2013 - Trip 5 - Frontier Town Campground, Maryland

Wahoo!  After some crazy days at work, we were off to Frontier Town, located just south of Ocean City Maryland.  We have heard a lot of fun and great things about this campground from various people at church and other campers that we have talked with through our trips the past few months.  We were able to book Thursday thru Monday, so this way we were hoping to avoid any traffic jams on Friday and Sunday.  This turned out to be a very good decision, as the traffic was light and we could just tow along at our own pace.

Shortly after lunch, we paired up with some other campers heading down Rt 113.  Seeing that the one was a Jayco, we thought it might be Jeff and Maria from the PopupPortal forums, as they were supposed to be in Assateague Island this weekend.  At a stop light, we found it wasn't them, but a kind man with his son and daughter, also heading to Frontier Town.  We then followed them the rest of the trip.

Obligatory Campsite Photo

Arrival and check in went great!  We did the Pony-Express service where we completed checkin over the phone the day before.  This allowed them to have a camper package for us as we arrived at the entry gate, we didn't even have to get out of our car.  They gave us a car pass, map, explained the route to the campsite, and sent us on our way!  Smooth.

Our site was nice and of decent size.  We did have a few trees, but as you can see in the photo above, they weren't much for providing shade.  Good thing we have the Popup Gizmo Solar covers.  Thursday was hot and humid, with little breeze.  We ended up running the AC on low thru the night as the temps outside were still in the 80s'.  Next to us was another family in their popup from Ephrata, PA, and a travel trailer pulled in behind us from Cape May, NJ.  Everyone was settling in for the weekend.

Friday morning came early and the weather was looking great to head up to the beach.  Gary and Mary were in town and told us of some cheap and easy to access parking at the Inlet, the south end of Ocean City.  We arrived about 8:15am there and there were only about 5 other cars in the parking lot.  Sweet!  The beach was empty and the cool breeze felt really nice coming in off the ocean.  It would be great at the camp if we could have that breeze..... but not today.  Temps up in the mid 90's again and humid at Frontier Town.

The girls played in the sand and went for walks on the beach with Becky and Mary, as Gary and I chatted about airplanes and flying while keeping our feet cool in the surf.  Madie had a good time playing in the sand and was doing well for her first time at the beach and near the waves.  After a while, she would go into the water only when the wave was going out and then quick run back as the next wave came towards the shore.  Cute!

Madie and Bella on the Beach

Getting Dumped on at the Lazy River Waterfall!!!

After a while, the beach became pretty crowded and it was also getting quite hot.  The girls were getting a little antsy and soon would be getting hungry, so we all packed up and headed up to Gary and Mary's camper just north of Ocean City.  They have a nice community park and their camper is quite nice too!  We all enjoyed playing with their new puppy, Ziva, who won't be a puppy much longer judging by the size of her paws!  After a little pizza, we decided to let them have their afternoon and we headed back to Frontier Town to let the kids relax a bit.  After dinner, we would make our way up to the Ocean City board walk to have a walk on the boards, funnel cake, and find some ice cream!

One thing about Frontier Town, it is HUGE.  Many people ride their bikes around and have golf carts.  We found out that you can rent the golf carts for a daily rate, but you have to book in advance or check daily.  With so many campers coming and going throughout the week, they often get one available.  So, with luck, we managed to book one for Friday Afternoon to Monday morning.  This made cruising around the campground, running to the camp store, bathhouse, pool, or activities so much easier and cool,.. not just cool, but temperature cool.  With the heat and humidity you could get a shower and sweat so much by the time you walked back to the camper it wasn't worth it, now it wasn't so bad.  The girls also liked cruising around too!

In Frontier Town's Wild West!

Saturday was a day full of activities at the campground.  In the morning we had a good breakfast and then prepared to spend time at the water park.  It fills up quickly, so we wanted to be up there by 10am when they opened.  Once ready, we hopped on the golf cart and made our way to the front of the park.  Ally and Bella were tall enough to go on the slides.  They had the mat slides (shown below) and one that you could take the inner tubes on and enter the Lazy River that way.  At first, Bella was her timid self, but after the first run she was having a good time and I think this will help open her up to going on more adventurous slides at Knoebels later this August.

In the middle of the water park was a large pool area for the younger kids.  This had a stage coach they could climb into and slide out of into the water, and the water itself was all only 1'-6" deep.  We are pretty sure that the entire park was a salt-water setup which made it even nicer.

Madie really enjoyed the smaller slides and playing with the water fountains that shot up out of the ground.  The temps were hot, but being in and around the water made everything nice and comfortable.  By the time it was getting crowded again at the water park, the kids were getting tired and hungry.  Since the water park is included in our nightly fee, we could come and go as we pleased and decided to head back to rest for the afternoon as the girls had craft time and the Cinderella Ball later this evening!

Making Magic Wands at Craft time

All my Princesses getting ready to go to the Ball!

I was the Chou-fer for the trip, with our luxurious golf cart!

The events on Saturday were catered to being a Disney Prince & Princess weekend.  The girls borrowed costume dresses for the Cinderella Ball and brought them along on our trip.  Overall, they had a good turnout of kids, both Prince and Princesses, all there for the Ball.  The DJ could have played some more appropriate Disney Music rather than the latest Pop you would hear on the radio, but the kids didn't seem to mind and they had a good time.  The DJ was a rather enthusiastic character himself, dancing to the beat.  Many of the parents had a good laugh watching him through out the evening.

My little Princess,... Bring this photo back in 25 yrs at her wedding......

By the time 9pm rolled around at the Dance Party, all my princesses were getting tired.  They had a long day and in the morning we were planning to go out to the beach for some more fun.  So, before the Golf Cart Carriage needed a charge, we rode back to the camp to go to bed.

Sunday felt cooler, and it seemed that the heat and humidity finally broke.  This morning we were off to Assateague Island for the morning to see the beach and visit some PopupPortal Forum members there.  Our neighbors had bought a weekly pass for the National Park, and they were departing this morning so they passed it on to us so we could enjoy the National Park side end of the island.  As we arrived to the State park, we checked in and then found the campsite where Maria and Jeff, known as Jayco1997, were camping.  Unfortunately they had to pack up this morning and get ready to head home, but they were kind enough to let us stop in and see their restored 1997 Jayco camper that they have been working on.  It definitely shows the amount of hard work they have put into it, as it looks very nice.  Bear Creek Canvas, refinished cabinetry and counters, and lots of little modifications to make it their own.  They were very nice, and while there Maria, Becky and the girls walked over to the beach to check it out.  They saw 7 or 8 horses on the beach not far away and were amazed at how empty and private the beach was to the campground.  As everyone was talking, Maria and Jeff mentioned how they both booked for the following weekend and offered to us to take one of the sites they had..... didn't take long, and we said Sure!

We left them to continue packing and we went off to the National Seashore parking lot to go out on the beach there.  Nice cool breeze blowing, and a nice clean and less crowded beach scene, made it very enjoyable for a while.  Madie was a little crabby, probably still tired from all the events so far this weekend.  But, we managed to get some time on the beach and check out the campground.

Princes Cowgirl cooling off with some Ice Cream!

Da Dum, Da Dum,.... JAWS!!!  AHHH!!!

Remember those campers we followed to Frontier Town I mentioned?  Well, we go to talking with them and the dad, Melvin, let us go out on the kayaks he had.  This was a lot of fun and Bella took to it pretty well and quick.  Sometime we hope to go kayaking again, maybe at Peace Valley Park some afternoon.

Rob (Left) and Melvin (Right), Kayaking away from the Marina

Monday morning came quickly, and we began the packing up routine.  Everything was packed and cleaned up smoothly, and we were getting on our way by about 10:30am in hopes to stay ahead of the traffic as we got on the major highways above Dover and around Philadelphia.

And after all that,... we will be back next weekend to go down to Assateague State Park, the northern end of Assateague Island to camp along the beach!  Thanks to the kindness of Jeff and Maria!

Oh,.. and a lot of GoPro video and images to process for a future post!