spot we threw up our tents, unloaded our gear, and headed out to get our supplies for the weekend. We found the closest grocery store and made it back to camp at the start of quiet hours. Since we had already stopped to eat at Stingray's we called it a night. The night was hot and humid and nonetheless morning came too quickly.
Our Saturday morning began with a geocaching hunt that led us to find Kiptopeke's Wildlife Adventure cache under a blazing hot sun.
The find didn't take us too long so we headed back to our campsite, loaded up our fishing gear, and made our way to the pier. We weren't there too long before we logged our first catch. We had such a great start and there is where it ended.
We spent several more hours fishing and all we were coming up with was empty hooks so we took a break and headed for the beach. We waded in the water for a good while until the angry growls from our stomach could not be ingnored any longer. Although it is tradition, we did not have our usual hobo pack dinner this trip. It was just too hot to keep all of those ingredients cool so we decided on good old fashioned hot dogs. As usual I let the boys tend to the cooking while I handle the cleanup.
After dinner we made our way back out to the pier for a little more fishing. This time instead of empty hooks, we were coming up with crabs. I guess it was only fair since they had been stealing our bait all day. Doesn't this big crab look angry. Well, not as angry as one of his friends who lost an arm...unintentionally.
Our evening ended with some marshmallows and chocolate. It was going to be smores, but we forgot to buy the graham crackers before the camp store closed. But, it's not like you can go wrong with roasted marshmallows and chocolate.
The last day of our camping trip began early. We took down our tents, loaded our gear, and headed back to the beach for one last swim. The beach was pretty empty when we got there, but campers started to arrive in flocks just as we were leaving. We made our way back to the real world and settled back into our schedules. I would say it is definitely hard to leave such a nice and relaxing place, but all good things must come to an end.
You can make your reservations today by calling the Virginia State Parks Reservation Center at 1-800-933-PARK (7275) M-F 9am-5pm or by going online.
