QOTW - Camping

Did you ever go camping as a kid? Or attend an overnight camp?

As a young kid, I went camping with my family to Kinzua Dam. It is some of my most memorable times as a kid. We went for a month at a time. The car and boat were packed to the gills. We would set up camp away from the masses, in a secluded spot, and the only way to get there was by boat. It would take my father several trips to get everyone to the camping site because there were so many of us and with the boat being packed full of food, camping supplies, clothes, etc. There would be 4 - 5 tents because friends, uncles, aunts, grandparents, and us (7) were all there.

One of my best memories is catching newts after it rained. We would catch 100s in a short amount of time and fill up our buckets -- and sometimes pillowcases -- full of newts. The next day they would all be gone. I sure hope someone released them all. Poor little newts.

Another memory is picking blackberries. Yummo! We'd get in the boat and ride for a good 20 minutes to get to our destination. You could pick all the blackberries you wanted for free. The bramble bushes were unfortunately next to a graveyard and that was kind of creepy.

Another fun time is learning to water ski. I didn't get very far in learning this before the camping at Kinzua stopped. All the kids learned to ski (except my sister since she was the youngest of the bunch). Two of my brothers could do all kinds of fancy tricks and spins.

One thing I hated about camping was the outhouse. The smell, -- ewww, gross! -- the heat, the smell, the lack of toilet paper, the smell, the long walk to get there, the smell, the bugs. Did I mention the horrible smell?

Camping at Kinzua Dam is one of the very few memories of my childhood that I can actually remember.

During my tween and teenage years, I attended Deep Valley Christian Camp in Slippery Rock, PA. I attended as a camper as well as worked there for several summers.

Later I would teach classes there -- not realizing, at first, it was the same place I attended as a child.