Camp from a Beaver's perspective

(Note from Rob:  For this post, I am going to do something I have never done before...  have a guest author.  My son, Matthew, asked me if I would be willing to put something he wrote on this blog, so he could be part of the 'Welch Camp Blog' experience.  This is Matthew's final year as a camper at Indian Acres... he is an upper 'Beaver', and here are few words about what this very special place means to him.  Enjoy!)

Da Beaver
Photo by Laurie Endsly
Photography

I once was asked by a newly-made friend at a pizza place how in the world we could leave everything behind, and go to Maine and live in the woods at a camp for 2 months. At the time I didn’t have a great response, so here is my long-overdue, long-winded response on why I attend summer camp at Indian Acres, 04037 in Fryeburg Maine.

I read an article written by a lady who was talking about how she sent her kids away to a sleep away camp. The article opened with a comment from another woman “Do you even like your children?” The article goes on to talk about getting ready for college, summer school, and so on; but I wish to focus on another line: “They adore camp, and it’s actually harder on me than it is on them. I often tell people the first year they were both gone, it felt like I had lost an arm.” 

While Ms. Clydesdale wrote a magnificent article, after reading it I realized that I don’t have that problem-- my father works from home, so he and the whole family can come with me; also that article was about why a ‘Parent’ would send their kid to camp, but in my case, the question is-- why would a ‘family’ continuously attend?

I cannot speak for the rest of my family; I can only speak for myself, so that begs the question: why do I go to camp?. The answer is simple--if I did not go to camp I would be a 16 year old taking care of a house without a car or a driver’s license, with no one to care for me and I would be eating ramen noodles basically every day. So a better question is, why do I want to go back to camp? Because I enjoy camp; so perhaps the best question is why do I enjoy camp? 

Camp means songs and cheers, campfires and guitars, sweat and hard work.  I may be giving up a summer of hanging out with friends at home, and preparing for college but I gain a whole bucket worth’s more in memories, creativity, and experience.

You know the old saying “Let kids be kids?” Well, that doesn’t happen anymore: yes, teenagers need

responsibility; yes, they are older than younger kids who play in the mud and say “BAUBBLES!”-- but even older teenagers need to have fun. In our hectic world, every adult needs some rest and relaxation, and we long for the care free days of our youth, but those memories won’t be of college prep classes and internships, but of skies full of stars, friends, and stuff that happens past midnight. 

Without camp I would never be the man I am today, I would never know people from other countries and keep in contact with them, I would have never have been out of the United States. My favorite stories to tell-- ‘almost robbed in Canada’ and ‘smuggling a mini-fridge,’ would not exist. Two of my closest friends would be strangers, I would never have a emotional attachment to the numbers 04037, and most importantly I would have missed out on a chance to hone my musical, artistic, and athletic skills.

You want to know why I come back to camp every year? It is because when I am old and talking to my friends in the nursing home, I won’t remember the college prep course my mom made me go to (which I did enjoy mind you!), I won’t remember the days spent making a resume for college, or trying to learn how to save money there. 

I will remember doing musicals like Grease; I will remember starry nights, silent meals, camp crushes, card games, camp outs, smuggling candy, singing, dancing, eating, laughing, campfires, and swimming in the Saco river at my home away from home: Indian acres, 1712 Main St, Fryeburg, ME 04037. 

The Joy in the Journey

"There is a joy in the journey" -- Michael Card

Our annual trek to Maine was a tad different this year:  we added some time for a family vacation into our travel plans.  This began as an entirely self-serving notion that I would, at the mid-point of camp and close to my birthday, take myself off to NYC and see Les Misérables on Broadway.   The idea was to keep costs down, and took into account the reality that Allison can't really be gone more than one day at a time from camp... and I really had a very good plan.  When I pitched the plan to She Who Must Be Obeyed, the response was immediate and adamant.  'NO'.   As in "No, we're all going to go together.  As a family"

The impending college departure of these teenage boys of ours has momma thinking about the time we have left before they go off to be adult men... and a trip to NYC seemed right in the wheelhouse for building family memories prior to that event... and so I said the only thing a man can say when faced with such a situation:

"Yes, dear"

Long before any of this, I had also threatened a co-worker with swinging by and actually meeting him for the first time IRL (for you non-geeks who are over the age of 25:  "in real life").  See, I work from home... and most of my work relationships are entirely virtual.... but this young man has become a good friend even in the virtual world, so we agreed to meet at his house and have some smoked meats and sundry sides.


He's pretty darned good with a meat smoker, and getting to meet him and his lovely family was the
perfect way to start off our summer!

We also swung by the USNA while we were in Annapolis.  We we short on time, so we bought some souvenirs, a sticker for the van's rooftop box, and looked around a bit.  We thought about getting out in old downtown Annapolis and roaming around, but since it was somewhere in the vicinity of 100% humidity, and hotter than it was back in Texas (no, I'm not joking), and the parking garage was full, we did a short driving tour.  Got to see a drawbridge open and allow some big sailboats go through.  We were probably the only vehicle on that bridge who thoroughly enjoyed the delay... it's not a sight we see every day back in Prosper.

Then it was time to head to Big Apple.  After a quick stay in South Jersey (What exit?  Exit 3!), we made it out alive and headed up the turnpike.  After donating $13 to NJ and $15 to NY to traverse the NJT and the GWB, we arrived at our hotel in Yonkers, and headed to the Yankees game.  It was an absolutely perfect day for baseball, and our seats were just under the awning.  Much food was acquired.  The Yankees still stink.  (which I think all the time, but they really do this year.  It was not a particularly exciting game for Yanks fans)  The new stadium was beautiful.  Now I'm not the only member of the family to have been to a Yankees game.  All in all, not a bad way to get into our "New York State of Mind".

Best Buds about to consume copious amounts of 'Za.

After the game, we headed to a pizza joint in Yonkers.  Matthew had arranged to meet a good friend from camp, and our two families did some serious damage to several Frank Pepe Napoletana pizzas.  We had a wonderful time meeting the rest of the family, and I could tell just how much this meant to Matthew.  Shortly before his friend arrived, I asked him if he was excited.  His eyes almost glowed as he responded in the affirmative.

The next day, we got up, rode the 4 line subway into lower Manhattan and tackled the city.  We did a walking tour (gotta start at the Charging Bull and watch all the tourists rubbing the bovine reproductive mechanisms), saw the 9/11 memorial reflecting pools, had a nice lunch at the Dubliner on Stone Street under the outdoor canopy, and got a personal tour of the Time, Inc building from a friend.

The reflecting pools at the 9/11 memorial.
Someone had left this rose on a name.
This is by far my favorite artistic photo from the trip.

By this time, the Fitbit was creeping closer and closer to 20,000 steps, and we were feeling it.  So we wandered down to the Staten Island Ferry and capped off the day with a leisurely back-and-forth trip.  Felt good to just sit and look at the Statue of Liberty and the NYC skyline.   And the hot pepperoni pizza roll and Bahama rum punch that was acquired at the Staten Island terminus improved my outlook immensely.

Tell me more, Tell me more!

The next day we tackled mid-town Manhattan.  We started with lunch at the delightful Ellen's Stardust Diner, where we heard a waitress named Frenchie help sing an entire medley of songs from "Grease!".   You just cannot make this stuff up.   Next we headed over to the Rockefeller Center... since it was the wrong season to see the ice-skating rink, we wandered into the Lego Store and the Nintendo Store instead.  (What can I say? This was a family trip, and 3/5 of this family is teenage boys!)

This Lego creation inside the store is a tribute
to the sculpture and inscription on the outside of
the Rockefeller Center.

Hanging out with Mario

At the Nintendo store, the boys got to observe, and participate some, in an E3 demo of an upcoming Nintendo game.  This took a while, so Allison let me wander off on my own.. I found a kosher deli 2 doors down and had a water and a kaiser roll, and sat at the window bar and watched New York mosey by on 48th street.   I pulled out my journal and made a list of all the interesting things I saw, from the bride walking under the scaffolding, holding up her dress to keep it out of the city's detritus to the Rastafarian bike courier with the humungous backpack.   I swear, I could do this for hours... people watching has always fascinated me, and there is no better place to do it than NYC.  Alas, just as my list was really starting to get interesting, my family arrived and reclaimed me, and we headed to St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Then it was off to Times Square.  We acquired some street vendor food and took in the Hershey and M&M stores.   We did not buy anything in those stores, which fact our son Logan equated to child abuse and torture... the jury is still out!

And then... it was time for the whole point of this here trip.  Turning on 45th street, we headed to the Imperial Theater, surrendered our tickets, seized our seats, and I checked off one of the largest items on my personal bucket list.   Les Misérables on Broadway!  It was my first Broadway show, and I'm glad my first was my all-time favorite musical.  I know the music almost entirely by heart.  The production was sublime, the sets were amazing... it was everything that I had ever conceived about seeing a show on Broadway.  I sat next to the ones I love and heard that immortal line.... "to love another person is to see the face of God.... ".

Do you hear the people sing?  We did, and it was exquisite.






After the show, I acquired my souvenir print, and we wandered around Times Square some more while we waited for our car to arrive.  I'm glad the driver was a bit late, since it gave us time to show the boys the "City that Never Sleeps".  If you go to NYC, and see Times Square, you must see it after dark.  There is no "dark" in Times Square.  Ever.

The night ended with a drive up the Hudson River Parkway, and the night-time view was the perfect coda to our NYC trip.  We collapsed into bed, slept in the next morning, and headed up the coast of Connecticut.  Daddy got another "thing he wanted to do" when we swung through Newport, RI... I've always loved sailing, and some people say Rhode Island is the home of American Sailing.  We didn't tarry long, but it was nice to swing by... I had never been in RI before, I have that state checked off my list now.

And then to Boston, where Matthew had another friend from camp... we met at their house for after dinner desserts and the swimming pool for the boys.  After several hours of delightful conversation, we headed to our nightly hotel.  The next morning, we wandered around the old downtown of Portsmouth, NH.... Starbucks coffee was had... Dad got another "oceanside town" fix... and a great breakfast at Colby's to boot.

And then... the final leg.  By this point, camp was just a little less than 2 hours away.  We even arrived before lunch, as the mother-in-law had requested.

We are home.   At our second home.

We are by the river Saco.

Let the summer begin!