Zombie Apocalypse

It's been a few years since we've attended the Friends of Mazo Beach / Badger Naturist Halloween Party.  (This year nicknamed the Zombie Apocalypse.)  We had forgotten how much fun it is.

Being used to the VVRC Mid-Winter Party, the differences become more apparent.  The age is a bit younger here, with a few kids and more people our age.  We see a different set of faces here that represent Mazo beach and TNS.  The facilities include a steam room, sauna, arcade, and large conference room with a kitchen.  The pool is perfectly warm.  The hot tub is perfectly hot.  The hotel itself isn't bigger, but it's better.  Same with the party as a whole.

Percilla and I spent much of Friday helping decorate and paper up the windows.  Then we hit the hot tub, pool, and sauna a few times.  Saturday, she had to go to class, so I spent much of the day bouncing between the hot tub, pool, and sauna.  So much so that I had to visit the laptop and look up the hazards of too much hot tub use.  Luckily, I'm not on medication, not pregnant, and not concerned about sperm count.  As a fellow hot tub owner, I can say from experience that theirs is properly maintained and the chemicals balanced, so no concerns there either.  Back in I go!

Saturday night was fantastic.  Dinner offered an array of great food that fit the Halloween theme.  It was the best pot-luck meal I've ever seen.  In addition, a live guitarist offered acoustic background music during the meal.  (A DJ played background music in the pool area too all evening.)

After dinner, the spooks crawled out of the woodwork.  This year was the most costumes I've seen.  Many couples had their own themes: Cowboy and Indian, Devils, Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, the Bobbitt's, and many more.  Several of the costumes were quite elaborate.  All-in-all, a majority won prizes after 13 categories were defined.

This trip was a basically a last-minute decision, where we didn't have time to come up with a clever costume.  Our plan was to "sit this one out".  But, as fate would have it, another couple brought along a few "minimalist" costumes and talked us into trying one.  They dressed as smartphones, with post-its representing apps.  We dressed as candy dots, with those round colored stickers that are usually used in garage sales.  It was fun.

Saturday and Sunday mornings offered a variety of breakfast items, both what the hotel usually offers (bagels, cereal, etc.) and freshly cooked items from the kitchen (french toast, various things with eggs, waffles, and donuts).  There was no shortage of things to eat all weekend.

After yet another dip in the hot tub, we helped with taking down decorations and general cleanup.  Another successful Halloween party comes to a close, and we're looking forward to next year!

Summer of VVRC

Since we've only gone to VVRC this summer, I figured I'd summarize the trips in a single post.

In May, we spent a weekend sharing the family suite with Alice and Bob.  (Having the room makes the trips a lot easier!)  A fun evening of Karaoke and a fantastic themed supper were provided by VVRC.

July 4th weekend, Alice and Bob brought a friend.  Temps were well into the 90's which is a bit hot even for a naturist.  The pool was popular.  We had another fantastic themed supper from VVRC.

Early August, we made a diplomatic day-trip.  After the board meeting, they called another quick meeting to hear me out.  I pitched the idea of a fundraiser (separate post on that later), and pitched the idea of writing an article for N magazine.  They loved both ideas.

A week later was Car Show weekend, which happened to land on an unseasonably cool weekend (so numbers were down a bit).  It was fun as always!  I sported a "Press" hat and made it known that there was a N article in the works.  I definitely spent more time and effort on this article that any of my previous ones.  It's an article I'm quite proud of.  Hopefully the editors at TNS were kind.

Labor Day weekend, as I found out, has the second-best event of the summer -- the Nude Olympics.  Saturday was a Caribbean Carnival with a big parade, themed supper, and an entertaining steel drum player.  Sunday was the Olympics.  It was the largest group of active naked people I've ever seen.  My team won Silver metals.  Going for gold next year!

Novelty of Naturism

Last year I was questioning why we even go to the VVRC Mid-Winter party, but this year it was refreshingly different. Everyone was well-behaved, it wasn't as packed as the year before, we had great roommates, and everyone had a fun time.

I'm not sure if the VVRC staff had a chat with a few of the usual groups, but they didn't seem as "flirty" as before. Sure there were a few dance moves that made us cringe, but alcohol likely played a part in that. Lingerie was rare this year. It seemed that everyone just wanted to be naked.

We couldn't ask for better roommates. Alice and Bob came through on their suggestion from last year. We all brought the usual board games and card games, and got others involved in the games. Only minor injuries were reported. The seemingly pierced ear drums quickly recovered, the crushed toes didn't break or dislocate anything, and the spilled wine didn't stain any clothing. We're a rowdy bunch.

Dave and Eve liked the one man band last year, but it seems nobody else did. This time, VVRC brought in their own rockin' DJ who spun (from a hard drive) a variety of tunes all evening. He provided quiet background music during the catered meal and cranked it to a comfortable volume during the dance. This year, dancing was much more popular.

The event this year really didn't give me much to write about. I did, however, draw a conclusion to one of my curiosities while I was there.

Over the last several events we've been too, I've had a question running through my head: Why do we do it? What drives naturists to do things like the following:

• Snowbirds travel to the south to get naked, even though they could be naked in their own northern home. Having two places of residence can be expensive, as can moving a motor-home over great distances twice a year .
• People travel for hours to get to Mazo beach, when textile beaches are available nearby. Don't forget the 1.2 mile walk with hordes of hungry mosquitoes. Other beaches you could drive to.
• A night at a similar hotel is $70 for a double, but we paid $105 for the privilege of being clothing optional.
• People fly to far away places with the goal of getting naked at a single venue. They stay there despite the variety of things to do in the surrounding area. (That would mean they'd need to get dressed!)
• People pay a lot more to go to resorts and campgrounds that allow nudity, even though textile places are often cheaper.
• Many risk arrest to be naked in public places. This includes freehikers everywhere and the brave souls keeping the "unofficial" beaches alive.
• Many keep naturism a secret for a variety of reasons. They put a lot of effort (and sometimes money too) into keeping friends and family in the dark.

We go through a lot of extra trouble, and money, to do the same thing textiles do but dressed a little differently. Is it worth it? Why is naturism such a novelty?

There seems to be a sort of "naturist bliss". Anyone who has experienced this would say "yes, it's worth it!" At Cedar Trails last year, Chet said he was at bliss while floating in the pool under the sun. I found bliss hiking the trails there. At the Mid-Winter Party, Sunday morning, I noticed Bob had a different look on his face and was being suspiciously quiet. I asked if he was bored or just tired. "Neither," he said, "I'm just happy and I'm reveling in it." I also noticed a long smile on Percilla's face Saturday evening, and asked her about it. "I'm just happy. Thank you for bringing me here."

During the drive home I asked her about it again. I asked her if the feeling she felt that night was similar to when she's hanging out with textile friends. She said that the happiness she feels during the nude events is much better than anything with her textile friends. It's not just about the nudity. The freedom from clothing helps, but also the environment, people, and our own naturist-influenced attitudes all combine to help the experience.

I'd like to turn it over to the readers of this blog. Do any of you have this same feeling of "naturist bliss"? Where or when do you feel it most? Is it better than comparable experiences in a textile setting? Does it make the added expenses worthwhile?

Car Show 2010

After a year break, we finally made it back to the car show. Things haven't changed! We arrived Saturday morning and set up in our favorite "overflow area". Already, the pool area was packed. Towels sprawled over every available chair and pool full of human soup. The weather was perfect. Cars were on display. The food tent smelled great. The DJ was spinning tunes. The car show was going strong!

Our originl plan was to travel to VVRC after work on Friday, but that ended up being far too late. A storm was on the way, and it's a good thing we missed it Friday night. Campers reported having a "lake-side property this morning!" Some even had a private island. It was gone by mid-morning.

We started the day out by saying "hi" to the usual group in the tenting area. They really like us, and they've been with us to most of the big events that VVRC provides since we first went there. They're fun to talk to for a while. But, we don't want to spend the entire weekend with them. There's an age gap, and we tend to sit around quietly while they chat.

Another expected couple were the ones that previously threatened us. We avoided them for the most part, but the guy did exchange a "hi" with us as we passed by. We'll probably be seeing them a lot at future events, so we may as well get used to it.

An unexpected couple called out Percilla's name. (It's funny how they can never remember mine...) It was NC and his wife. (NC is an abbreviated nickname.) NC was the person who talked my ear off at the bowling event we attended on the opposite side of the state. This time around, he tried to do the same. He encouraged Percilla and I to join a few groups on a social networking website. I at least added him as a friend and joined his main group.

That evening, we had a delicious chicken dinner! The cost for the usual car show dinner is fairly expensive, but you get what you pay for. A freshly grilled boneless chicken breast or a pork chop, baked potato, whole green beans and other vegetables, a fully loaded salad, American-sized buns, and cake for desert. Being starving tenters, we ate as much as we possibly could and enjoyed every bite.

Breakfast on Sunday was the same, except it was free. The main course was doughnuts, but cereal, yogurt, juice, and other items were available. It's a great way to start the day, and we were lucky to show up only 30 minutes before they closed it down.

Lunch was also a last minute deal. Percilla had lunch at the food tent after a massage. I found her there as she was finishing up. By the time I put in my order, the food tent was handing out scraps. My brat bun was one of those leftover American-sized dinner rolls. My brat, as it turned out, was short enough to fit in the dinner roll. It worked nicely and was a good enough meal for me.

During this meal, we talked to a retired female who is a full-time naturist with her husband. When they retired, they sold their house and most possessions and bought a very nice American-sized RV. They have a P.O. box in North Dakota (and are technically residents), live at a resort in Texas during the winter, and live at VVRC during the summer. Percilla and I can easily see ourselves doing the same thing when we retire.

For the annual parade, Percilla sat on the back of a nice car as usual. She rode with the same driver as before, despite my recommendation that she could probably ride in ANY car that she chooses. Who would turn down a cute young naked rider like her? It's her only chance to ride in fancy cars that I could never afford.

I didn't like the way they did the parade this year. Normally, they do a big loop around the RV grounds. This time, it was more like a corral. The cars formed an oval stretching from where the DJ is to the gravel road nearest to the camping area. The cars were all almost bumper to bumper driving the small oval. I enjoyed admiring the beauty of the cars as proud owners drove them around, but also felt sorry for them since they were moving like caged animals.

After the parade, things really cleared out. We were faced with a problem that had been quietly nagging us the whole time: boredom. Three years ago, the group of regulars were new and we spent most of our time with them. Two years ago, we convinced some nearby friends to attend and we spent time with them. We also had the motorcycle in the show. This year, we didn't have anyone or any involvement. Quite frankly, it got boring.

We were on the edge of bringing a friend with. She's a single mom our age. Her son was elsewhere for the weekend and she had no other commitments. She doesn't mind seeing nudity. She was faced with a boring weekend by herself. Despite being the perfect weekend to hang out with us, she is too stuck in the "nobody wants to see this" attitude. She also thinks it'll be too awkward seeing friends naked. Percilla and I have both done our best to correct the misconceptions. We just need to break the ice somehow. If she would've gone with, we all would've had a blast!

But, as it turns out, Percilla and I both had a "what do we do now?" type of look. Most of the usual group were gone, along with NC and others that we would normally talk to. The only remaining group our age seemed to want to keep to themselves. We didn't want to strike up any new friendships. (Neither of us currently have time to strike up friendships, or reignite old ones. Our social lives are on hold this year.) Despite being paid up until after dark, we left by mid-afternoon. It allowed us a nice meal at the Curve and time to unpack once we returned home.

The event itself is great! VVRC does a really good job with all of the food and entertainment, same as every year. But therein lies a problem -- we had the feeling that we've seen it all before, and some of the excitement was lost. New friends would keep things fresh, but it just couldn't happen this year. We'll have to try again next year!

Stories from VVRC (Part 2)

This story is from a new guest blogger. See part 1 for details.

-----

Greetings! Call me "Bob" (of "Alice and Bob" fame, the ballroom dancing couple mentioned a few times in this blog). The Academic Naturist asked me if I would like to contribute anything as a guest blogger, so I thought I would relate an experience from last summer at VVRC, and the ruminations resulting therein.

Alice and I are not members of VVRC but we visit every chance we get during the warmer months. Valley View was our first nudist experience, and it was the people we met there, more than anything else, that made it a pleasant, easy going experience for us. We have been to several other places since then (Sunny Haven in IN, Cypress Cove in FL, Turtle Lake in MI, etc.) but for coziness, relaxation and economy of travel time, we always keep coming back to Valley View... and primarily because of the people there.

And speaking of people, I want to relate a story involving a small child I'll call "Donna" ("Carol" is already taken by a friend of ours - see A.N.'s entry regarding last February’s winter party). Donna is about six years old and typically plays with any other children who happen to be around. When she's void of playmates her own age, she'll hang out with Alice, whom Donna thinks is "really really cool." Donna's mother sometimes worries Alice feels put-upon, but my wife is a trooper and Donna is not terribly high-maintenance.

On with the tale: last summer, when Donna was five, Alice and I stuck around for the monthly "Munchie Mixer," a production at the clubhouse put on by the VVRC members wherein they feed the guests in an effort to get to know them better. Alice and I really enjoy these because it gives us an opportunity to meet any new visitors we may have missed during the day with our typically busy schedule of reading by the pool, tanning by the pool, swimming in the pool, chatting with friends by the pool... you get the idea.

This time in particular we had pizza at the Mixer. Alice got our plates, found seats to settle into next to some newbies, and to no one's surprise Donna appeared with her plate stacked high with slices and announced: "Hi, Alice! I’m gonna sit by YOU!"

So we ate and conversed and little Donna occasionally offered up observations involving the pool, Barbies, and some of the VVRC members' pets that are nice to play with. After a while, I felt the call of nature and excused myself to head off to the men's room.

Sidebar, now, as I explain something about the layout of VVRC. The acreage is primarily populated by campers, some permanent, the majority summer-only. There is a small but respectable camping area on the property, over by the clubhouse, which is at the opposite end of the land from the entrance, where the office is located. While the clubhouse has refrigerators, stoves and running water, it does not have restrooms. For that sort of facility one has a choice of

A) The pool house
B) The showers - located more or less in the center of the property
C) The outhouses located right outside the clubhouse

Being a civilized and relatively normal socialized North American male of the 21st century, I decided on option "B" when I left the clubhouse to tend to my needs; it was closer than the pool house and had the much preferred feature of soap and running water for afterwards.

So I started on my way down the gravel path to the showers when I suddenly heard a familiar little voice cry out: "Hey! Hey! Bob!"

I turned around and saw little Donna, a smear of pizza sauce on her little face, running towards me with some urgency.

"What’s up?" I asked.

"You know, you can go there." She declared, pointing to the outhouses.

"Yes, but I would much rather go there," I replied, pointing to the showers and wondering if I would have to explain the importance of personal hygiene, especially when about to handle food.

From our vantage point, Donna could only see the entrance to the men’s room.

"But that one's for guys. Anyone can use those!" She retorted, pointing again to the outhouses with a little more emphasis.

"And that's okay, Donna, because I am a guy."

She looked at me blankly, for a moment, and then lowered her gaze and stared at me for a second.

"Yeah! You are!" she said, looking me in the face, again. "Okay! Bye!"

And she turned around and went back into the clubhouse to hang with the wife.

I continued on my way and for the briefest moment I was a little disturbed to have been scoped by a five year old... and then realized her attitude was the same as a kid picking up a hamster to see if its a boy or a girl: she was just checking to verify my statement.

The implications are rather interesting. Donna has been involved in nudism all her life. She is fully aware of the physical differences between men and women. So much so she does not really think about gender differences when communicating with people. It seems to me that without cultural gender markers (of which clothing, in American society, is a major set), to a growing nudist child primary and secondary sexual characteristics are about as common and mundane as fingers, noses, and eyebrows. To them, it's all just "people parts" and don't matter unless they are taught they should... such as which restroom one should use.

And in a time and place where we as a nation are, at least nominally, striving for gender equality, doesn’t it seem nudism is the best thing possible to teach our children so they can respect themselves and others?

Stories from VVRC (Part 1)

A quick story from me, and a quick story from a new guest blogger in part 2.

We spent 4th of July weekend at VVRC and had a great time, as usual. We met up with Alice and Bob again and had perfect weather this time around. (Last time, it was opening weekend and very cold.)

A few days prior to our trip, I had a frightening message come in from Bob: "Are you the Academic Naturist?" My first thought, as usual, is "what did I write and will he be angry about it?" Most people, when they stumble upon my blog, always seem to find something that I've done wrong and get upset about it. I was afraid that I had lost some good friends, again.

To my surprise, Bob thought it was neat (and sufficiently anonymous). He also admitted to being a writer. Hmmm... I have an idea forming.

Quite frankly, I've been too busy. The project at my day job has kept me working anywhere from 50 hours to 75 hours per week over the last six months, with a deadline that resembles a carrot on a stick that I can never quite catch. Spare time is at a premium, and my priorities often leave blogging in the dust. With that in mind, I asked Bob to write up a story and he eagerly accepted.

The intent was that he'd write the story of our visit. But, the story of our visit brings forth some very touchy subjects that he didn't dare write about. I don't blame him a bit. Instead, he wrote a story from the past with a unique observation and conclusion that easily fits into my "academic" category. His story is part 2, posted tomorrow. I hope he sends more my way, whenever inspiration hits.

Back to those touchy subjects... I've been very indecisive about telling that story, too. However, I'm one of the few naturist bloggers who take pride in keeping a journal of my naturist adventures on a public blog. The journal would have a large hole in it if I didn't write this story, so here it goes!

We met a couple who shared a cabin with Alice and Bob. We didn't recognize them, but they recognized us and didn't say anything that night. (Don't you hate when that happens!) Leaving many details aside, they broke the resort rules by getting frisky in the shared cabin fully knowing that they were not alone and not hidden from view. It's not as bad as you may be thinking, but bad enough to reasonably warrant a complaint. They had a strict talking-to from the resort staff. (Thank you VVRC staff -- keep up the good work of cracking down on people like this!) However, they were not kicked out. The female left for work, and the male awkwardly remained in the cabin.

The male told Bob all about knowing us. Bob relayed this information to me. The female works near Percilla, and the male works near me. We didn't care, but apparently this frightened both of them.

The male approached Percilla and I while we were sitting on the steps in the pool. I knew it was the start of a delightful conversation when he started with: "I've always believed that the best defense is a strong offense." I knew the outcome of this conversation, and I knew it wouldn't be pretty for him. He continued by telling us that he has a very high-ranking position, that nobody knows they are naturists due to their bosses/coworkers being extremely against that sort of thing, that the female knows everyone Percilla works with, that he knows everyone I work with, and that he'd like to keep the naturism thing a secret. I promised that I wouldn't tell anybody, simply because I'm a nice guy and respect his wishes. He was being as polite as possible while obviously threatening me.

He then asked, far too late in the conversation, if we've told anyone that we're naturists. Percilla spoke up and said "everyone -- friends, family, coworkers, even my boss who knows I'm here today." He responded in udder disbelief, "Really!!!?" I chimed in with a similar line. At that moment, he knew he had absolutely nothing on us. Indeed, the best defense is a strong offense. He'd s--t a brick if he knew I was a blogger and was telling the story to a global audience.

Later on, he approached Percilla when she was alone and asked for our contact information. She only pointed him in my direction. A while later, with PDA in hand, he sat next to me and asked for our contact info and he'd give us his. I simply said, "We'll see you here." He froze for a moment, said "OK -- fair enough", and left.

There's a great lesson in this story, and it's about information management. If he had never said that he knew us, we would've never known. Instead, he told me enough about himself (while making threats) that I could hop online and find his full name, address, phone number, workplace, position, and just about anything else that is public information. What does he have on us? Our first names and where we work -- pulling more information would be difficult, but not impossible. Our workplaces don't publish a directory publicly.

There's also something to be said about respect for "closet naturists". Most naturists will not repeat names or talk about others while in the textile public. Even if we knew our neighbors or coworkers were naturists, we wouldn't repeat it to others unless we knew it was OK. It's a sort of naturist ethical guideline. If someone is worried about it, a confirmation of respecting privacy is all that is needed -- not idle threats.

Despite that one couple, we still had a great time at VVRC! Great weather, great company, and an entertaining campground. We'll be back soon!

Summer Freehiking Recap

September is the start of hunting season, and it lasts all the way until we're buried in snow. In naturist speak, that means it's the end of freehiking season. (And the start of naked snow angel season.) I've been wanting to go freehiking ever since I got hooked on naturism, and this summer we were FINALLY able to go -- twice!

I did writeups on both trips for N. They are different from what I plan to post here, and include a few pictures with the articles. (If you want to see more, you'll have to meet us in person and ask for the "brag book".) I talked about the first one already, and the second one will (hopefully) appear in a future N. Since TNS basically owns the articles, I can't republish them verbatim here. I'm not sure if there's a legal binding for that, but I'm a nice guy and don't want to upset them. My two big reasons for sending them to TNS is: 1. to compete with Mark's freehiking articles. We hike in a much more populated area, more safely, and have just as good a time. We also encourage others to do the same. 2. It gets my foot in the door for more articles later, and ups my credibility since I'm published.

Anyway, lets talk about freehiking!

Our first trip was on an unseasonably warm day in March -- St. Patrick's Day to be exact. Temps that push 70 in March only happen every couple of years. After that is turkey hunting season, but I later found out that they have 4 days on and 3 days off each week. So it's possible to freehike, but it's also likely that we'll find people tweaking their hunting stands.

I had previously scouted out the trail at the Kickapoo River Wildlife Area - Wauzeka Unit. It has only one (reasonable) access point and a roughly 3 mile trail to the Kickapoo River, then another couple of miles along an old railroad through the river valley. If one is desperate, it's possible to loop back on some roads that I'm sure were last used 100 years ago. I hiked that part clothed, and decided to never hike it again.

My scouting was done after that one clothed hike (early March) and a few passes to see if any cars were in the lot. I never saw anyone else, so figured we'd be safe. That unseasonably warm day was coming up, so we made plans to spend it freehiking.

We dropped a sign and whistle on the ground (pictured below) and shucked our clothes after we were out of sight from the road.



We only hiked to the river, had a picnic in the "grass" (which was dead since the snow just melted), and hiked back. It was a very uneventful hike, but we loved it anyway. My girlfriend carried a sarong so she could cover up just in case. I was brave, I figured I could cover up with my hat if needed. Nobody ever saw the sign. Only the birds saw us. We were hooked.

Sadly, this trail is unmaintained. By the end of turkey hunting the weeds are high enough to make you say "What trail?" It's also warm enough for bugs. With standing water everywhere along the trail, I can imagine that the bugs are awful. This is a springtime-only trail. What was I supposed to do during the rest of summer?

I kept searching, and found a few maybes. There is one nearby at a county park, but it's short, also unmaintained, and only exciting if you love to look at trees. The Kickapoo Valley Reserve sounded nice. They are a co-op of sorts, in that it's a public park but not government owned. The website says "its...administration, and recreational diversity make it unique". It's possible that I could convince them to designate a clothing optional day where naturists can clean up the trail. It's a nice idea, but I'd need a group to help.

I scouted both of their hiker-only trails. The one that went to a lookout was OK, but in the sight of traffic half way to the top. It was also fairly short. The other trail that is longer is basically just a path that is unmaintained but used on occasion. I wasn't impressed.

The Duck Egg County Forest (and dam) was on my radar, and I checked it out after the KVR. The nice mowed trail and bridges over the stream seemed like a gift, and I knew instantly that this place would be perfect for freehiking. I didn't hike all the trails, only the main one. It was a Saturday afternoon and nobody was around. However, a car appeared in the parking lot during my hike. They must've been fishing, because I never saw them along the trail. Oh well, it was a Saturday. We aim to freehike on weekdays.

That's exactly what we did about two weeks later. On Monday, August 17th we planned a day of freehiking at Duck Egg. Through the weekend, rain was being predicted for Monday and there was a storm Sunday night. After that, it was beautiful. Because of the forecast, and it being a Monday, I didn't expect anyone to be there.

I made signs for three entrances, and bought four 2-way radios. I opted for the 2-way radios because they are less annoying than blowing whistles and allow actual chat. I left one by each sign. Our signs were much more informative this time too. They read:

[Front, in marker]
Beyond this point you may encounter Freehikers.
We're Nude but NOT Lewd.
- If locker-room style nudity serious offends you, turn on the radio and contact us (take with if needed) and we'll put some clothes on.
- Otherwise, we'll see you on the trail!
(Details on back)

[Back, in pen]
There is no law against simple nudity on public lands. Not long ago, skinny-dipping was common and widely accepted. The laws are against being "lewd" and "indecent exposure".
- We're not being lewd at all.
- This sign acts to avoid indecent exposure.
If you have any questions for us, try the radio or call us at our home number later: (number)
Thanks!
[signed]

If a case went to court, this sign would prove vital. It says that we're not being lewd, and invites people to meet us on the trail without warning us. Also, if they consider nudity indecent, they can easily radio us. By passing the sign (which is very obvious at the trailhead) they are agreeing that they are OK with simple nudity. Also, the sign gives them enough information and incentive to be OK with our activities.

Duck Egg has 3 trailheads. That morning we drove by each of them to ensure there were no cars. The service entrance had "No Trespassing" and "Keep Out" signs all over it, so we didn't put a sign there. There was no reason the DNR would need to visit the site today, so we accepted the risk. We put up signs at the other trailheads. The one on the ridge wasn't the one we planned to hike, and I wasn't sure where the trails went up there. (I ignored my advice in the first N article, of knowing the area well before going naked.) The coast was all clear, and the trailheads were marked. This was now a clothing-optional valley!

The first bridge along the trail, which is around the first corner, makes a great spot to change to/from our birthday suit. We spotted several colorful birds, colorful butterflies, and a few bald eagles while walking the trail. A big difference from our last hike was that everything was green and grown in. It felt better this way -- more natural. I expected the bugs to be worse, but they weren't bad at all due to the heat. We didn't even wear any bug spray. Or sunblock. There were enough shade trees along the trail to keep the sun off us.

After lunch at the only amenity at the park (the picnic table), we explored around the dam. It's quite simple, but very neat as well. The high-schoolers have gotten to it though -- there is light graffiti on most of the walls. While we were running around and taking pictures, we noticed something odd on the bluff. A wooden structure of some sort. I zoomed in, took a picture, then zoomed in on the picture and concluded that it was either a deck or a lookout. Huh...maybe I should've walked those ridge-top trails too! If someone has a house there, I'm sure they are enjoying the view!

On the way out, I saw something on the trail that I knew wasn't there before. My girlfriend was in the middle of a story, but we stopped instantly. The trail takes a turn right there, and there was a bush right in the way. We knew a person was on the other side, but couldn't tell if it was one person, multiple people, man, woman, or kid. What is the safe thing to do?

"Did you see the sign?"
"Yep."
"Are you OK with it?"
"Yeah, I'm OK -- you guys are probably more comfortable than I am."
He was drenched with sweat, and averted his eyes as we walked by.
"Well we're not sweating at all at the moment. Deer stand -- I was wondering what that was! -- Good luck!"
"Thanks."

Then my girlfriend started in again on her story, "Anyway...", it's like nothing happened at all. The rest of the walk back was uneventful.

When picking up the signs and radios at the two trailheads, I decided to try and find that lookout/deck/house thing. I kept my clothes on, which was absolutely horrible after we spent all day hiking in the nude. I found it and confirmed that it was a lookout along the trail. I knew that nobody was on the trail, so I whipped off my clothes and took a self pic with the scenery in the background. I at least put my shorts on while walking back to the car.

Literally two days later a new geocache was added in the valley. Of course, we had to go back and log it! (FTFN = First To Find Naked!) We did this on Labor Day evening. There was one car empty and one truck and horse trailer with a group getting ready to start down the trail. We weren't prepared to freehike, and it looked too busy anyway, but we had a plan! We hiked it dressed, grabbed the cache on the way, and took it to the least used trail for a quick nude photo. We had to hop around a lot of horse poop on the way so the trail was fairly busy over the weekend. I wonder what other geocaches we can find naked?

So what does next year bring? For sure another hike at each of these places. I also want to scout out a few new trails, just to see if there are other options. I'd also love to make it a group activity as long as there is a reasonable gender balance. (Girlfriend doesn't want to feel too outnumbered.) If you'd like to hike with us, let me know. admin -at- wwncw.org

GoTopless Chicago!

We attended the GoTopless protest in Chicago! My girlfriend was interviewed for one of the bigger articles on the event, which includes photos and a video interview of the organizer.

This year's protest was organized by a different person than the one last year. The new coordinator (lady in news video linked above) had:

• Women, including three from Canada.
• Contact with a lawyer.
• Pasties available for the women, since nipples are illegal. (Due to radioactivity, perhaps.)
• Body painting, which alone makes breasts legal too. (My girlfriend sported black strapless paint bra.)
  

This was a safe protest, since there's nothing we could've been arrested for. Why not go? In my opinion, all naturists should be encouraged to go to these protests since they're about body freedom. It's important to note that the organizers of the GoTopless protests aren't naturists, but that they want basically the same end goals as naturists do.

We didn't set up at the beach house, as advertised. Instead, the organizers chose to set up along a busy walking path that connects with a pedestrian bridge. (map) The majority of the posters were directed to people using the bridge and walking northbound along the path. I was often holding my favorite poster ("Legal or not?") pointed at the southbound users. Other protesters loved both of my signs.

All of the men wore tops of some sort, often of a ripped white sheet to resemble a bikini top. The women wore the nipple pasties and/or body paint. (These both left horrible tan-lines!) There were 6 women who went topless, plus one who was nursing and couldn't wear pasties or paint. The rest were men, and maybe 5 of them joined in the protest after walking by. We didn't get nearly the numbers as LA or NYC, but we still did good.

The police did roll in about an hour after we started. It seems that someone called them to complain. A police squad truck showed up first, then a car, then several on bikes. Some men who stuck around left when they showed up. Many of the women put on tops, including my girlfriend. After a little while, the bikes and car left, but the big vehicle stayed. They almost completely blocked the pedestrian path while they sat there for probably 2 hours just keeping an eye on us. The women eventually slipped off their tops again despite them (and applied another layer of paint just in case) and continued on.

We were asked several times if we were Raelians. "No, us two are naturists, but we're supporting the same cause." Everyone else in the protest group was Realian. During the main speech, the organizer made sure to include a section on the Raelian beliefs. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Here's my suggestion to them: People will take the GoTopless protests more seriously if you ONLY stick to the issue of top-equality! Once you mention aliens, people just consider you crazy and walk away. Take a look at the news stories -- they always mention the UFO cult, often as the headline. That's bad for getting people to take you seriously.

We didn't get the publicity that we were hoping for. Don't get me wrong -- I think the Examiner article is great -- but the mainstream media seemed to ignore us. (The Examiner guy was fun to talk to, although he only interviewed my girlfriend. We might see him again sometime since he occasionally visits Mazo Beach. Hope he doesn't mind me saying that! *grin*) There was one guy with a professional video camera who took a lot of video. I have no idea who he represented, but the rumor was that he was for a Chicago news station. I can't find his footage anywhere.

My girlfriend and I had a lot of success on the front-lines opposite of the bulk of the crew. She's bubbly and attractive, so men would stop and sign anything she asked them to. She had people signing almost constantly! But, she only did this for maybe 45 minutes.

One big issue that I noticed was that anytime bodies needed to be painted, or a kid needed to be watched, or anything needed to be done in back, the women always wanted to do it. There were only 6 women, and many weren't in front for extended times. Especially when bodypainting -- at one point ALL of the women were attending to that and it was all men leading the protest for at least 15 minutes. Often, it was the men holding the petitions too. The women should've been the ones with the petitions, and the men should've been doing the rest. That's a tip for next time.

So what's the best part about going to a protest? Reactions, of course!

• Many seemed to support us, but few signed the petition.
• Many of the guys just wanted pictures. (It's odd that I can't find any on flickr though... Please post to the comments if you find any.) There were around 7 guys that wanted their picture taken with my girlfriend. Whatever.
• One guy stopped his bike in the middle. We asked if he'd like to sign our petition. "Nope," he said, "I just want an eyeful." Hey, at least he's honest!
  
• Of course, a majority of people just walked by and ignored us.
• There were several near-accidents with the bikes and people. I think they were distracted.
• A few were absolutely disgusted. There's no reasoning with them.
• One Swedish woman was all for our cause for obvious reasons. But, she said her breasts were "treats" that only boyfriends can see so she'd never go topless.
• Many women said they'd never go topless, but agreed that women should have the right to.
• Some guys thought that only hot women should be allowed to go topless. They just don't get it.
  
• One of the protesters struck up a conversation with a he/she who was in the middle of a sex change operation. The protester was surprised to learn that he/she was AGAINST the top-freedom issue.
• A lot of people brought up the "what about the kids" argument. For one man, we replied with "What about the kids in Europe? Being topless is normal there." His response: "Well the Europeans are all screwed up!"
• One man hung around the event and supported our cause but didn't participate. He kept snapping pictures of my girlfriend and other women. After probably 5 minutes of the camera pointed directly at her, she lashed back: "Stop taking pictures of me, you're pissing me off!" I think he stopped with all pictures at that point. Yes, naturists have a sensitivity to camera use!
  
• One woman thought it was cool that body paint and pasties were legal as long as it covered the areola. She glued on the pasties, added some bodypaint, then wandered down the beach topless. We saw her again at the end of the protest (2 hours after she was painted) and she was still walking around that way. You go, girl!
• One lady flashed her boob as she biked by, twice. Others did a quick flash as well. Everyone cheered except us -- flashing doesn't help and they run the risk of being arrested and causing negative publicity. This isn't Mardi Gras.

One last observation that we made was that us naturists were more mature about the nudity than the Raelians. The men spent a lot of time praising the women, and looking at the women, instead of treating everyone equally like we did. (OK, so the men were largely ignored by everyone.) I made good eye contact with both the men and the women, and they knew it because I wasn't wearing sunglasses. Many of them were, so it's hard to tell what exactly they were looking at. I asked my girlfriend if they looked down a lot, and she couldn't answer because of that.

One of the Raelian guys asked my girlfriend why she was so comfortable being topless. She replied that she was a naturist and that she would like to push for naturist rights someday. They were immediately uncomfortable, and shyly said that they don't really agree with that. That ended the conversation.

The event coordinator, before painting my girlfriend's breasts, learned that this was our first protest. She then went on a speech on how liberating it's going to be for her, and how empowering it's going to feel. I asked my girlfriend later if it was liberating and empowering: "Not really, it felt normal. Well, except for the annoying paint all over my breasts."

In conclusion, the Raelians have a thing or two to learn from naturists. If they focus on the issue, and if we naturists would help out more, we'd have a bigger impact. Maybe next year the press will drop the whole Realian part of it. I'd say that the Chicago protest went very well, and I look forward to helping them out in the future. I suggest that you help them out as well in their quest for top-equality. Remember that it's one step closer to being naked, and one step away from cultural prudishness.

Oh, did you want photos? Here's a couple.

Body Acceptance

I had an interesting thing happen recently. Even though I'd like to jump ahead, a bigger story is needed to put it in context. You don't mind a personal story on body acceptance, do you?

I've mentioned it very briefly before. My major body issue is my chest. Anyone who has seen me knows that I have a unique feature with my chest. The medical term is "pectus excavatum", and mine isn't quite bad enough to need medical attention. It has its positive moments. My heart is shifted over about an inch, which I think is neat. Doctors seem to like it since they often invite in their staff to see it. That's about all for the list of positives.

As a kid, I was always very embarrassed by it. So much so that I wouldn't go swimming or take off my shirt on a hot day. I even warned my new girlfriends about it. I slept in a t-shirt during my college years, until I had my own room. It's safe to say that I had body issues, and it had an impact on my life.

I'm also not a shorts type of person. I almost never wear shorts. Partly this is because I don't like my hairy legs, so I don't want to display something ugly. The other part is because they don't go well with combat boots. Even on a hot walk to Mazo Beach, I'll still wear jeans. The legs look a lot more normal when naked, in my opinion, so it's either all or nothing for me.

I first gave home naturism a try about 5 years ago (with my current girlfriend), outdoor naturism a try about 3 years ago in Australia and loved it, and social naturism a try over 2 years ago at Mazo Beach. I've mingled with the regulars at Mazo, gone to several parties, visited a few resorts and campgrounds for events, attended a huge gathering, hung out with some good local friends, been naked around textiles, been naked on the net, been naked in nature and got published, and am on my way up in the naturist world.

Last winter, I told my parents that my girlfriend and I are both naturists. It took a bit of explaining (maybe 20 minutes?) to convey that we weren't swingers, and after that they were fine with it. We're both very open about it to friends and family.

This summer, my Aunt and cousin were visiting for a couple of weeks. One of the things I suggested was a canoe trip down the Wisconsin River since I knew the area well. Come to find out, there are no day trips that go past our favorite beach. Despite that, I still joked around during the car ride that I was disappointed about not seeing my beach friends. I made it known that we should paddle up-river a half-mile so we could visit the beach. My Aunt didn't ask any questions.

I was initially paired up with my Aunt in the canoe, I explained the reasoning behind my jokes and how I knew the area so well. She couldn't believe that we went to a nude beach! She had to confirm with my Mom that I wasn't pulling her leg. She thought it was funny, and mentioned that she'd never go to one, and didn't ask many questions about it which was a little surprising. She's normally full of questions.

With some pressure from the family, I was wearing swim trunks and sandals that day. At the first stop I had my shirt off. Years ago, I'd be wearing boots, jeans, and a shirt for the whole trip. This time, I got as close to naked as I could reasonably get.

When my Aunt was paired up with my Dad, she had to confirm it with him too. My Dad made a remark that surprised me: "I think it helped him get over his body issues." (My girlfriend overheard it and told me about it -- I was further away.) My Dad stuck up for my choice to be a naturist, and recognized that it's been a benefit to me even though I hadn't recognized it yet.

With that, I've realized just how much naturism has helped with my body issues! I never thought twice about taking my shirt off during the canoe trip. And the shorts? I was wishing they were off too. I still don't like wearing shorts -- but for opposite reasons as before. I've gone from being afraid of showing my body, to accepting my body and it's flaws and assuming that others don't care about seeing it.

It's a different mindset. Society has the impression that if you've got it, flaunt it. (And that if you don't, then nobody wants to see that.) Naturists don't care if they've got it, and they don't flaunt it -- they're just comfortable. They don't go places to check out other people -- they go to be comfortable themselves. It was hot, and I was getting comfortable. I wasn't worried about showing (flaunting) my skin like I would've been in the past.

This simple change of attitude could make a world of difference if more people would experience it.

There's another positive to my chest issue in the list. Uniqueness. It's been reminder that being different isn't always a bad thing. I've always been proud to break away from the norm, and to make my own decisions. Everyone is unique in their own way. Instead of hiding it, people should find strength in it. Naturism helps with this.

Side-story 1: At one point, we went to a large fitness club. After the locker room, my girlfriend and I compared notes. I saw many naked men, who didn't really cover up to and from the shower. My girlfriend walked naked to the scale, weighed herself, and walked back. She said that women were giving her looks of disgust because she was naked. The other women were very diligent in covering up.

Side-story 2: After the canoe trip, we ate at a place right by the landing. My girlfriend and I watched an attractive girl in a bikini getting dressed outside. (Yes, a bikini is technically dressed, but apparently not enough.) She had a towel around her shoulders, and tried very hard to balance the towel on her back as she put on shorts. After almost losing the towel a couple times, and quickly fixing it before continuing, she managed to get her shorts on. Her shorts ended up covering about an extra 2 inches of leg, but she was content. Before she lost the towel, she slipped on a muscle shirt too. My girlfriend and I were laughing through most of this. It seems that modesty sets in only after leaving the sand.

Eastern Naturist Gathering - The Last Hurrah

This is a long one, so feel free to bookmark it and read it in chunks!

Only a few days after our last adventure, we left Wisconsin on a 1,000+ mile journey to Eastover Resort in Lenox, Massachusetts. We had reservations for The Naturist Society's week-long Eastern Naturist Gathering. Lucky for us, we also had reservations at Niagara Falls on the way and spent two nights 38 floors up right next to the falls (Canadian side). That made the long trip a lot better! (Here's a link to a gallery, click on the "Falls" category, most are night shots taken from our room and my favorites are the last two.)

When we started through New York, it was rainy. Claude had told me that "it's either going to be sunny and beautiful all week, or rainy all week." She was wrong. It was sunny and beautiful for most of one day during the week, and on the Sunday that we had to leave. (OK, so she was mostly right...) We at least got breaks during the other days, and it was usually warm enough mid-day to be naked.

When we checked in, the staff was great, but they told us to go away for a while. We were a bit early to get there and had a few hours before our cottage was ready. It wasn't naked time yet either. With time to spare, I'll lead you on a tour of the grounds. Open up a map and follow along if you'd like. (There aren't many Eastover pictures out there, but heres a few from some scrapbooking event.)

The centerpiece is the mansion, and it certainly has the classic look and feel of a 1910 mansion. The top two floors are all apartment or dorm style rooms. The main floor has the main lobby, a library, some offices, a large dining area, and a general purpose room. It also has WiFi throughout most of the space. The basement is the "catacombs" as they call it. It's a creepy, dark (black and red painted with minimal light), sprawling space of mini bars and rooms with Civil War Memorabilia (CWM for short).

From the catacombs there's a walkway to the indoor pool. The walkway is filled with CWM (pictures and artwork) as well. On the way, you can see a basketball court on the right and the main pool on the left. The indoor pool is very nice but a bit cool. The outdoor pool is even colder. I have yet to find a pool that isn't cold, so maybe I'm just a wimp.

Taking the stairs down from the indoor pool, you're greeted with two windows that are underwater. Hmmm... Also down there is the weight room, bathrooms, showers, and sauna. The sauna can seat probably 15 people and is set to 186 degrees, dry heat. Perfect, in my opinion! Outside there are several outdoor showers. They didn't have hot water this year, so a sign was posted that said "polar bear club".

A few steps away is the American Heritage room, which is the primary CWM room. At this point, I'll mention that Eastover has one of the largest private collections of Civil War Memorabilia in the US. This room has cannons and all kinds of other stuff around. The back-room looked more interesting, where the good stuff is all in display cases, but we weren't allowed back there. They are starting to sell off the collection for reasons I'll get to later. On top of the American Heritage room are tables, and that is where many of the meals were served during the week.

Further away from the "mansion complex" are lots more goodies. To the south is the plantation, which are long buildings full of rooms that resemble the shape of a moose head when you look at the satellite pictures. Tucked away in the moose's left ear is the Mohawk room -- a large basement room with a small stage, chalkboard, and pull-down screen which was perfect for my projector. Well, almost, the pull-down screen refused to stay down!

To the east is a baseball diamond and the horse-riding stables. The horse rides go along the trails in the woods to the east, all of which the resort owns. Deep in there somewhere is a good-sized ropes course. This would've been fun to do naked, but it was never used. Going counter-clockwise we have the trap shooting over the fire pit, the fire pit at the bottom of the bowl, the driving range that goes down a hill, and a toboggan run that goes down the same hill.

Finally, we reach my favorite building -- Tally Ho! This building has a horse theme, better implemented than anywhere else I've been. It used to be a big all-wooden horse stable, and has three parts. The biggest room is the theater. The rafters are full of old wooden carriages, among many other classic decorations. There is a big stage and seating for everyone. This was used for dances each night, the talent show, meals if rainy, and the TNS town hall meeting. The middle rooms are a small bar, bathrooms, and a kitchen, with pictures of Eastover groups over the years. (One naturist picture was added from last year just for that week.) The back room was small, but had character. They had stables there for around eight horses. They took off the stall doors, made each one into a (big) restaurant-style booth, and put a small band performance area on the other side of the room. That's about it... The stalls even had the horse names above them, and the saddles and other equipment were still hanging around the room. You can't get more authentic than that!

Next up, on the north side, we have the buffalo. According to Eastover's history, George (owner at the time) was the first person to bring buffalo to the east, way back in 1963. They have a large pen that they live in, and Eastover provides safari rides to go see them up close.

We were given a home near where the buffalo roam. On the west side of the mansion, we checked in to our cottage. It was little, but had a porch, two beds, a small bathroom with a leaky toilet, a dresser that doubled as a counter, a clock that buzzed constantly when the alarm was set, and a furnace that could bring the place from 65 to 80 in a matter of minutes. We were delighted to find a bottle of Eastover labeled wine for our Anniversary.

The whole resort wasn't in it's heyday. It has the classical charm and architectural beauty, but also a feeling of doom. All buildings were a little bit dirty. There was no landscaping other than mowing. The waterfall on the indoor pool was never running. The stream running the length of the wall in the American Heritage room wasn't going either. Stuff was broken. Sheds were falling apart. Ceilings were leaky. Art on walls was faded. Graffiti was all over the furniture. The Civil War stuff was disappearing. It did NOT look as good as the pictures.

The end is near, and everyone knows it. The resort is closing in November and is up for sale. The next owners will likely bulldoze everything and put in condos. Why? Regulations -- the place is being regulated out of existence. New rules that they need to comply with come with a huge cost and they don't have the budget for that, and to keep maintaining it all. The next owners probably can't afford to keep the place open either. It's sad, and it was on everyone's mind the whole time. "The Last Hurrah", as the staff's t-shirts said.

Although the place was getting run down, the staff were absolutely wonderful! Many of them worked previous gatherings too, so the nudity was no big deal to them. They treated us just like everyone else. If there were any newbies, we couldn't tell. They said we were the favorite group all summer, and the amount of effort they put in showed that they really do like us. Many promised to show up at future gatherings, wherever they may be.

The naturists were absolutely wonderful too! Among them were many of the TNS staff, several from the NAC crew, Dr. Paul Rapoport from FCN, and representatives from beaches and resorts all around the US. The naturists that go to this gathering are like family, which has a pro and a con. The pro is that once you're in and known, you get priority in contacting the naturist leaders. It's a social network. The con is that it's a little difficult to get in, and those who aren't in aren't initially trusted. Either way, they are always friendly in person and are quick to accept you when you're at a gathering. This is a good reason for going.

Several of the naturists are hardcore. By that, I mean they can be called "cold weather naturists" because they would brave the 60 degree rainy mornings. They were completely naked -- I was in a long-sleeve and jeans. My initial hypothesis was that it had something to do with where they lived, because Paul was from Canada. But, Bob Morton from Texas and Morley Schloss from Florida were just as extreme. Morley and Paul also defeated the hypothesis that it has to do with weight, or "insulation". My final hypothesis is that the more widely known the naturist is, the colder the weather they can go naked in. It seemed that all the big names, with exception to the TNS ladies, were the ones naked in the cold. This includes some women like Claudia (who everyone knows from Blacks Beach) and families like the Kapus's (the poster-family for TNS). For the rest of us, it usually warmed up to the mid 70's.

So why did we even leave our comfy cottage every cold morning? We wanted to hit the breakfast buffet at 8am to make it to the 9am workshops. The meal plan for Eastover is wonderful! Breakfast has all the standard items you'd find at a buffet. Lunch and dinner was a variety of their choosing, and always good. One of the days, I wrote down what they offered for lunch or dinner: "Steak, ribs, roasted chicken, baked potato, corn on the cob, full salad, fried scallops, fish, milkshakes, cookies, brownies, and several other fillers that I'm not remembering right now." Every day had a variety that good, and it was all cooked to perfection!

Now that you have a good introduction to the Eastover grounds, staff, and participants, I'll talk about what we did during the seven days.

Monday, there wasn't much going on. This was the only day that dinner was served in the mansion because of the small crowd. It was also determined that Wisconsin was the best represented state, with a total of six people there. Of course, that only applied to Monday. In the afternoon we played some frisbee golf. In the evening we checked out the dance (which happens every night) and watched a movie in the library.

Tuesday is when the workshops really started. I went to "What's going on with the left coast?" by -- who else -- Bob Morton. He tells stories better than what he writes for the NAC updates, although much of it was the same content. My girlfriend went on the safari ride, where the buffalo kept ramming the truck. We then played frisbee golf again, and I went on the nature hike. It was a nude hike on the wooded area that Eastover owns. The two people that walked right by me most of the way were the primary entertainment for Thursday. (They also perform for church groups, so I probably shouldn't mention their names online. They are in N 28.4.)

Wednesday morning I woke up to "Why should naturists care when lawmakers target 'adult' businesses?" by -- you guessed it -- Bob Morton. In the afternoon, we had an appointment for riding the horses. We wanted to go naked, but it was advised by the young lady in charge that we don't. (She, by the way, was really cool and fun to be around!) We wore pants and were glad that we did! Some of the trails were tight, with questionable spiky plants and some tree limbs to brush by. My horse didn't want to walk down the middle of the path -- apparently I wasn't stern enough. The girls were fine on their horses. It was a lot of fun, even though we had to weather out some rain on the way. Well worth the money! We snuck a camera to her, and she gladly took some pictures of us on the horses. I heard the camera focus (half-press of the shutter), and assumed they took (full-press) -- but they didn't. Zero pictures of us on the horses.

At dinner there was a meeting in the Tally Ho where Nicky, Bob, and others welcomed everyone to the gathering. They shared some stories, talked about the future, and let all the workshop hosts pitch their upcoming workshops. This took a while since there were a lot of workshops! I had my turn, introduced myself and my girlfriend as first-timers with creative new ideas, and pitched the two presentations I had ready.

Sometime early in the week (not sure exactly what day), I was introduced to two different people. First was Morley Schloss. I hadn't read the N magazine from that month (28.4), so I didn't know much about him at that point. We didn't talk much initially. I also met Dave Cole and his fiance from Black's Beach. We talked for a while comparing notes on each of our beaches -- everything from politics to undesirables. I also found out that Black's has just a few steps less than a famous landmark in our area.

That evening we went to the naturist theater (big screen TV in the Heritage room) and watched as "Blaze Starr Goes Nudist". We have movie nights just like this at home, so we knew what to expect from that film genre. We sat way in the back and giggled at each-others jokes and the cheesy plot-lines. During the film, Morley entered the room behind us and we greeted him. We asked if the resorts in Florida were just like what the film was showing. I was blown away by his response... He sometimes went to the resort that the movie was filmed at, and remembers about when it was filmed. As the scenes were playing, he'd point out that "the ducks were added to the pond -- there were never any ducks there" and that "the cottages were never usually that nice".

Thursday we skipped "Speaking to College Classes & Groups" (even though we're interested) in favor of "The NAC Area Representative Program" by -- surprise, surprise -- Bob Morton. We signed Bob's book for being a NACAR, but I haven't heard anything from it yet. This was shaping up the be the warmest, sunniest day that Eastover had that week. This was great for our all-over tans!

Nicky signed us up for a video that they plan to put on YouTube. We were interviewed with five seemingly simple questions. My girlfriend did a great job with them. I didn't, probably because I was overthinking them instead of coming up with a quick cheesy answer. "Why are you a naturist?" I don't know... it's like asking why I'm a human. I was just born that way, I guess. (They wanted a better answer than that.) "What is your favorite thing to do in the nude?" Sex is an obvious good answer, but unacceptable. The answers I delivered generally weren't what I was thinking at the time. Before the shoot, the guy doing the filming showed us a clip from the previous people -- of course, the Kapus family.

Early in the afternoon we attended one of Nicky's workshops, "Getting Published in N Magazine". We discussed the magazine sections, what people liked and what they didn't, and where it was heading. She also went through the list of what she's looking for with contributions. I got invited to a possible future workshop out west on writing specifically for N. We'll see where things go with that...

My girlfriend attended most of the DUMass Olympics events. For those who are curious, it's Dave Cole's series of workshops where they play silly games and win stuff. They are simple and fun, which is why he always has a great turnout. My girlfriend also tried some skeet shooting, and got 3 out of 3... misses. With a gun in her hand, I stayed quiet! She thought it was fun to try anyway. I thought it was fun to watch her shoot a rifle naked.

We both went to the "Naturist At Play" photography workshop. Although I like photography, and had a camera in the car, I figured that we would get copies of the pro's photos instead. We both posed in a lightsaber scene. My girlfriend posed for a lot more including a group jump photo and a solo Mary Poppins scene. We haven't gotten a copy of the pictures yet. [UPDATE: We eventually did, all stamped with Eric's logo and "for personal use only" as per the contract. Why watermark them if they're just for us? I have no idea... Most places won't print them if they're watermarked. I removed the watermarks to print them for the brag book.] After Eric excused everyone from the workshop, he hung on to his favorite models -- one long-time female participant and the Kapus family -- for some additional shoots. We're a good young attractive naturist couple, and we told Nicky early in the week to have the photographers take pictures of us for the magazine. We told Eric this too, but he didn't seem interested at the moment.

Before the main entertainment that evening, we decided to make our own photoshoot. We collected golf balls from the driving range, which is a lot of work when it's the side of a hill and among lots of white flowers. Back at the top, we grabbed a nearby photographer and asked him to take pictures while we golfed. "I suppose..." It looked like he got some good pictures out of it. I sent him an email after the gathering, and haven't gotten any pictures yet. [UPDATE: We eventually got these too.]

That evening we watched the main entertainment couple for a bit. He was naked except for boots, a hat, and a few other small things. She was in a sarong or a dress, one of the two. It seems she wasn't comfortable enough to be naked on stage like he was. They had some naturist themed songs that they performed, among other things. They were very good musicians!

Friday was a big day for me. I raced to breakfast, collected my equipment, and went to the moose's left ear (Mohawk room). I used duct tape to make the broken projector screen stay in place, found an extension cord to plug everything in, and was ready to deliver the most professional "workshop" the gathering has ever seen! I was the only person who had a Powerpoint (OpenOffice Impress, actually) and did a full-on presentation instead of just sitting around and talking. I'm better at these anyway -- I did a lot of them while in college.

My topic was "Crowdsource Our Problems Away", and the presentation is temporarily online here, with the ideas partly from my Future Resort part 5. It's an edgy presentation, so I expected it to be a little difficult. Bob, Claudia, Dave and his fiance, and a room of about 25 other people attended. Bob didn't seem comfortable with the ideas I presented. Dave and his fiance called me on one item -- the list of undesirables for beach safety. They said it's a privacy issue and grounds for a lawsuit, which it could be if I listed full names. My intent would be more like "a heavy-set guy with the Brewers cap who tries to take pictures". At the end of the presentation, it was my guess that people didn't like it. They were fairly quiet. But then Claudia approached me and said "it was the best workshop I've seen all week -- naturism needs more fresh ideas like this! Keep up the great work!"

I took down all my equipment and removed the duct tape so the self-photography workshop could take over the room. It didn't last long -- an hour later I had to set it all up again so that Nicky could use my projector for the Lee Baxandall tribute. It looked great, and she thanked me many times for it. A lot of people were there (60?) to see her Keynote presentation. Then, I took it all down again and finally got the equipment back to the cottage.

After lunch, we were the only youth at the "Apparent Youth Death Among Naturists" workshop. Many were content to discuss the problem, without having much of an idea about the solution. Morley, the awesome man that he is, already had it all figured out. He does an excellent job of bringing in students at Sunsport and the other groups / resorts in the area. I had ideas to pitch in, but Morley beat me to it and verbalized it better than I'd be able to. He should've been the one leading the workshop, because he was clearly the one with the most valuable information. He had a lot of things that I didn't even think of too, like purposefully not including a bar and offering healthy eco-friendly foods as a choice. He targets the college-age crowd with specific events, advertises in their media, and gives them rock bottom (or sometimes free) rates. There's a lot more, but it's fair to say that he has my generation figured out!

We attended the "Unusual Poses & Perspectives" photography workshop. My girlfriend posed a few times, but I didn't. It was cold and rainy, and I doubt there were many good pictures that resulted from that one. [UPDATE: I was right.] Afterwords, my girlfriend had a blast at the pudding toss, except that two men targeted her butt and made sure it stuck good with a firm grope. I attended the "NAC Roundup" workshop by -- oh not again -- Bob Morton!

The talent show was surprisingly good! We sat by Claude, who decided to give us the full bio of everyone who performed (which was appreciated!) There were a few songs, a funny guy doing reverse-burlesque (dressing as the song went on), one really good / funny poet, one not-so-good poet, some guys talking about their "decks", a spot of just music in memory of the singer who recently died, and a lady who beautifully sang and did sign language for a classic song. Another great, and depressing, talent was a singer who had 4am inspiration early in the week to write a song bidding farewell to Eastover. She was the last of the naturist performers, and then began the textile ones. What am I talking about? The tradition is that the Eastover staff always perform in the naturist's talent show.

The Eastover staff don't exactly practice for the talent show, and that fact makes them quite funny! They take random songs and rewrite the lyrics to talk about the "nudies". They can't sing, but they really try to with the lyrics in hand! Some of the staff were even brave enough to drop their pants during the show, which must've been a first considering how quickly the TNS girls ran to the front. They went through quick versions of a half-dozen different songs. They finished with this classic song while going out through the crowd, and it probably brought tears to some people's eyes. Bravo, Eastover staff!

After that, we went through the eerie night-time fog to the moose's left ear. We modeled for the "Images and Patterns Projected on the Human Form" photography workshop. I recommended that we make use of the projector in the fog for some neat silhouettes, because I've taken some good fog shots in the past. Nope -- Eric wanted to do the same thing he's done in the past instead of make use of the unique conditions. He started the workshop by having us find good slides and write down the numbers so we can take the pictures we want. Once his favorite models were on the set, it turned into a free-for-all with going through slides and snapping pictures. Towards the end, my girlfriend and I insisted on doing the shots we wanted to take. He was reluctant, but got through at least some of ours before time ran out.

Friday night the dance was rockin', and the two person band was "in the stalls". We listened to both for a while and had some pizza before calling it a night.

Saturday morning, I started my day with "Who speaks for naturists?" by -- he's gotta be tired of seeing me by now -- Bob Morton! In this one, he stressed that all politics are local. For most of the legal battles that are fought, it's the naturists and not NAC who are at the front lines. NAC coordinates, advises, empowers, and steps in to fill any gaps with the local Friends Of groups and other naturists. It's really the naturists who speak for naturists at a grassroots level. It's a different philosophy than those who try to be the "credible voice of reason" for naturism.

After that, I broke out the laptop, projector, and duct tape once again for my other presentation: "Greening For Profit". It was less edgy than the other one, but I still prove that some green technologies are stupid and that greening to save the environment costs money. The other green workshops were on saving the environment, so I might've irked a few people. The roughly 30 attendees loved this one as far as I could tell! (Morley pointed out that Sunsport already does a number of these things, but I at least clued him in on the Vegawatt. All-in-all he loved it, and invited me to give it at other gatherings.) Follow along here while I add some quick notes: Slide 4 shows a solar array on a Walmart in Mexico. Slide 6 source. Slide 7 source. Slide 8 is common knowledge by now. Slide 9 source. Ideas are from my Future Resort series parts 3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3. Slide 30 is a hot springs in Alaska. Slide 31 Vegawatt. Slide 36 shows a bad fireplace with no doors and likely no cold air return. Slide 37 is this building in Maine that is so well insulated that it doesn't need a heater.

After lunch was the group photo, in which we should be easy to spot. The closing circle was a bit cheesy -- we all held hands in a big circle around the pool and took turns offering our feedback and thanks. My girlfriend left after that to tie-dye a few things in a workshop, and at some point snuck off to the catacombs with a photographer for some "pictures I'll love" that sound a bit more provocative than a simple naturist photo shoot. It seems the photographer loves them too, he never responded to her email. [UPDATE: She eventually got these too, and they're not exactly great from the few she's shown me. Actual lighting and brushing her hair (and maybe a recent shower) would've helped a lot.]

I went to the town hall meeting, where a lot of things were discussed and where feedback was sought to help choose a future gathering location. TNS still couldn't disclose possible locations, but from what Claude told me it's certainly a step up if they get the one they want. (No traditional naturist resorts were options due to the number of attendees.) After that, I stopped by the NAC Large Donor Reception. I hadn't donated largely at that point, so I handed Bob the NAC donation envelope with a bit more than the minimum to qualify as a large donor. I should be getting the NAC newsletter also, but we'll see. [UPDATE: This wasn't active anymore, but is again in 2010 as an online free version.]

After the reception, Morley, my girlfriend, and I took to the tennis courts. Morley is a tennis pro, I could keep a volley for the most part, and my girlfriend is lucky if she keeps it in the court. I must admit that playing tennis is fun when naked, and playing any sport naked is much more comfortable since the sweat works as nature intended. We talked quite a bit with Morley. My girlfriend admitted her second job as a Passion Parties consultant, and Morley thought it was cool. Apparently they've had a few of those at Sunsport. In the right atmosphere (as-in with no kids due to the products shown) it's completely acceptable by his standards. I was worried that he'd dislike her bringing up that topic. He's all about body acceptance, and sexuality is a part of that. We concluded that he's the coolest person we've met all week. I'm very tempted to visit him at Sunsport for the Midwinter Festival.

Our game ended as it got dark, and we went to Tally Ho for NAC's ticket drawing. We won a towel, which my girlfriend wanted to buy anyway before we left. (We didn't buy much from TNS, but we did buy a bunch of stuff from the Eastover gift shop. My girlfriend loved the fact that she could try on shirts without a dressing room! Shopping naked is more fun in person as opposed to online shopping.)

After the drawing, the DJ started. Photographers had slide-shows of their pictures this year in the middle part of Tally Ho. We watched those for a while, then danced for a while. At one point, I counted over 50 naked people on the dancefloor having a good time! Luckily, none were doing the YMCA with their legs. I didn't dance much, and probably spent too much time admiring the character of the Tally Ho building and thinking about it being gone soon.

Outside, it was a cool night. We went to the bonfire for a bit to discover that only a few drunk guys were there. We'll pass on that... We heard there's usually late-night parties in the catacombs, so we stopped there as well. It looked like a bar scene with maybe 20 people around, and had a bit more of an adult feel than anywhere else. One of the many rooms had ping-pong so we played that a bit. In the middle of a game, we heard the funniest thing in a long time, but it's only funny to us. (Inside joke among some Wisconsin friends.) We had to quit our game. We tried to mingle a bit more, but it just wasn't our type of party -- we called it a night.

Sunday there was almost nothing going on. The lobby markerboard had a lot of thanks from the naturists, including one that said "We (heart) Eastover! -- The Nudies" We said our goodbyes to our new extended family, and spent the second beautiful day all week packing up and heading out. Despite the bad weather, we had a great time at this event and it was well worth the trip!

If you have any questions about the trip, post them in the comments and I'll try my best to answer them.

A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing

If you're new to my blog -- you may want to skip this post! I don't normally do this sort of thing! This blog is a written history of my exploration of naturism and everything associated with it, which makes it difficult to skip a story like this one. (Also, don't stop reading the blog because of this post -- it's a "special case" that I don't plan to repeat.)

I'm actually a bit ashamed to be writing about this -- it's a bad topic, but it's a good story. As you read, you'll understand just how different the Sheep and the Wolf can be. Never confuse the two. Too many people already do. We were given a unique opportunity, and we decided to seize it. Read along and you'll understand why.

It all started last fall from an idea I had. As you know from before, my girlfriend is a Passion Parties consultant. It's like tupperware, but for romance and adult products. They talk about things at the parties, but nothing is actually demonstrated on people. It's just a bunch of folks talking about sex and ordering goodies from a catalog. Although I'm not really interested, I'm not against it either. It's her thing. My idea last fall was that I should host a party, which piqued her interest because it's quite unexpected. I was joking at the time when I said we should have the party at Camp NCN during one of their weekends. We got more serious about it in the weeks following, and eventually made the trip during the second weekend in June.

Camp NCN (No Clothes Necessary), for those who haven't heard of it, is a 60 acre adult campground near Black River Falls, Wisconsin. Here's how they describe themselves:

NCN is the Disneyland for Nudist, Exhibitionist, Voyeurs, and Swingers! Whether you’re into swapping or fetishes; Motorcycling or Porn; Sex Olympics or meeting new couples who share the same sexual freedoms; NCN will fulfill every one of your erotic fantasies and more.

Yep, they are the Wolf in this story. (They even tick me off by listing "nudist" first.) Naturists are the Sheep. Too often the Wolves like to dress as Sheep and invade their territory. Mazo Manor S2E02 talked about a pair of Wolves, "Flake" and "Gonzo", and they at one point admitted that they go to NCN. As the title of this post implies, my girlfriend and I are Sheep in Wolf's clothing as we attend NCN's "SPANK" (alternative lifestyles, BDSM) festival. We chose SPANK because there is probably less swinging, more variety of people, and seems to be their biggest event. Under normal conditions I would NEVER go there. The Wolves at the beach really get on my nerves and I'll be surrounded by them at NCN.

To make things worse, I have lots of experience with other "wolves" -- see my stories from Australia here, here, here... Is this what we're getting into? That concerns me!

Our primary motivator was profit. Even though the event is VERY expensive when compared to naturist venues, there's a good chance that we will be bringing home more money than what everything costs. Despite that, I still feel bad for giving them any money because I don't support their cause.

Our secondary motivator was curiosity. My girlfriend thinks the event will be sexy, like some of her romance books describe. Her Passion Parties side-job shares some of the same themes as the event. That makes the event partly educational for her. She was the one that wanted to go, and she understands that it's only this once. Unless we make some serious profits...

I also have curiosity, but not in the same way. I know all about what goes on, and say "no thank you!" I'm OK to go all weekend without participating in anything sexual! I'm true to my name -- Academic Naturist. I'll probably be naked, as a naturist, NOT as a pervert. My curiosity comes from how resorts like NCN can pull in such big amounts of money when the naturist venues are struggling. Is it just the sex, or are there other factors at work? I'm good at reading body language, have great self-control, and have a serious academic interest to pursue. I'm going there for work, not play. "Know thy enemy," as Sun Tzo would say.

I've collected a list of questions:

• Why do people pay around $300 for the weekend at NCN, when VVRC's Car Show weekend is $100? What are the differences?
  
• SPANK is expecting 200 people, and the Car Show usually gets around 400 -- why? Are swingers a minority? Do people love cars more than sex?
  
• How do the demographics compare to naturist venues? If more younger people attend, figure out why.
• How many will actually go naked? I anticipate that full nudity is rare.
• Do people use towels and such to keep things clean, like nudists do?
  
• Do they treat naked people as humans or do they gawk?
  
• Is there any other recreation besides sex?
• Do a majority think naturism involves sex? (It might be hard to ask this.)
• Are any supporting organizations such as TNS, NAC, or AANR? (This too.)
• Do these types of campgrounds have any good processes or ideas that naturists can steal? (Already, I'm satisfied with the web presence -- they have a nice website and stay in close contact via email. They also provide a forum for the participants of the event.)
  
• Will the event change any of my attitudes? Or my girlfriend's attitudes? Will we ever go back?
  

The above part was written before the event, and what follows is written after...

---------------

Heh... so, a funny thing happened when we got there... To get in, we needed to sign a lengthy agreement. Part of this agreement said that I was not a reporter (or anything like that) and that I would not publish anything about the event at all. Technically speaking, I can't even write this post. If NCN finds it too revealing, I'll delete it.

But, I completely understand where they are coming from. Revealing anything about a person's identity could be disastrous, and even describing what goes on there could be harmful to the venue as well when others get their hands on it. So, I won't go into any details. A majority of what's written is from their website, and the rest is very generalized and probably in their favor. (An independent voice that says "it's not as bad as it's hyped up to be" is probably good for them.)

I should point out that nudist resorts don't have this clause -- they normally invite in the media and allow people to talk about their experience. Consider this a major difference between nudist venues and sex venues.

I'd at least like to address my initial questions, one per paragraph:

The price reflects the quality of the venue. Although we were paying a lot more than the car show, there was a lot more going on than at the car show. There were educational workshops during the day, and interesting events were organized every night. (They even had a CPR refresher course, just in case...) We had a fancy meal included for free, and pizza as a snack most nights. I'm concluding that we didn't pay the extra money just for the sex theme. The extra money went to improve the quality of the event. I'm not sure that they were pulling in extra profits just because of the theme.

The attendance was half of what the car show sees, but that doesn't mean anything about the swinger population. This event was basically a gathering for the BDSM crowd. It didn't seem like there were many attending just for swinging. I have no idea how many show up for the swinger events. It's fair to say that there are more nudists who will spend $100 at an event than BDSM folks who will spend $300 at an event. This was actually a bad question to try and answer, since I'm comparing apples to oranges. Since I don't know the market supply/demand curve, I can't scale the attendance based on price to see which is more popular either.

The question of demographics is an important one. There were more middle-aged people than ones our age, and there were a lot more couples to balance out the male/female ratio. Older people were around too, but they were a minority. It's obvious to see why many couples would want to attend, but you'd think that a lot of single men would want to attend as well. I'm not sure if NCN limits the number of single men. As for age, there weren't a lot our age, but there were more than most nudist events. Why are the demographics different? One guess is that curiosity takes hold, and they want to see what goes on behind that privacy fence. You want to know too, right? That's why you're still reading! Nudist resorts are more transparent in what they do. Another guess is that couples of that age range are more sexually active, and wish to include sex outside of their private room in their vacations.

How many will actually go naked? Full nudity is a little rare, as I expected. Most are dressed up in some way. If women are close to naked, they are almost always wearing bottoms. Men almost always wore bottoms too, and were generally more dressed than the females. It was typical that people would get naked for something and then get dressed when finished. It was clear that many were uncomfortable completely naked, and wished to dress sexy instead.

They aren't very serious about using a towel to sit on, because most are wearing bottoms anyway. I didn't witness any bare butts on public chairs, even though there were bare butts around without a towel in hand. They have special equipment for the event which naked people use without a towel. When finished, the users are expected to clean it with a spray cleaner and paper towels (all provided). There were plenty of condoms available to keep things clean too. All-in-all, they are just as concerned about being clean as everyone else.

Do they treat naked people as humans or do they gawk? I was really expecting gawkers, but I didn't find 'em. Nobody stared at us (or her) any more than any other place. Although nudity is somewhat rare, it's completely accepted. In fact, they accept just about anything there. Although I was calling them "wolves" at the top of this post, the people we met weren't like that. They were friendly, normal people. They didn't make advances toward my girlfriend, and didn't make advances toward me. If characters like "Flake" and "Gonzo" were there, they were better behaved than at the beach. We weren't surrounded by wolves like I was expecting.

Is there any other recreation besides sex? Actually, we witnessed very few sex acts. I'm sure there are a lot more during the swinger events, but this event was more about BDSM stuff instead of actual sex. People used the equipment, but didn't actually have sex. (Does this make sense yet?) They have a volleyball court, but nobody ever used that. The small indoor pool area wasn't popular either. People were busy with workshops and all the other stuff going on.

I couldn't ask if the majority thought that nudism involves sex. But, at least one person knew that there was a big difference between the nudist setting and the current setting. It's a different set of rules, and a different atmosphere. He quickly knew that we were nudists.

That same person is a member of AANR. So there must at least be some NCN people who support the nudist organizations too. This is good because the nudist organizations can use all the help they can get -- I at least don't care where the money comes from.

Do these types of campgrounds have any good processes or ideas that naturists can steal? Yes! 1. Improve venue website. 2. Offer workshops/presentations during events from volunteers. 3. Include some meals as an option for tent campers. 4. Recruit vendors for events. 5. A welcome packet is handy if there is no tour of the grounds. If I think of any more I'll let you know...

Have our attitudes changed? I know my attitude changed. I was previously connecting the undesirables at the beach with the average person at NCN, which I've found isn't the case. The undesirables are just bad people no matter where they go -- nude beaches, adult campgrounds, church events, the local grocery store, etc... The average person at NCN is similar to anywhere else. We even made some friends while we were there.

How about my girlfriend? There was some initial shock at what she saw (and trust me, we saw some interesting stuff), but then she just accepted it as no big deal like everyone else. Her attitudes weren't really changed, but her curiosity was certainly satisfied.

Will we ever go back? (Assuming they don't ban us for this post...) Well, we certainly didn't profit on the deal -- vending paid for about half of the trip. We probably could've done better with vending..but... Our big complaint is it's an expensive event! I don't like to support sex venues either, simply because I know it hurts naturism. But, it was an enjoyable weekend in it's own unique way. We won't count it out completely in the future, but naturist events will definitely take priority because they better match who we are. NCN has a different culture, and a different set of rules, where nudity is merely tolerated like everything else. If the goal of your trip is something sexual and not much more, then NCN is the way to go. If you'd like to have a relaxing naked weekend, with an occasional swim in the pool, a game or two, and some social time with friends, a naturist venue is where you want to go instead.

People always say that we should try something once to know if we like it or not. Well, we tried it. Now, we have a better understanding of this unique group. In the future this may be an advantage for us, whether they be friend or foe.

If any NCN people are reading this -- please stop calling it a "nudist" place. It's not a place that nudists would be interested in. You're only hurting the reputation that nudists try so hard to obtain. If you guys separate yourselves from the nudist venues, I wouldn't have a problem with you at all.