Andy wrote:
>
> As a pre-teen I was packed off to YMCA summer camp for a month every
> summer, 4 years in a row.

I remember it well (albeit vaguely), the weeks at summer camp as a kid!
All six of them! I and my younger brother were shipped off to a
neighboring state to languish at camp. Alas, one of those summers I was
banished to a teeny room (closet???) of my very own to sleep in
isolation at night due to outlandish snoring (was sleep apnea a
recognized medical condition back then?).

The food was always horrible -- thank goodness I remember none of that!
Of course, it's hard to muck up s'mores And thank goodness for that
canteen - it was my salvation! My all-time favorite part of summer camp
was horseback riding, which I'd never do nowadays (I now know better!).
Swimming was my next favorite activity, but I always dreaded that first
shock of very cold water in the pool when I dove in head-first to get it
(the shock) all over with (brrrrr, almost gives me goose-bumps thinking
about it! <g>).

I understand the "camp" where I summered a few years many decades ago in
Hendersonville, NC is now a resort- or spa-kind-of-place with cottages
(the former campers' cabins) with a lobby and formal dining room. I bet
those cabins have a/c now! I know I didn't - hehehe. And, I'm sure the
'mess hall' is no longer a screened in pavilion, and those dining tables
and benches (nothing but picnic tables) have long disappeared. Hm... I
wonder if they have room service <g>.

My DS went to camp every summer through high school for six to eight
weeks ---- his father's home many states away <G>. The best part about
DS's "summer camp" was the cost - hardly anything <vbg>.

Sky, who appreciates the empty nest