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August 16, 2020 By Phillip Retuta

Camping in Friendsville.

…or Escape from New York City.

Despite the pandemic spreading across the United States, New York City and New York State’s number of hospitalizations and deaths have stabilized and gone down. Unlike the South and the West Coast, the rate of infection in NYC has subsided to point where it feels okay to take a road trip. And since I’ve seen the same people in-person sporadically (as they’re also counting the days of self-isolation themselves), we’ve created a bubble and decided to go camping at the Maryland-Pennsylvania border, in a little wooded hamlet called Friendsville.

And man, with a name like that, it’s nice to be with dear friends!

This past summer has been full of hardships, to the point where I’ve become anxious and depressed. In fact, I’m still going through the difficulty of being displaced from my apartment with no idea when I can return home. I think a road trip somewhere outside my apartment and this city is what I needed.

I returned to my evacuated apartment to get camping supplies, hurriedly searching through my closets for a tent and dismantling Nico’s/Dusty’s outdoor dog bed from the backyard. With my bags and a cooler packed, I took Dusty to meet up with Brian and Morgan. This would mark Dusty’s first camping trip, and as a puppy and in my care for only two weeks, I felt it was great bonding experience for both of us.

We escaped NYC on a rainy morning, and drove a rental car down — getting food in incredibly long drive-thru lines and entering gas stations with masks. Surprisingly, especially because we were heading deeper and deeper into Trump territory and getting gas in rural areas, a lot of people were wearing masks themselves. I guess a lot of people who need to fill up their cars just have some common sense.

Youghiogheny River Lake.

Several hours later, we arrived at the campsite. It was by a lake, but because they use this particular lake’s water to fill the locks of Lake Erie, the water had receded, leaving behind a muddy field with grass trying to sprout up. Brett and Vi had arrived about half an hour earlier, but our friends Amanda and Rustine had camped there the night before. Amanda and Rustine are good friends to all of us (we went to Oaxaca with them), and they moved from Brooklyn to North Carolina about a year or two ago. It was so nice to see and hang out with them again and simply catch up.

Overall the trip was a good respite from my problems and being shut in my apartment for months. The food we each made was great, and I was even able to do a Pie-Solation livestream. I learned that Dusty doesn’t like to swim, and was too excited by nature to eat and take her puppy medication (she chewed on a lot of sticks, though). It was rainy the second day, but with the makeshift canopy city we constructed, we sat beside the fire and chatted.

By the time our long weekend was over, we parted ways with Amanda and Rustine, and all got tested for COVID within the following week or two. And good news, all of us are negative. And I’m positive I feel emotionally recharged.

Here are some photos of the trip:

The Harmon-Bragaw Mobile Compound.
Camping buddies.
Dusty dreams of owning a canoe one day.
She might not like swimming, but she loves sitting on inflatable avocados.
Dusty likes hunks named Rustine.
Breakfast is served.
An Asian-inspired dinner: fried rice, braised shortribs, kimchi
I earned a few Nick Offerman points for chopping wood.
Brian holds an umbrella over the campfire.
Building a canopy city to shield us from the rain.
Amanda and Dusty totally shop at the same raincoat store.
Behold, my fancy cheese plate.
S’mores Pie. Check my IGTV for the broadcast.
Night falls in Friendsville.
Brett packs his yacht.
Dusty is all tuckered out from her first camping trip.

Filed Under: Friends, Travel

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Born 1983. UX/UI and Digital Designer. Illustrator. Dog Owner. Coffee Enthusiast. Pizza Lover.

I love over-thinking the simplest of things and making stuff at every waking moment: comics, food, videos, photos... you name it. This blog is a record of my work, my exploits, and my philosophical, political, and psychological ideologies. So enjoy reading my dumb ideas and inane rants that I'd otherwise be ashamed to verbally speak out in public.

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  • Phillip N. Retuta#365 2021.01.24: Have Dog, Will Travel. https://t.co/ns4aJIYl7d, 19 hours ago
  • Phillip N. Retuta#365 2021.01.23: Last Day of Dog Training/Meeting Up with a Co-Worker at Fort Greene Park. https://t.co/y2sVYKkeox, Jan 24 21
  • Phillip N. Retuta#365 2021.01.22: Listening to Records (and Sometimes Dancing) By Myself On Friday Night. https://t.co/906QXa1R9z, Jan 23 21
  • Phillip N. Retutahttps://t.co/PZjdKAIjEf, Jan 22 21
  • Phillip N. Retuta#365 2021.01.21: Doughble Trouble. https://t.co/ci5Q0sd5RW, Jan 22 21

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