Baby Blue goes to Hubbards...

Welcome to the Hubbards Beach Campground!!!!

Last Saturday was (technically)our first camping trip with BB. We were invited to theHubbards Beach Campground by our friends Amanda and Ryan, which is where Ryan's dad (Jimmy Legs) has a trailer. It was definitely not what we were expecting, but I got to tell you it turned out to be one heck of a time!!!

The Hubbards park is not your traditionally camping in the woods campground. At one point I guess it was geared towards the tenters, but over the years it has become packed with elaborate trailers and has developed into quite the neighbourhood of regulars. Its pretty popular indeed! If you want a lot to park your trailer you had better expect a wait... and not ju

st a small one, expect years! Once the lucky ones get in though they go nuts... you should see these trailers... they're nicer than my house: huge, modern and equipped! Most even have built on porches! Luckily though, the owners still allot a few spots for tenters and short term visitors.

Our Neighborhood...

We stayed at site number 58; being one of only three along this row with a tent and sma

ll camper. We were quite the site in between all of these new monsters I tell you! BB definitely beat out all the other trailers and campers with her age (the second oldest was a spiffed up '75 Trillium mini trailer owned by a sweet family from Moncton). And she was quite the attention grabber! Pretty much every person who walked by commented or stopped by to have a look at her.

Matt and Gus setting up the side tent...

Tent complete!

Even though this isn't your traditional campground, the atmosphere of the place is fantastic. Everyone is super friendly! Pretty much the whole time you'll see a group of people walking around (with or without a drink, but more likely with as the night progresses), headed to visit another neighbour. Everyone knows everyone here, but they're not to shy about saying hello and making you feel welcome!

Jacob was loving the experience and was a great little tour guild to those who popped on in. He kept himself busy through most of the trip by collecting rocks, running around the fire (despite my consistent protest), and handling the extremely wild Gus. By 9:30 he was set up in his little cot watching movies on his DVD player while the rest of us stayed by the fire. Excitement though was not going to let him sleep, and right up until he zonked out at 11:30 he was knocking on the windshield, shouting from the side window "This is just great, I hope you guys have a wonderful night. Isn't this great!"... fantastic first camper experience for him!!!

Cot demonstration... and peeking out the side window...

Beach ready...

Gus after eating sand...

...and Jacob being buried in sand...

The highlight of the trip was definitely our neighbour (we'll call him Don*). Poor Don! He had a rough night indeed! A fight with his girlfriend at the Shore Club (the neighbourhood hot spot) led to him coming back to his spot pretty late and shoving the entire contents of his lot into the back of his truck... now he didn't actually pack up the gear... no,no... he THREW it all into the back, tent still together and all. His plan was to drive to the campground owner's house and stay the night, leaving his girlfriend to wonder WTF?!?!?!.. Now since he was no doubt intoxicated Amanda took it upon herself to intervene and convinced him that this was probably not the best of ideas. We invited him over to sit with us for a bit to calm down, which he did... Anyway, long story short, we hung out for a bit, went to bed and by the time we woke up the next day Don's tent was standing (somewhat) in its original spot, with his girlfriend in the tent and poor Don in the cab of his truck.... Stuff was spewing out of the back and junk was all over the lot... Before we left Jacob wanted to head to the beach one last time and by the time we got back Don, his girlfriend and all of their gear was gone... So here's to Poor Don!!! Good luck to you bud and stay safe and happy!!!

Don's side... after the fact...

So over all a very good stay at the Hubbards Beach Campground... I'm disappointed I didn't get to try anything from the canteen because I hear it's amazing (and greasy!)... so next time! We'll be back... oh yes we'll be back!!!... Thanks Amanda and Ryan!

*names have been changed...

The Lovelies of Hubbards (aka me and Amanda)...

Cool Dudes, Matt and Ryan...

The proudest VW owner...

plus another...

Baby Blue says "THANKS HUBBARDS!!!!.....

Baby Blue meets some friends...

We had a potluck at our house this weekend and a couple of people popped out to take the tour of Baby Blue...

Chris and Katrina checking out the interior...

Ryan giving a pose...

... and checking out the drivers seat...

Amanda, Ryan and Kaylyn...

Chris getting smucked...

Whoot whoot, it's the crest!...

Katrina sitting pretty...

Holy crap, Matt's driving... poor, poor Rob...

Ajay and Amanda... way to cool!...

Protecting the bus...

I came out one morning to Jacob sitting by the window looking out over BB... a little protective???

BB meets a bug...

My absolute favourite car is a lime green VW bug... wanted one for years. We ran into one in the Sobey's parking lot, so I thought it was fitting to snap a picture...

It's only been two days since we brought BB home, and Matt's already driving her like a pro...

Jacob gives a tour...

How she came to be... the story of Baby Blue...

Like so many people, my husband (Matt), son (Jacob) and I have been wanting to get a VW bus for a while now... The kid's only 6, but he would talk a lot about getting this camper van to go exploring in... Really though, what could be better than taking a road trip or camping adventure in a BEAUTIFUL vintage VW?!?!?!?! We've been on the search to find one out there in good shape at a reasonable price... SO DIFFICULT!!!! I can't count the number of times we've been on kijiji or craigslist looking for something that was perfect for us... Then last Friday came...

Matt and I were sitting on the patio, drinking some wine. Again we got to talking about this bus and our grand plan of finding one to take on a road trip across Canada next summer. Wh

at an experience that would be for Jacob! Matt's already done the trip on a hitchhiking adventure a few years back, but Jacob's never been farther than New Brunswick and myself no farther than Ontario... IT'S TIME!!! Anyway, after a few glasses we pulled out the old computer and started the search again... we checked the usual spots but to no avail... Then I think... eBay... yep, that's right... eBay... the worse place in the world to look and a spot with the biggest ripoffs. Matt thought I was crazy. He thought there was no way in h&!! I would find something there that was close to us here in Halifax, or fairly priced. Most VW's on the site were in the States, or pretty beat up, or just friggin' to expensive! So I start going through the listings one by one... when all of a sudden... HOLY CRAP!!!!... there's a 1973 listed in Beach Meadows, Nova Scotia!!!! Now the irony of this is that Matt's families cottage is located in none other than... Beach Meadows, Nova Scotia. A twist of fate?... We check over the listing. The pictures look good. The description sounds good. The price sounds amazingly good. And best of all, no bids as of yet. I'm all set to email the poster when I see the message at the bottom that this is listed by

relatives on behalf of their uncle. So no emails, just calls to the bus' owner. Problem... it's 12:00 am, and we highly doubt that this would be the appropriate time to call the guy. Wouldn't exactly look good! So we wait...

The next morning we're up early. Both of us are soooooo excited about what were thinking was a little twist of fate. I wanted Matt to call at 8:00, but he thought 9:00... we compromised on 8:40... When he calls he gets the owners wife and asks her if it would be alright to come and check out the bus that day. She tells him it wouldn't be a problem, but be forewarned that there was another fellow from Calgary, Alberta interested in the bus and had a friend from Halifax coming out to see it that day. This put us into panic mode! We need to get there, and get there fast! Problem... that morning I had to work at 10:00 and wouldn't be off until 2:00. On top of it my aunt was flying in from NFLD at around the same time, so Matt was on airport duty... soooooo... Matt gets on the phone to his mother and comes up with a plan. I would walk to work, he would pick Laurel up at the airport, throw her out at our place, he would leave our car at the house, his mother would drive him to Beach Meadows to look at the bus, Laurel would pick me up after work, then I would drive Laurel and Jacob out to the cottage for the night... and that's exactly what happened. All day I hadn't heard a stitch from Matt. I tried no

t to get my hopes up, because we both thought nothing could be that perfect and we didn't want to be disappointed. I didn't tell Jacob a thing for the same reason, so he just thought we were going on a cottage adventure. As we were driving into Beach Meadows I thought about doing a drive-by of the house that it was located at. I didn't know the exact address, but I thought there was no way I'd be able to miss a big blue kamper bus sitting in someones driveway. I decided against the idea and just drove straight to the cottage. And then it happened...As we were driving down the driveway, I saw a speck of blue... IT WAS THERE!!! parked, Matt sitting on the porch looking all proud of himself! I shouted "HOLY CRAP, HE GOT IT!!! JACOB THERE'S YOUR VAN, WE GOT YOU A VAN!!!!" He was freakin' ecstatic!!!! He started squealing!!! SO HAPPY!!!! We get out to give her a look, and Matt tells us the story...

He arrived at the guy's house around 2:00, beating the guy coming from Halifax by 3 hours. He had a look and a took her for a test run. She ran perfectly and is inspected until 2011. Not a stitch of rust, only minor issues (like no heat), and she comes with a bunch of accessories (including standing tent attachment, backseat seat belts, cot for the front, VW manuels and books, etc. etc.). Matt came with money in his pocket. He asked the guy if he would consider taking her off eBay right now if he gave him immediate payment. The guy said sure, called his niece and she was off the site in minutes because there were no bidders. Matt even got a couple hundred off the first asking price! AMAZING, AMAZING MAN (both Matt and the seller :P)!!! So they do their business and the guy drives the bus over to the cottage and there you go... WE HAVE A BUS!!!!

So that night we just have to take her for a run, but seeing as we didn't have any plates for her yet we have to stick to the beach road near the cottage. We both take turns driving her back and forth along the road, with Jacob excitedly enjoying the ride in the back... I got to tell you, she's a bit difficult to drive (very much like driving a school bus), but she is 37 years old so she's not going to be as easy as your space cars now lol!... But she's GREAT!

The poopy part of the weekend was our disaster with the dog. Our golden retriever , Gus, was stung by a bee Sunday morning. He followed Matt outside to take the compost out back. Well there's bees back there and he just happened to have an encounter. When he came in he laid down beside me and started rubbing his face into the floor. I just thought he must have been chewing on the floor like he tends to do at our house, so I yelled at him. He looks up at me and his face is three times the normal size... he looked like a Shar Pei. I yelled at Matt to come look at him... not good. We get on the phone to a vet with emergency hours (located in Bridgewater a half hour away). She says a quick solution is to get Benadryl and put icepacks on his face to take down the swelling. So we take off with Gus and I in the backseat, me with icepacks pressed on the sides of his snout. I tell you trying to find Benadryl in Liverpool (town closest to Beach Meadows) is nearly impossible at 11:30 on a Sunday morning. We eventually found some at the local Ultramar and shoved two into him. The swelling came down, but he was looking pretty nasty for a day or two. Poor Gus... at least now we know he's allergic to bees... we're thinking of getting an Epipen :p...

Anyway, we are so happy and can't wait to start our adventures with Baby Blue!!! It was a rough week knowing that she was parked up in Beach Meadows while we waited to get plates and the chance to run up and get her. But Matt brought her back last night and she's safe and sound in our driveway!!!

So welcome to the family Baby Blue!!! We are so looking forward to the years to come!!!

Also... THANK YOU RON!!!!