2 days ago
Rachlis: Canoeing was a challenge, but that aside, adult summer camp rocked
Like many campers, I headed off to summer camp — the quintessential Canadian experience — earlier this month, with a mixture of excitement and apprehension.
Article content
Sure, I had three friends going with me, but would I get along with the other campers? Would I be able to do the activities? It had been awhile — the late 1950s and '60s, in fact — since I'd been out to sleepover camp on a school bus.
Article content
Article content
Article content
This time, camp was a Women's Weekend Getaway being held for the first time at the site of the Y Outdoor Centre in Dunrobin, Ont., and we were car-pooling. My three friends and I had been sent a list of clothing to bring, similar to what kids receive, and we also got the same Camper Code of Conduct. What was missing on the list of what to bring for older campers like us was our prescription medications, hearing aids and chargers, and Tylenol Arthritis.
Article content
At the Friday evening welcome meeting, we went around a circle saying each of our names and the age of our 'inner child.' Then we played conversation challenge games outdoors, exchanging mixer questions like, 'What was the best advice you were ever given? What do you want to be doing a year from now that you haven't done before?' We also all crammed onto a large wooden teeter-totter, and shuffled in a line on a rope on the ground to sort out our names alphabetically, then sort birthdays by day and month, using hand signals.
Article content
Article content
Acting like kids, again
Article content
Article content
There was constant chatter; everyone seemed excited to be there. The 25 of us included young mothers enjoying leaving their kids at home, and us, wanting to act like kids again. And we did.
Article content
We decorated 'wood cookies' — circular slices of wood — with our names, and painted motivational slogans on rocks to distribute randomly.
Article content
Canoeing was a bit choppy: a kayaker towed me and a friend back to shore when we kept paddling in circles. Archery was equally not of Olympic quality, but fortunately no one was hurt. I eschewed the climbing wall and high ropes, though for many it was the highlight.
