Did you enjoy it? Did you go because you wanted to or did your parents force you? How far from home? Who sponsored the camp? Did you go with friends? Do you (or would you) send YOUR kids to camp?
I went to Boy Scout camp when I was eleven and twelve, mostly because all my friends were going. I realize now I was supposed to be earning merit badges and working on Scouting skills but mostly we just had fun. They had .22s and canoes and a big communal mess hall and a lake. I had a blast.
I went to Camp Strong River and Farm in Pinola, Mississippi, from the age of (about) 8 to 13.
I definitly wanted to go. My family had just moved from MS to Alabama, and it was the one week of the year that my best friend and I got to hang out. When I was 13, I went by myself (best friend didnt send in her application in time, or something) and was a CIT and it sucked (mostly because i was the youngest CIT and didnt know anyone and was really shy) and so I didnt go back.
It was just kind of a general camp - horses, canoes, arts and crafts, etc. They had great biscuits, great sweet tea and they served chocolate milk at night. One year my counselor started reading “Where the Red Fern Grows” and by the time the week was up hadnt finished it. That was a book I had tried to read a million (ok, maybe once) on my own, but I went home and finished it and bawled. Tetherball was big. My nickname one year was “albert.” My overall camp experience gets two thumbs up.
As a kid? No, just in winter with my Boy Scout troop. I went to summer camp as an adult! I spent the summer of '92 as a volunteer counselor with Camp Patahontas (Arlington County Dept. of Parks, Recreation & Community Resources). The summer was divided into four two-week blocks, first week was spent in town and the second in Prince William Forest. Wednesdays we’d go on a field trip. Best summer I had in years!
I went to summer camp every summer starting when I was … 9, I think. The first was Camp Sealth, a Campfire-spnsored camp on Vashon Island in the Puget Sound in Washington State (I grew up in Seattle, so it wasn’t too far away). The sessions were each a week long, and I went because my parents wanted me to go-- I never knew anyone there when I arrived, but I don’t remember that being a problem. The kids were nice, plus I got to ride horses. Woo hoo! When
I was 13 I began attending Camp Nor’Wester which was then located on Lopez Island, also in Washington. The sessions there are 4 weeks long, and I always wanted them to be longer. That camp is one of the things that made growing up easier, helped me develop some social graces, and widened my horizons considerably. I get homesick for camp now, and it’s been close to 10 years since I was there (hard to believe).
Paul Allen of Microsoft bought the entire peninsula that Nor’Wester was located on, so the camp had to move. They now own close to half of John’s Island (still in Puget Sound, but no ferry service). They’re going to have some work weekends in May to get the property ready for full sessions, the first ones since the camp had to move. I’m hoping I can go back to see the new property and help get it ready for the summer.
I would send my hypothetical kids there in a heartbeat! It was a blast! In fact, the woman who was my maid of honor in my wedding was a girl who shared my tipi at camp when I was 14. Good times, man, good times.