WINTER POSTCARD FROM THE GIRL CAMP CABIN

Hi all, spending a couple of post-Christmas days at the Girl Camp Cabin in good ol’ Elk River, Idaho. As you can see, it had snowed some since our last visit—almost a foot on Christmas Eve Day.

Girl Camp itself has about 2 1/2 feet of snow on it—no trailer parking until spring! (With many more feet of snow sure to come.) The cabin's back yard (above) is negotiable only by snowshoe.

Got the bird feeders filled—for those crazy birds who, like us, like to be here all year ‘round. Also have the woodstove well stoked, the better to melt that snow off the roof.

Queens of the Trailer Park (Girl Camp 2012)

Every summer, Girl Camping Girl and The Little Little Trailer throw a weekend party for about a dozen girlfriends (give or take a few) who love to camp together. This year's theme was Queens of the Trailer Park--and The Little Little Trailer volunteered to haul in some crowns for the event.

The girlfriends hauled in their trailers plus all the accoutrements that go with them. Some came hundreds of miles.

In her gift bag, each guest found a blank satin queen's sash to letter and decorate.

The sash was accompanied by a tiny bejeweled crown--just in case anyone forgot to pack her tiara.

Everyone wore it well!

It became apparent very quickly that crown jewels go perfectly with a glass of breakfast champagne.

The outfits that emerged from each trailer were creative and fun. Check out Miss Sylvia as the Idaho Tater Queen!

Miss Bonnie rocks her cigarette holder as the Queen of Trailer Trash.

Here's Miss Marie, Girl Camping Girl's mom, as (what else?) the Queen Mother.

Miss Karen, far right, was the Queen of South of the Border. She furnished a surprise with that, but...what happens at Girl Camp, stays at Girl Camp!

The Queens of the Trailer Park posed for pictures. Then they paraded themselves to downtown Elk River, Idaho, where they reigned at the local taverns, crashed a wedding party, danced with startled strangers, and left behind, shall we say, an indelible impression.

Miss Carolyn, the Queen Egg Lady, also left hard-boiled eggs with some of her new subjects!

The next day, all 15 queens turned back into their regular selves, and also reviewed their crazy-fun night on video.

All that frivolity may have worn them out. But as we all know, a queen never loses her composure. So the only obvious casualty of the evening was the dead rubber chicken!

The History of Girl Camp (Part I)

In the beginning, circa 2001, Girl Camp wasn't about camping. It was about satisfying the archetype of an escape place in the mountains.

Girl Camping Girl and her husband, Mr. Ed, had based some horse-camping trips from the tiny town of Elk River, Idaho, where outdoor recreation had taken the place of the timber milling on which the town was founded in 1910. About 40% of the town was for sale at the time, and after the 9/11 tragedy and ensuring recession occurred, nothing was selling.

Except for...

...the 32x24-foot millworker's bungalow in the photo above. It sat on a corner lot in town and was unoccupied. Both GCG and Mr. Ed had a love-at-first-sight experience upon opening the front door--which took some doing, considering the snowfall that winter--and the seller took their offer.

By then, it was the dead of winter, and the For Sale sign would be buried until the following May. And so would everything else except the inside of the little house. (Bad time to sell--great time to buy.)

  

Eventually, summertime did come back to the mountains, revealing a lovely sloped backyard.

Meanwhile, this little gem of a canned ham travel trailer had presented itself, for sale one day on a street back closer to home. One cash negotiation later, it was hooked up to GCG's truck. But she never got to come and visit the little house, because of that sloped backyard, which left nowhere to park her except on a town street.

A few more winters came and went. Including the one that crushed the mobile home, on the flat lot, across the street.

To be continued....