Our Maine Street's Aroostook Issue 21 : Summer 2014 | Page 67

Camp meal plans tend to be broken into two categories: housekeeping and the American plan. Housekeeping accommodations include cooking facilities, allowing guests to prepare their own meals and therefore keep their own schedule. The American plan treats guests to the full sporting camp experience, which includes meals in the main lodge with other sportsmen and guides. Many guests find breakfast to be an invaluable time to gather information about the best fishing spots or hiking trails, and dinner is the perfect time to tell mostly-true stories about the one that got away. Lifelong friendships (and more than one or two marriages) have started from a single conversation in a sporting camp dining room. In addition to the palette of colorful guests, many camp owners and employees are guides, pilots, rescue professionals, or other folks who have some great stories of their own to tell. Outside of the dining room, sporting camps offer a well-rounded getaway. Many camps sit on the banks of ponds, lakes, or rivers, offering just-out-the-door fishing and swimming. Paddlers appreciate that many camps keep canoes on the premises, either for rent or already included with the price of your stay. Hunters enjoy miles of wilderness in which to stalk bear, deer, moose, partridge, and turkeys. For the hiking set, camp offerings a range from easy, flat woods roads to steep ascents up The County’s prettiest mountains. Many of Maine’s remote areas are now ripe with geocache treasures (see www.geocaching.com/), and the opportunities for exploring nature with the kids are limited only by your (and their!) stamina. To find out more about sporting camps all over Maine, and to find your next perfect vacation, visit the Maine Sporting Camp Association website at www.mainesportingcamps. com. You deserve to get out in the woods this summer. SUMMER 2014 65