Part 1 of 2

One of the many things that my husband, Brian and I talked about during our engagement as we made plans for our life together was that we wanted to become members of the nudist campground that I’ve written so much about.  Brian had been there with me once on a daytrip during the summer before we were married, but even aside from that, I’d talked about it so much and written about it enough that he was in agreement that this was something good that we wanted to do for ourselves.  This decision was minor in comparison to the many others we were making, but it has proven to be a major source of enjoyment, relaxation, and friendship building for us over the past summer. 

We hadn’t been able to go there at all during the pervious summer – the summer that we were married - because of all the planning and anticipation of our wedding and establishing our new place together.  Then during the cold winter months that followed when we were both so anxious for spring to get here, we took steps to become actual bona fide members of the campground.  Now we could go anytime we wanted and as many times as we wanted without having to hope and wait for someone to invite us as guests. 

Having been someone who had been fortunate enough to be invited as a guest numerous times, I began thinking of how I could pass the favor on and do the same for others.  One of the first people that came to mind was my best friend, Julie.  I had no doubt she’d have a great time there.  What I did have doubts about was how compatible she would be with camping.  She’s not one to do without her comforts; especially when you consider that a lot of what most of us consider comforts, she considers necessities.  Combine that with the fact that Brian and I were not experienced campers ourselves and, well, I was thinking it was going to be a real challenge getting her on board with the idea. 

But I really wanted her to have the chance to experience a true nudist environment – an environment that was wide-open in terms of being a large area that was set aside specifically for nude recreation and where there were friendly people around who considered nude recreation and living to be a completely normal, healthy, and preferable way to be.  Julie’s experiences thus far had all been with a few close friends and mostly in private homes along with a few times out at the pasture.  Those were all good experiences – don’t get me wrong – but I wanted her to experience it at the next level - in a big enough place and for a long enough time that she could literally forget about it.  In other words, she’d have the chance for it to become so normal and so natural that she wouldn’t think of it as a sort of temporary, short-lived novelty, but instead to have it be a healthy, relaxing, true-to-self way to live.  What I’m talking about here is something that is truly attitude changing.

At first I thought, well maybe we’ll just do a daytrip with her – no camping – just to give her a taste of it for a few hours.  And then I thought, well, maybe we’ll wait until later in the summer after Brian and I have been camping a few times and maybe we’ll know a little more about what we’re doing before we invite her for a few days.  I didn’t know how it would work out, but I started talking it up with her early on.  Her responses were generally non-committal, mostly because of the camping aspect of it.  It’s like, whenever I’d bring it up our conversations would go something like this:

I’d say, “It’s gonna be so much fun when you go over to the campground with us this summer.”

She’d say, “Yeah, but…where will we stay?”

I’d say, “We’ll camp out.”  She’d give me a questioning, doubtful look and I’d add reassuringly, “Don’t worry.  It’ll be fun.”

She’d say (with sarcasm), “Oh, right!  Sleeping on the ground like a little lost dog or something will be fun?  I think not.”

I’d respond with, “We’ll have a tent.  It’ll be fine.”

She’d ask, “Is it air-conditioned?” knowing full well that it wouldn’t be. 

I’d say, “No, but it’ll be OK.  Come on.  It’ll do you some good to rough it a little.  It’ll make you appreciate more what you’ve got.”

She’d say, “Pfft!  I suppose the next thing you’re gonna say is (mockingly) ‘it’ll build your character’.”

To which I immediately and smartly echoed right back at her, “It’ll build your character.”

And to which she immediately replied as she pointed to herself, “Oh, yeah, right!  Like my character needs more building?” 

She had a point. 

But I didn’t give up.  I continued to talk it up every now and then when we were hanging out.

As it turned out, I had more time to talk it up than I had expected.  It seemed like summer took forever to get into full swing this year weather-wise.  It stayed cool and rainy way into June.  Brian and I in our excitement about being members of the campground made a couple of day trips over there during the spring, but there just weren’t any weekends where the forecast looked rainless for the whole two days.  We knew that as novice campers, we did not want to deal with rain and storms on our first time out in a tent and I for sure didn’t want to subject Julie to anything like that.  She’d probably never go again and for sure never let me hear the end of it. 

The weather was having a similar impact on many of the other campground members as well.  As I kept in touch with my friends from there, they were all mentioning that they and their families were wanting to get out there, but the weather just wasn’t cooperating.  I guess there was some pent up demand increasingly building with each passing rainy weekend.  Finally, closer to the end of the June than the middle, we had a forecast that looked promising.  We watched everyday through out the week and then on Wednesday night Brian and I declared it enough of a “go” to start preparing. 

I called Julie right away and told her that we were going and that when I said we, I meant her, too.  She again started into her non-committal routine and excuses, but I just acted like I didn’t hear it. 

“No excuses,” I said.  “The weekend starts at noon Friday, which is when we’ll pick you up so be ready.  It’s simple.  We’re bringing everything.  All you have to do is get in and go.  Got it?  Good.  Ta!”  End.

Brian and I scrambled around to get things ready that night and the next evening.  It was easier to just do everything ourselves than to try to coordinate with Julie, asking her to do part of it and then hope that she actually would.  Our plan was to have everything ready and loaded when we left for work Friday morning.  We were both taking off at noon and meeting at Julie’s apartment where we would leave my car for the weekend and all go in Brian’s car. 

Friday finally came.  It was a very busy morning at work and I had a hard time getting away, but I finally managed it with only a half-hour delay.  I figured I’d be the last one to Julie’s place and they would both be waiting on me, but when I got there, no Brian; no Julie either.  It didn’t really surprise me. 

I gave Julie a call.  It took more than the usual number of rings for her to answer.  “Look, uh, I don’t know if I can make it,” she said.

“What happened?  Can’t you get the weekend off?” I asked.  She works at her Mom’s dress shop which is only a few blocks away from her apartment. 

“No, it’s not that,” she answered slowly.  I could tell she was stalling.

“Well?” I pressed.

“I don’t know,” she responded.  “I just don’t know about this camping thing.”

“It’ll be fine,” I said. I probably had more than a little exasperation in my voice.  “I promise you, it’ll be fun.”

“Well…maybe I have other plans for the weekend,” she said.  Still stalling. 

“Well…do you?” I continued pressing.

“Well…no,” she answered.

I lightened up my tone a little bit.  “Don’t make me come down there,” I said jokingly.

“All right, all right,” she said rather grudgingly.  “I’ll be there in a few.  Go on in if you want.”

About that time, Brian pulled up and we both went in and changed.  And still we waited on Julie.  It was a half-hour or more after I called her that she finally came strolling in as though everyone had all the time in the world. 

“Are you sure it’s not gonna, like, rain or anything?” she asked, still scrounging for excuses.

“Pretty sure,” I said confidently.

“I don’t know…it looks kinda cloudy to me,” she said glancing out the window.

“Julie!  There’s like, one little white cloud in the whole sky!” I said, not even trying to hide my exasperation now.  “It’s going to be the best weekend we’ve had so far this summer.”

She still had that I-don’t-know-about-all-this kind of look.

I was instantly sorry I had gone off on her, so I lightened up and said, “What’s up with you, girl?  You starting to get a little shy in you old age?”

Her come-back to that was, “Pfft!  Me?  Shy?  Don’t you realize who you’re talkin’ to here?  I’m not afraid to wear anything.  I’m not afraid to not wear anything.”  Then in a little more serious tone, she continued with, “I told you – I’m just not sure I wanna have to put up with this camping thing and be all miserable and everything all weekend.”

I said, “Hey, if that’s all it is, you don’t have to worry.  We’ll be in a tent so there won’t be any bugs or anything.  We’ve go a sleeping bag for you to use so you don’t have to try to sleep on the hard ground or be cold.  The temperature’s going to be like, perfect.  This is the best weekend for you to try this out – not too hot and not cold either.  So come on, just give it a try.  Then if you hate it, well…so be it, but at least you’ll know for sure.  OK?”  Then in reference to the nude part of it, I continued with, “Come on, I really want you to experience this.  You just have to experience this.  You’re not gonna believe what it’s like to actually live without having to have anything on you for the whole weekend.”

“I don’t see what’s the big deal with that,” she said.  “I like clothes.  Sometimes I don’t wear them, but I still like them.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” I said.  “I do, too, but this is different.  I know, I’ve told you before, but I’ll say it again - you’ve got to experience it to believe it.  I mean, experience it longer term.  You’ll know what I’m talking about when you all of a sudden realize that clothes are about the farthest thing from your mind.  You’re not thinking about what you’re wearing or what you’re going to wear that night or the next day and you’re not worried about how something makes you look or worried about what somebody will think about it or what kind of impression it will make.” 

She just rolled her eyes in that old familiar way that I knew meant she was already pretty much resigned, if not totally convinced, to go with us, but I continued with, “Besides, I’ve been telling my friends from there all about you for so long and I told them you were coming this weekend.  They can’t wait to meet you and hang out.” 

I paused a few seconds and then added, “And I’m looking forward to spending some time with you, too, ya know.  It’s been a long time since we’ve really done anything together - something besides just going out to lunch or talking on the phone and that kind of stuff.  This’ll be fun – kinda like old times.”  I couldn’t believe I actually said something as cliché as that, but that’s what came out and besides, that’s what I meant. 

“Yeah…well…” she said in a tone that still held plenty of reluctance. 

“I’ll take that as a yes,” I said.  “So let’s go!  Ya’ ready?”

“Sur-r-r-r-re,” she said, drawing it out like she was conceding all my points but was only reluctantly giving in.  Still, I knew her well enough to know that it meant she had made her own decision albeit slowly, and now that she had, she was in agreement to go.

“So like…where’s your stuff?” I asked.

“What stuff?  We’re going to a nudist camp, aren’t we?  What could I possibly need?” she asked jokingly.  Her usual attitude of fun and goofiness was starting to emerge again.  The fact of the matter was that she hadn’t even thought about packing anything yet. 

“Well…you might want to change into something more comfortable for the trip over…and you might want to take a few things like your toothbrush and toothpaste…little necessities like that.”

“Can’t I just use yours?” she quipped as we headed into her bedroom. 

“Ew-w-w!” I exclaimed.  “No way!”

“I meant your toothpaste,” she said laughing. 

“Oh.  Yeah, that’s cool,” I said. 

She changed and we talked about what she should take and what I already had for her.  As she gathered the things together that she needed and wanted, she asked if she could just put them in with our stuff since her luggage was at her parent’s home.  What Brian and I had in the way of personal items certainly didn’t require luggage.  In fact, we were using what could be considered a large beach bag and there was plenty of room for her stuff in there, too.  We had brought it in when we changed, so I went out into the main room where Brian was patiently waiting, brought it back in, and set it on her bed. 

“Hey, let’s see what all you’ve got in there that I can borrow,” she said quizzically as I set it down and prepared to add her stuff to it.  I was thinking she really didn’t need to do that – I felt I had everything necessary and had it fairly well organized – but she insisted.  At any rate, she was having fun now, mostly at my expense, making little comments as she pawed through our stuff.  Then all of a sudden, she spied something. 

“Well now, this is definitely a camping essential,” she said with joking sarcasm as she held up my birth control pills.  “Wouldn’t dare try to rough it without these, would we!”  Then glancing into the bag again and laughing, she said, “Oh, this is great:  Deep Woods Off, Chigger-Rid, Ortho Tri-Cyclen.  Yep, I’d say you’ve got all the little pests covered, Sunny girl, no matter where they strike!” 

I just laughed and let her run with it – she was having fun now.  Then with a twinkle of orneriness in her eye, she called out to the other room, “Hey Brian.  Know what I use for birth control?”

“Uh-h-h, your personality?” he fired right back.

“Oh-h-h,” she said in a high-pitched whimper as though she had been emotionally crushed, but it was just pretend and she went right on as though nothing had happened.  Both her question and Brian’s quick response caught me off guard and I burst out laughing.  I have no idea where she was heading when she asked him that other than to set him up for some kind of joke to try to embarrass him. 

Just a little bit of background here:  Julie managed to get herself nicknamed Stitch on the message board when she was watching it for me while we were gone on our honeymoon about a year ago.  This is especially funny since she is the one who usually does the name calling and comes up with nicknames for everyone else.  She was only on the board a short time, but in that time she managed to get caught at her own game.  As a result of that, Brian and I often call her Stitch and sometimes refer to her as The Stitch.  Now, whenever she is making fun of someone or setting them up for an embarrassing joke or something like that, we refer to that as getting Stitched.  This was one of those situations where Brian could see that he was being set up to get Stitched, but he managed to turn it around on her instead – something that’s not easy and doesn’t happen often, but it’s oh so funny when it does. 

Finally, we got her changed and packed and ready to go.  As we were about to walk out the door, I asked her if she needed to let her roomie know she was going to be gone for the weekend. 

“Oh, yeah,” she said in response to my reminder and walked back to the marker board that they have on the wall to leave each other messages.  Julie took a green marker and printed in big block letters that filled the whole board:

GONE TO
NUDIST CAMP
BACK SUN NITE

I just looked at her questioningly. 

She shrugged and said, “It doesn’t matter…she won’t believe me anyway.”  Then added, “So let’s go!” like it was me who was holding us up. 

Julie’s roomie is a girl who’s a little older than we are.  I’ve met her – she seems nice enough, but I get the impression from Julie that their relationship is a little strained at times.  There’s a definite difference in personality type between them.  Regarding nudity, Julie had jokingly told me earlier, “Yeah, I’ve come out with her.  I’m openly nude.”  See what I mean?

The trip over to the campground went by fast enough once we finally got going.  Brian and I were excited to be going and anxious to get there because we already knew what to expect and were so looking forward to it.  I think Julie was excited, too, but she was also apprehensive because she wasn’t sure what to expect.  I’d told her all about it so many times and I know she trusted me not to get her into anything too uncomfortable for her, but I could tell she was a little nervous just by the way she was talking and joking around even more so than she usually does – that’s what she does to distract herself from whatever she’s worrying about.  I now realized that I’d probably underestimated how nervous she might be coming here with us, so I knew I needed to look for ways to help her along and be sensitive to her concerns. 

When we got there, we stopped by the caretakers’ place to check in and we introduced Julie to them.  They were very friendly, kind, and welcoming as always.  On the way back to the car, I knew Julie was wondering when we would get undressed and so I – never one to waste time when it comes to nude recreation - did what I always do, started “changing” for the weekend immediately.  I figured that would answer her questions and serve as an example for her at the same time.  I was wearing a string top tee shirt and as I pulled it over my head, I somehow managed to catch my sunglasses and almost pulled them off, too.  As I ungracefully grabbed at them with one hand trying to put them back in place, I accidentally swung my top over with my other hand and swiped it against Julie as she walked along beside me.

“Hey now!” she said pretending to be irritated at me, but it was just part of an act. 

“Oh…sorry,” I said. 

Not to be outdone and being in the crazy, nervous mood she was in, she pulled off her top and deliberately swung it over and hit me across the chest with it.  Then mocking me, she said, “Oh…sorry.”

She let go of it and I just let it slide off and fall to the ground.  Stepping over it and laughing as we kept going, I said, “I think you lost something.”

“Pick it up,” she said arrogantly - still kidding around.

“I’m not your mother,” I said still laughing.  I knew this was helping her deal with her nervousness so I just played along.  By then we were back at the car.  Brian, who had been following along behind had picked it up for her. 

“Look familiar?” he asked holding it out to her. 

“Just put it over there,” she said in a don’t-bother-me-with-details kind of way; she motioned with her chin toward the back of the car as she continued to undress.  It was all part of her act and we couldn’t help but laugh. 

We finished getting undressed and then drove on up the hill and into the camping area.  As we were driving slowly along the campsites deciding on which one to select, Julie in the back leaned up between us and just like that kid in the movie, “Sixth Sense”, said in a kind of whispery voice, “I see nude peo-ple.”  Cracked us up! 

We picked out a camp site, unloaded the car, and then took it back up to the parking area.  It was still mid-afternoon, but there were already quite a few people there.  We said hello to those around us and introduced ourselves to those we didn’t know and of course we introduced Julie to all of them.  She immediately noticed how friendly everybody was and I think that did a lot to help alleviate some of her nervousness. 

I couldn’t wait to show her around the place, but even though it was still a long time until dark, we decided we’d better get the tent set up while it was easy to see since we didn’t really know what we were doing or how long it would take.  It went pretty well and took less time than I’d thought.  Brian had said it would be easy and would go fast, but I wasn’t so sure.  It turned out that he was closer to being right than I was.  Once the tent was up, we put the sleeping bags inside and situated everything else the way we thought we wanted it.  There would be lots of adjustments later based on experience and advice from our camping neighbors. 

Then we started out on the grand tour interspersed with stopping to talk to people as we met them and introducing Julie to them.  I had a fun time showing her around and talking about all the great times that we’d had here.  I don’t think she was especially impressed with the grounds and facilities like we are, but that’s just because she’s not so much of an outdoorsy kind of person.  But it was OK – we were having fun. 

When we came to the pool, I said, “Come on – it’s hot – let’s dive in.” 

She said, “But we don’t have our towels or anything.”

“We don’t need anything,” I said as I walked about half way down the length of the pool and dove in towards the deep end.  She and Brian soon joined me.  The water was kind of chilly, but it was a nice change on a warm afternoon.  As we swam and floated and joked around, I was thinking how excited and pleased I was to have Julie there with me.  But I remained very aware that, at least so far, I was still more excited about having her there than she was about actually being there; however, I knew we’d continue to work on that.  I know my best friend and I just knew she was going to be having a great time before the weekend was over.  

After a little while in the pool, I said, “Come on, I want to take you down to the creek.  It’s so peaceful there.  Wait ’til you see it!”

We swam back down to the shallow end of the pool, took the steps out, and just kept going.  As we passed through the gate, I was pulling back my hair and squeezing the water out when Julie said, “It’s a good thing it doesn’t matter that we’re dripping all over everything since we don’t have any towels.”

I said, “I don’t think the grass is going to mind.” 

As the three of us proceeded on our walk down the path toward the trees, I thought more about these little things that Julie was saying and from them I could tell that there really was a lot about this way of being that she had not yet experienced and didn’t yet understand than I had realized.  I mean, she was used to being nude at home and with me and a few other close friends including Brian and she was completely at ease with all that, but then these were all situations in familiar places with familiar people and of a fairly short duration.  Now all of a sudden, here we were in a big outdoor place that was totally unfamiliar to her with lots of totally unfamiliar people.  Who, with only limited experience with nude recreation and living, wouldn’t be at least a little uncomfortable and uncertain about being suddenly plunged into this new situation? 

I had discussed all of this with her beforehand and again on the way over.  I made it clear that she didn’t have to be undressed the whole time or any of the time if she didn’t want to and that she was free to wear or not wear whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted.  I stressed to her that she was in full control and nobody was going to fault her or harass her if she chose to be dressed.  I gave her my personal promise that I’d stick by her on whatever she chose to do.  There was no doubt in my mind that she understood all that, so I wasn’t the least bit worried that she might be doing anything that she didn’t really want to nor was I the least bit worried that she wouldn’t get dressed if she felt at all uncomfortable with anything about the situation. 

It was with that understanding that, when all three of us got undressed at the car after coming out of the caretakers’ place back down the hill that our clothes had all gone in the trunk and at least for Brian and me, were certain to stay there until we left for home.  I made sure Julie knew where the keys to the car were in our camp site so that she would always have instant access to her stuff whenever she might want it.  We had all three been nude ever since and it was going to be interesting to see how used to all of this she would become in the weekend ahead.  At this point, I felt that the best thing I could do for her was just to be real and set the example for her and answer her questions if she had any.  Yes, it was going to be interesting.  What I hadn’t yet realized was that I was going to learn a lot from it, too, and that there were many others who would also be serving as examples for her. 

We spent some time down in the woods and along the creek wandering around enjoying the quiet, peaceful environment.  Then we walked on down the trail a little more before turning around and coming back to camp.  By that time, there were a lot more people arriving and setting up.  There was a lot of activity. 

We were all hungry and as we were getting out something to eat, I heard a familiar voice say, “Sunny…hey!” 

I turned around to see Angie coming into our camp.  “Hey, girl!” I said in return.  “I wondered when you were going to get here.”

“We’re here finally!”

“Whoa, look at you!  You’ve changed a lot in two years.”

“Yeah…some,” she replied somewhat shyly.

“Hey now - don’t be like that,” I said.  “You’re becoming a beautiful young woman.”

“Well…thanks,” she said, still uncomfortable with my compliments. 

“You remember Brian, right?” I said.

“Yeah.  Hi,” she said.  He returned her greeting. 

Then to Julie who was sitting at the picnic table Angie said, “And you’re Julie!”

 “I know!” was Julie’s instant response.

That was immediately followed by peals of laughter from Angie.  I had told her so often before how funny Julie is and when she learned that Julie would be there with us this weekend, she was looking forward to finally meeting her.

We spent some more time hanging out at our campsite talking to others who stopped by.  Then as the sun was getting low in the sky, I said to Brain and Julie, “Let’s go over on the hillside and watch the sunset!  Ya want to?”

“No more walking,” was Julie’s response.  “You guys have already drug me all over this place.  Let’s just watch it from here.”

“You can’t see it from here,” I replied.  “Come on.  It’s only a little ways.”

I got some Cokes out of the cooler, Brian grabbed a blanket, and the three of us walked down past the parking area and part way down the other side of the big hill.  (Angie had to get back to their camp site.)  We sat on our blanket and talked and joked around as the sun slowly turned orange and set behind the hill on the other side of the valley.  So beautiful.  So peaceful. 

At some point during this time, Julie said, “You know, I don’t see what’s the big deal with this sunset thing.  The sun comes up – the sun goes down.  Like…everyday.  So why make a big deal out of it?”  Then added, “Hey now wait a minute – you’re not gonna drag me outta bed to watch it come up, too, are you, ‘cause if that’s what you’re thinking…”

“No, no, no, nothing like that,” I interrupted her.  “A sunset is…more than just a thing of beauty, although it’s certainly beautiful.  It’s like, it marks the end of the day…a time when you can slow down and reflect back on the day and just relax and unwind a little.  And if you can do that with the ones you’re closest to (I put my arm around Brian’s neck and pulled us together and kissed him) then so much the better.  Don’t you think?  I do.”

“Whatever,” she responded. 

“Hey, I’m really glad you’re here,” I said, putting my hand on her arm.  “Thanks for coming.”

“Yeah…well…” she replied letting her voice trail off. 

“It’ll grow on you,” I filled in.  “You’ll see.”

We stayed out there until it was almost completely dark, talking about one thing and another and watching the lightning bugs begin to rise up and dot the darkening valley with their sporadic blips of light like little floating beacons. 

As we arrived back in the camping area, we found that Amanda’s family had arrived.  We stopped to say hi and introduce Julie to the three of them.  After visiting for a little while, we started on down toward our campsite with Amanda joining us.  It was my hope that once Julie got introduced around and began making friends and acquaintances, she’d begin to feel more apart of things and start to have fun. 

We weren’t back in camp very long before Angie stopped by again, so there was the four of us girls sitting around our picnic table talking about anything and everything.  It didn’t take Brian long to get tired of overhearing all the girl-talk and start looking for something to do.  I was glad when I saw him start visiting with some of the people at a neighboring campsite.  It wasn’t that I didn’t want him around - I did - but I didn’t want him to be bored.  Besides, I knew it was good for him and them to socialize and get acquainted, too.  He’s such an interesting person. 

The four of us talked on and on around the table like that for a long time.  I felt that Julie was hitting if off pretty well with the other two – especially Amanda – and I could tell that she was beginning to enjoy herself.  It’s easy to spot: when she’s nervous or uncomfortable because all she does is crack jokes and do all the talking but when she’s more at ease, then she’s more open and sincere and lets down her guard – as well as crack jokes and keep everyone around her laughing.  I was pleased with how things were going with her and I was also pleased to be with my friends again after a two-year separation. 

When the people around us began to settle down for the night, Brian came back to camp and crawled into our tent.  We decided we’d better call it quits for the night and turn in, too, so the four us went down to the restrooms to do our nightly regimens and then returned to our respective campsites.  Brian was still awake or woke up when Julie and I crawled into the tent and into our sleeping bags.  As you might expect, there were the usual jokes about the three of us sleeping together, etc., etc., but things quieted down fairly quickly and we all drifted off to sleep. 

End - Part 1 of 2