Camp Palms::1

I'm going to split our beach trip up into a few parts.
Because I have too many picutures.
Because the trip deserves a story well told..
Because I don't know if blogger will let you have a post that takes up 3 pages.
Because what I've really learned is that no matter how well I try to write or the amount of joy the pictures portray, it's fairly impossible to accurately convey perfection.

And this is perfection.
Perfection that we call...Camp Palms.

Camp Palms is a century old home on Indian Pass near Apalachicola.  She belongs to Collin's family and has entertained generations of McMillan's over nearly 100 years. She sits on the bay with a straighthrough to the beach. You can sit on the screen porch and catch the sweet breeze sailing through from every direction or sit in a sand chair with your toes in the surf and never see another soul for as far as your eyes can reach.

It's truly one of the best places on Earth.

It's beautiful there. Raw, untouched & beautiful. They call it the Forgotten Coast. It's a geographic secret we all try to keep, though it's hard to do when you want to share it with people you know will appreciate it, who you know will love it. Love and appreciate it like you do. This is my second year going with the McMillans to Camp Palms but I've been visiting this coastal jewel for many many years.

You see, I spent my teen and college years at Cape San Blas in the summers, only about 10 minutes from Indian Pass. My mom and her girlfriends discovered the area yearS ago and some of my favorite summer memories have taken place between the surf and the dunes on the Cape. 

 

In fact, just this past weekend, two of my best college girlfriends, Carolyn & Kathleen and I started telling hysterical stories about our one of our trips to the Cape with mama and her crazy friends {The Seahags!}. There is an underlying beauty and less than pretentious flavor that makes this place purely timeless.  There isn't a putt putt golf course or even a great restaurant {minus the raw bar!} in a 30 mile radius, Piggly Wiggly is 20 miles away and cell phone signal is spotty.  Instead you play on the beach with each other, you get creative and hook a rope & boogie board to the back of a golf cart and ride along the water to surf.  You listen to eachother instead of the television and you sit around a table every night...together.

The first time I ever met Collin was late in the afternoon on a Sunday in mid May, three years ago. He walked over to my back yard from his own (they connected) to introduce himself. Within minutes of the standard nice-to-meet-ya's, I had to excuse myself to answer a phone call from my mom...I hadn't talked to her in 2 weeks because she'd been at the Cape with no phone signal.  He came back a few minutes later and asked where she had been and I quickly replied "oh, a really deserted place east of Panama City, you've never heard of it, I'm sure".  He asked again and still being vague I responded "no really, it's just a small place on the coast between Port St. Joe and Tallahassee".  His eyes lit up as he smiled a little and said "Appalach is one of my favorite places on earth."  

Hmmm...mine too, strangerboy, mine too. 

Cheesy as it sounds, it was a really cool first connection we had; connection to an unassuming place that has filled us to the brim for much of our lives.

This year we spent the week at Camp Palms with Collin's parents, my mom and dad {they are great friends with the McMillian's, yes, we know it's an awesome situation}, Collin's sister Brett, her husband Kevin and three of their children Brewer, Sarah Grace & Coley.  Bernard and sweet Ethel cook for us while we are there and this year we got the privilege of meeting Corita...THE CUTEST 6 year old little girl that they care for. Corita's sly grin and daily changing pigtails & barrettes should have been served with a spoon, I mean it!  And just for the record...I've never made any bones about the fact that Bernard is my favorite person at Camp Palms. {well Bernard, his enormous smile & contagious laugh, his tomato pie, fresh catches & sauces, crab cakes, banana pudding and pancakes.}

We spent hours rockin on the screen porch, we played board games every night, there is only one tv and watching is limited. Boys went fishing and girls played on the beach. We did whatever we wanted. We read books and talked a lot. We played with sparklers and built sandcastles.  We ate ice cream and oysters. We solved the problems of the world.

The history and life that's captured within the walls of Camp Palms, along with the piece of paradise where she's anchored, are invaluable to the experience. But there's no doubt about the fact that it's the folks your with that make it perfect.

Perfection that we call...Camp Palms.