Well we survived the wilds of Maine and it was stunning! When we arrived on Saturday afternoon at Portland we stepped outside to a lovely cool and drizzly afternoon, to a glorious place where you didn’t sweat constantly or crave a set of gills to survive. The weather was most definitely Scottish and so was the countryside. I loved it.

After a bit of a kerfuffle with transport we finally made it to Camp Sunshine. The site is on the shores of Lake Sebago, at eleven and a half miles long it is the second largest lake in the state. It is an incredible part of the world to be sure. There are no palm trees, no lizards, no alligators, no big huge Wal-Mart’s on every street, no 8 lane highways, just old world charm, lots of fir trees and clean fresh air. I loved the architecture of the houses and buildings; I loved the twisty roads, the lack of billboards, the small, family run businesses and seeing hills again felt like coming home. Maine rocks!

Anyhow, back to camp…although I’m not sure where to start!
The camp itself is impressive and well thought out. Accommodations were basic and had me worried but we made it though 5 days without a second bathroom or vacuum cleaner. Obviously though Camp Sunshine was built not as a spa resort but with communication and interactivity in mind, and for those of us who are not people friendly, well, there are kayaks and a wide open lake!!

The main building housed the dining hall and theatre, games rooms, a computer area, arts and crafts, the ‘tot lot’, a pool and various meeting rooms. Outside there is mini-golf, archery, a rope course, climbing wall, lots of game areas and THE MARINA. The whole site was very tastefully done and well maintained.

There were about 40 families at camp, and helping out the full time staff were 75 volunteers. The volunteers were mostly college kids, many of whom had survived pediatric cancer. There were also others, of all ages, who just simply wanted to be there and give their time and love to a valuable and worthy cause. I met a wonderful lady who was there with her large family; they had given up a week to volunteer wherever they could be of assistance. One of her children is a step-child whose mother had died a few years ago from cancer. That is only one example of the great people we were lucky enough to meet. It was also good to see a few familiar faces. Two other families from this area flew up to Portland with us and on arrival we bumped into a great family we met at Camp Boggy Creek in the spring. Their son is the same age as Scott and had just finished treatment for bone cancer. They also have a stunning daughter the same age as Derry!!!

I will write more of camp over the weekend as I can’t concentrate anymore due to the noise outside. It is the 4th of July and for those reading this outside of North America, think Battle of the Somme! Not only is there millions of dollars worth of explosives being detonated outside my door, we also are in the midst of a thunder storm.

I'll leave you with Scott in drag ...