Did you ever go to Summer Camp?

[Kirby]

Summer camps seem to be a big deal in the Northeast, although I never went to one.  Are they a big thing in other parts of the country too?   I think my Mom would have thought sending us to camp was a sign she wasn't a devoted mother (of course she was a teacher and had summers off), but other people I know would have thought not sending kids to summer camp meant they weren't willing to sacrifice to give their kids a good summer.  I did go to a local day camp when they offered it in our neighborhood, but never sleep away camp (except for one girl scout camping trip that was just a long weekend).

How about you and/or your kids?

[jsharr]

Scout camp only

[donkpow]

Band camp.

[sheep_herder]

no

[Road Runner]

My parents couldn't afford it.  Besides, with a neighborhood full of kids about my age, every day of summer vacation was eventful and fun.  

[Ralphie]

4 minutes ago, donkpow said:

Band camp.

Me too, but it wasn't really a camp, just day time.  One was a summer enrichment program, the rest was just all day high school band practice in the summer.

[Road Runner]

1 minute ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

Me too, but it wasn't really a camp, just day time.  One was a summer enrichment program, the rest was just all day high school band practice in the summer.

Yeah, IIRC, one year I went to summer school for band members.  Just in the morning before it got hot.  No AC in those days.

[maddmaxx]

Yes, often.  My dad died when I was 10 and mom worked.  I went to scout camp, swimming camp and private camp.  Swimming camp was just a day camp deal but the others were overnight and lasted for a few weeks.  I loved it.

 

 

[ChrisL]

We put our kids in Day camps through the summer.  More like organized play but every week there was a beach day and a field trip somewhere.  3 of 5 days it was fun at the park.

My mom just dropped my brother and I off at the beach with a sack lunch.

[Guest]

Just scout camp for one week. 

[donkpow]

25 minutes ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

Me too, but it wasn't really a camp, just day time.  One was a summer enrichment program, the rest was just all day high school band practice in the summer.

Since I went to three different high schools, each had a different "camp".

One was a week long "camp" as you would envision with a swimming pool, cabins, dining building, etc.

Another was a week of grueling day long band type work. Grueling. This organization was a winner! Almost military like discipline. We had a separate building for the band and our own practice field with a viewing platform. We went home at night.

The third was a week of half day practices at the school.

[smudge]

I went to 4-H camp one week when I was in about 4th grade. That was weird. Not the camp, but the experience for me.

In high school I finally discovered band camp. Best frickin' week of those 4 summers!!! Once I realized how much I loved it, I was really mad I didn't do it in junior high too. Every day was dedicated to a couple full band practices and "sectionals." The more practice, the more I loved it! I cried every time when I had to say goodbye for the summer.  sigh... good times.

[Further]

I went to Catholic camp for I think 4 years. One week when I was seven, two weeks at eight, nine & ten.

My mom was an older widowed working mother, I think my camp stay was her vacation.

Through some kind of charity thing it was pretty cheap to send me. 

PS  the camp was nice, on a lake in the Adirondacks, we slept in dorm type cabins. Swimming in the lake, canoes, rowboats, hiking in the woods, craft hour (I probably still have a whistle lanyard that we made)  Every week we would  do a sleep out where we hiked up a mountain to a different lake, cooked on an open fire, swam in the lake & slept in sleeping bags, no tent, just the bag. I remember waking up in the middle of night and the camp was overrun with raccoons there had to be a dozen of them scavenging through the camp, I pulled the sleeping bag over my head and hoped they didn't bite. In the morning there was bitching about missing snacks. 

We had to go to Mass every morning & pray every night, but it was a good time and a good experience.

[Wilbur]

Yes, but it was called Basic Training. 

[Page Turner]

...I went to one summer camp or another for a couple of weeks just about every summer growing up.  My parents were happy as hell to be rid of me.

[Kzoo]

No, not as a kid.  I do now as a counselor.  Second week of August.

[Wilbur]

1 minute ago, Kzoo said:

I do now as a counselor

[Airehead]

No, with all of us, it was camp.  My mom took everyone else's kids too.  She organized outings that were fun like sledding on big grass hills after we borrowed my grandmothers cookie sheets.  She took us riding and bowling.  Must have been 15 kids in that station wagon, no one carried.  At her memorial service a girl named Beth spoke-- I had no memory of this-- my mother took us to Valley Forge and we ate piles of peanut butter sandwiches while looking at scary statues of was Hessians.

Another person said it was always fun and loud at our place.  My dad chimed in that those were the summers he was glad that he is deaf.

We couldn't afford camp, I don't think but I never ever even thought about it.

I made up for not going to camp by living and running an Easter Seals camp for many Summer's when I was a real teacher-- my girls grew up there.

[petitepedal]

Day Camp...I think for 2 summers as a Girl Scout...and 1 or 2 overnight camping trips...I also went to a church camp as "staff" one year in Texas.. 1 week down by ? Kerrville? 

[Zephyr]

No.  I came from an adventurous family and we as a group spent the summers of my youth camping and hiking and traveling.  Dad was the local Scout leader for years and years, so we learned all his 'pro-tips' growing up.

[BuffJim]

I went to a few weeks of Christian boys camps. Really enjoyed it. Was a counselor at the same camp in my mid 20’s. Sent my daughter there after they started girls weeks. 

[2Far]

Some of my earliest memories are of summer camp. First YMCA and then the Boy Scouts. I loved camp. When I got old enough, I went for two weeks. The 'rents would come up in the middle & bring me brownies and the Sunday funnies. 

We swam, canoed, played softball, did crafts, there was archery, .22 rifles, horseback riding and then all the Scout stuff. 

It wasn't until I was a parent myself that I realized why my parents we so happy to see me go. 

[2Far]

Oh, and FWIW, I grew up in western NY. 

[2Far]

Camp Weona

Camp Scouthaven

[Randomguy]

CYA day camp, I got stung by a bee there.  

I have almost no other memories from a couple of summers of that. 

[Digital_photog]

FFA camp

[2Far]

Oh yeah, I went to black belt camp as a camper/instructor a coupla times as an adult. 

[Page Turner]

...this is the lake where I got the boy scout mile swim patch. Pine Grove Furnace State park in PA.

[Page Turner]

1 hour ago, Bag of dick said:

CYA day camp, I got stung by a bee there.  

I have almost no other memories from a couple of summers of that. 

...you didn't even make a braided whistle lanyard ?

[Page Turner]

...one of my best camp stories (and like all my stories, absolutely true) is the summer I got shipped off to Jews for Jesus camp for a couple of weeks.

My Bubbie was heavily involved with the American Board of Missions to the Jews (which later morphed into "Jews for Jesus" somehow.  Maybe it was more true to their mission). Which was pretty strange, because I never recall her being especially observant of any formal religious practices, either Jewish or Christian.

 

Anyway, those guys ran a summer camp for the Jewish kids from Coney Island, who they either had converted to Christianity, or were working hard on flipping for Jesus.  I was maybe 10 or 11, had not yet joined the Boy Scouts, and got caught up in the shuffle when it was decided I would benefit from some time in another environment while my parents were visiting all the relatives up there in NYC and going to the beach and boardwalk every day. 

 

I still remember the night that three of the adult leaders trapped me in a car, took me for a ride, and leaned on me pretty hard to accept the Lord Jesus as my personal savior and redeemer. A couple of them were from Texas, clearly fundamentalist in outlook, and not at all content that a kid like me, going to Catholic school, would ever make it into heaven without some additional motivational talks.  Even at that age, I had it together enough to know that this was pretty strange, but entertaining in a perverse way.  So I never did accept Jesus and testify for the entire time.  That was by far the strangest summer camp I ever attended. The others were mostly Boy Scout summer camps for about ten days every summer, and once to the jamboree in '76 at Valley Forge, PA.  Going on a snipe hunt in the dark with flashlights seemed pretty normal in comparison.

 

I share this only as a partial explanation of why I am such an odd fellow.

[MickinMD]

Summer Camp? We were too poor to go on vacation, period. I did get to go to swimming, advanced swimming, and lifeguard swimming lessons for two weeks three years in a row thanks to a county program that provided a free bus to-and-from the beach and only a $10 fee - which was a lot for my parents to pay in the early '60's.

As my siblings, extended family, and I enjoy a week at Deep Creek Lake this week, did a Caribbean Cruise together last summer, and a few days at Busch Gardens in Virginia the year before, I tell my nephews to enjoy what many others won't ever get to do as kids.

[Page Turner]

...

18 minutes ago, MickinMD said:

Summer Camp? We were too poor to go on vacation, period. I did get to go to swimming, advanced swimming, and lifeguard swimming lessons for two weeks three years in a row thanks to a county program that provided a free bus to-and-from the beach and only a $10 fee - which was a lot for my parents to pay in the early '60's.

...I took the crash course, one week, Red Cross  Water Safety Instructor course at the DC public pool in Anacostia, right down next to the river when I was 16 or maybe 15.  I almost died.

 But the guy passed me (with some not too gentle reminders that I was one of his worst students ever. )  I taught swimming and or managed pools all through college during the summer, when I wasn't driving a cab.

[2Far]

I took the lifeguard course when I was 17. I was in pretty good shape, well really good shape. The SLS instructor was the varsity wrestling coach. Oy vay, that was a rough final. 

[Tizeye]

I don't think they had summer camp back then...but made up for it as Scoutmaster for my son's boy scout troupe.

From age 6 on, usually spent time off from school accompanying my step-father to his worksite where he custom built homes and I "helped". Actually it was more exploring and roaming the woods in the adjacent undeveloped properties, but did do other activities gathering scrap lumber to build fires, and when older building activities climbing on roofs, etc. During winter school break even played 17 holes of the nearby putt putt golf course closed for the season - the 18th hole would keep the ball.