Gay Naturists International

Did the early arrival at GNI, and my first surprise was how nice it was. I was expecting something like summer camp we went to as kid, and it was like that, only much nicer. Huge grounds, two beautiful huge pools, peaceful lake, fairly nice cabins, and lots of recreational facilities.
Strangly enough, as a first time early arrival, I was alone in my own cabin - how strange. However it was not long before I was invited to join another cabin (C1) rather than wait two days for my cabin mates to arrive.
So.... how to start to describe GNI. Well of course, everyone is naked most of the time - 600 men. Very friendly group of people, very down to earth. All of our food was included, and we ate summer camp dining hall style - only the quality was better.
The days tended to develop into a routine, breakfast, yoga in the gym, swimming some laps, lunch, maybe a little adventure across the lake, cocktails on our deck, then came the highlight of each day, the Theme Social of the Day!
At 5:00 each day, we gathered down by the lake to socialize, drink large amounts of wine and beer, and just generally have fun. However, the really crazy part was the costumes. Each day had a theme, and people have planned their costumes for months. Cabin A8 (much more about them later) always made a grand enterance as a group in matching outfits. To say it was over the top is a huge understatement! I have posted a few pictures here, and hope no one is offended my the nudity. But how else can you get photos of a naked event? I have not downloaded all the pictures to my flickr account (don't forget to check it out, instructions are in a previous blog post if you have forgotten) as I think they rate them, and all my photos could become restricted. So, I'll just leave them on the camera memory, and maybe transfer them to a disk sometime.
By the way, still loving the new camera, Dwayne!















Anyway, after the social, we would stagger up to dinner (staggering from drinking or laughing so hard!). Then there would be some kind of show each evening. After the show, we would often drop my cabin A8 before the naked disco. And yes, each night there was a high tech naked dance, with sound, light and more drinks. What a scene!
So, cabin A8, what's the story. These guys come every year, and build a huge deck addition to their cabin. It is then decorated with a theme (this year IHOP - International House of Penises). Then they dress up in costume, and serve free drinks for hours to anyone who wants to drop in. They have blender drinks like Margeritas and Mudslides every night, served to you on a tray, or you can help yourself to huge dispensers of Cosmos (wickedly strong). Word is they spend a total of $12,000 on booze each year - to say they are generous would be a huge understatement.
Some other wonderful general highlights of GNI include:
- tubs of soda on ice all over the camp all day
- popsicle deliveries to everyone around the camp each afternoon
- daily theme socials
- cabin A8 boozefests
- theme parties held by various cabins (the Canadian party was excellent!)
- across the lake (GNI insiders know what this means).
Lots of other highlights in my journal, but this is enough for the blog - you get the idea.
It all came to an end too soon, and we were off in the bus for New York City. I met a very nice guy from Muenster, Germany on the bus, and he generously offered me a guest room there. I will definitely try to take him up on his offer - thanks Hubertus.
Was quite excited approaching Manhatten from the New Jersey side. Spectacular! But I was also nervous, as I did not have any reservations. Hubertus gave me the names of a few hostels from his Germain guidebook, and also said if I was stuck, I could stay with him at his hotel in New Jersey. Another of my cabinmates who lives in Queens also gave my his phone number in case I had problems. Wow, already meeting really great people.