Circa 2001. Somewhere in this happy crowd was me. Mountains. Cabins. Hikes. Arts & crafts. Sing-a-longs. Dance class. Water aerobics. Skits. Archery. Canoeing. Sounds like good times for the kiddies, except that THIS was camp for grownup women.
Back then, I had attended as a stressed out gal seeking a little me-time. A mention in the LA Times about “Camp Mom” caught my eye (it said non-moms attended, too. Worked for me). I hadn’t been to camp since age 10, and had good enough memories to want to go again. Alone, I might add.
Confession: once there, I spent the majority of the weekend trying to figure out how to totally rip off the idea. Yup. It was everything a PR person knows how to do, but everyone at this event was HAPPY. In the PR world, it can be rare when clients are happy, as they’re usually too busy being dissatisfied with how you are killing yourself for then. *sigh*
Yet, by the end of my weekend – after a serene mind-adjusting massage, I might add — it was pretty clear that trying to copy this cool concept would only result in me competing with the best. Not a smart way to launch a business. So I shelved the daydream and held onto great memories. A few years later, ready to return, I sent in my registration. It occurred to me after a while that I had no response, so I called.
Long story short, the originator of Camp Mom had sold the business after five years to one of her very capable staffers. The new owner was at about her five-year mark and family was becoming a priority, so she was fazing out. I bought it! And my little vision came true, I’ve been running Camp GetAway for five years myself now! WANT TO COME PLAY WITH ME?? October 1-3, 2010 is the next Camp GetAway. All the fun you can stuff into a weekend in the beautiful local So. Cal mountains. Campers fly from as far as New York and Florida. Plenty of women attend solo like I did. Lots more insights are posted on Camp’s blog.
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I always put this in my homefront newsletter for our military families, one of my deployed wives went a few years ago she loved it. Hope to go this year, I place free advertisement in my newsletter from this camp if you got the time go & have a blast:O)
WOW, I shared this with my two sisters and within an hour, we all signed up. Woo hoo we are going to camp!
Kelly, you are absolutely right. At my camps, when campers show up on Friday afternoon, they are pretty fried and anxious. By dinnertime, the “inner kid” has shown up and they are relaxed, laughing, breathing deep. It is a real joy to provide the source for that.
I often do something similar. With recipes. When I’m at a restaurant I’m sitting their dissecting the flavors trying to figure out how to get something close. Between the blogging camp and this I think you’re really onto something. Adults absolutely need getaway time too, sometimes more than kids I think.