Seems like my posts lately have been about things that I am observing around me. I guess that is a good thing, right? That I am observant? Whatever the case it is nice to see signs of summer all around.
One of the true signs of summer in our area is the evidence of camps opening up for the summer and all of the campers and families that are flooding the town and roads. It is a good thing. They are a vital part of our economy and there are so many camps around in the area that I can’t count them all. A quick Google search brought up these and I know that is not all of them.
Sunday when I was driving into town I saw a familiar sight on some Sundays on 276. Rockbrook Camp for Girls is on our way into Brevard and on some Sundays when new campers arrive there are young girls by the entrances waving to cars as they go by. I always wave and smile and think about how much fun those campers are going to have once they get there.
I was a church camp kind of kid but really not until I was in high school. I went a couple of years as a camper and then went back as a junior counselor. I fell in love at camp. I made friends at camp. I had a great time at camp and count it as one of the fun things of summer. Now my experiences at camps were definitely not what the campers around here experience. I looked up the cost of the camp for the girls going to Rockbrook and the cost ranged from $4100 for a mini camp of 12 days to $7000 for a camp lasting 26 days. I know my church camp eons ago was a lot cheaper than that but then it was a basic church camp help on the grounds of Bethesda Learning Center / Epworth Park or at Lakeside where accommodations were definitely not deluxe and activities minimal compared to what these local camps offer.
But camp is fun. Whatever the cost. Whatever the location. Were you a camper? Do you have memories of being away a week for camp during the summer? I would love to hear all about it so leave me a comment and Comment for a Cause for Uvalde Victims Relief Fund.
10 Comments
Leave a commentYou are being observant and “mindful”- yes that’s good! Our church had weekend retreats that were fun at Baptist camps in Ohio and going with my family to Lakeside for a week was almost like camp! And in high school there was band camp. Fun to think back on those days!
I’m not much of a camper now but I attended church camp for a number of summers when I was between 10 and 15. They were so much fun and I made some great friends there. The last year my brother was old enough to come with me. He was nothing but trouble and I wished he hadn’t come. We laugh about it now but honestly. The first day he got bit by a wasp, the second day he stepped on a nail, the thrid day he was invovled in an acorn fight and one hit him in the forehad. When they called me to come to the nurse’s station, he had a hole in his head and blood was running down his face. I thought he’d been shot! I didn’t have as much fun because I worried about him all the time.
Oh my goodness! That brother of yours was a hot mess, right? I laughed at his escapades but I am sure at the time it was not fun!
Little brothers, right! He is almost 70 and I still feel I need to keep an eye on him. LOL. Love him to bits of course.
I went to a few sleep-away camps when I was younger but they were shorter camps for a week or two – I don’t remember if we had all summer camps in Germany. As an adult I became a camp counselor and worked summer science camp for 7 years while my kids went to camp and the older two became counselors. We had a lot of fun but it was a lot of work – I had to start planning in January to make sure everything would run smoothly. We’ve looked into sleep away camps for the girls a few times and couldn’t believe the prices of some of them.
Lovely memories you have! I wasn’t a big fan of camping but did try it once, and never did go again. I kind of wish I hadn’t been such a stick in the mud when I was a kid, I might have enjoyed it more!!! Turns out my son was not a big fan either but he tried it once. I might go camping now if it was glamping!!!! LOL!! Have a wonderful day!
I was blessed to go to 4-H camp in the early 60s. It was in Virginia Beach, VA and I was a country girl from Surry, VA so it was a big deal to me. Little did I know I would end up living in Virginia Beach. It was a fun time at camp, and I had a girlfriend that went too.
Oh, how I wanted to attend Bible camp at Lake Shetek. But there was no money for that. Needless to say, my younger siblings got to go to Bible camp. Sigh. What a great experience. Our eldest loved bible camp, attending from K on, then volunteering, then working a counselor for two summers. But camp can cost upwards of $7K? How, oh, how can anyone afford that?
I went to Lakeside.
Definitely a camper when I was growing up. I loved to ride my bike around the campgrounds and just be outside. Now the campsites are so close together that I can’t see how it would be fun anymore. But those were good days.