If you like camping, you’ll find no shortage of options. You can camp in tents, hammocks, full-size RVs, vans, and even regular cars. Sure, each comes with varying degrees of comfort, but there are certainly plenty of options. With regard to where one chooses to camp, again, options galore. Up until just a few weeks ago, G and I had mostly camped these past two years in established state, national (Canada), or municipal, or independently owned campgrounds. Now, however, we can add “boondocking” to our list of adventures.

That same stillness and quiet in a typically bustling place is what draws us to Acadia National Park in the off-season, and in the winter in particular. While sharing the park, one of the most visited in the country, with so many others is certainly fun on some level of community and camaraderie, we’ve come to love the days and months when we can hear our only our own footsteps on a trail or when we share “hellos” with only a few others.

Our “camping” lasted a few years. I’m not sure how or why we stopped. But in my mind, I yearned to a return to that vision of ourselves. But now, in my mid-40s and G in his early 50s, the idea of sleeping in a tent on the ground wasn’t one that we were both thrilled to return to. And then I started looking at vans. And rooftop tents. And trailers. And then back to vans. If you’ve been reading the blog, you know that we bought a van in November—a 2002 VW Eurovan Weekender…with the cool Westfalia pop-top. She’s a beauty; I’m in love. And for Memorial Day weekend, we headed off to Maine for our maiden voyage.