Our Annual Columbus Day Weekend Camping at Rockview in Montague

So, my son and I went on our annual camping trip this past weekend, going to the familiar Rockview Valley Campground Resort on Columbus Day weekend, for a third straight year. This time, though, we went with my brother.

Camping is a wonderful way for my son and I to bond. He really seems to enjoy it, as he picked this over other fun activities for this weekend, which I found immensely encouraging. And what we like about Rockview, particularly, are a few things.

First of all, it is as remote a corner of New Jersey as you are going to get. Seriously, Montague does not feel anything like what most people think of when New Jersey comes to mind. This feels more like New England, and I mean rural New England. It has particular charm right around this time of the year, when autumn paints the foliage beautiful shades of orange, gold, maroon, and purple. However, it has been warmer than usual so far this fall, and so the colors were far from peak, like they usually are approaching by this time of the year.

There are some constants with our annual camping trips, including this past one last weekend. We try to look at the stars when the sky is clear and permits views, although that was not so much the case this weekend. We often play games, and this place offers quite a few, including video games, pool, and ping pong. We have become quite big ping pong fans, and my brother enjoyed a few games, as well. 

Probably the best tradition that we have would be the campfire, and this time, we made a point of barbecuing. My brother and I made a run to pick up supplies while my son was watching Return of the Jedi on television (yes, they have a television in the game room), and so we were ready. I was feeling quite weak, however, and for a while, an evening campfire was in question.

However, I decided to try and go for it, because campfires are far more dramatic at night. And indeed, we were lucky, because after getting the fire going and cooking some burgers and roasting some marshmallows, it indeed started to rain. During the night, it positively down-poured, and the next day, circumstances were such that a campfire would have been virtually impossible. So boy, we were glad we got it in the night before!

Ultimately, it was fun, and camping is one of the best ways for my son and I to bond. It was made even better with the addition of my brother this weekend, to boot, and we all agreed that it was a nice change of pace for everyone.