I went on many Boy Scout camping things. My family had a camp trailer on the ranch when I went away on the the weekends. The boy scout things filter crazy weird in memory when later my scoutmaster got an unusual "special" interest in me. Sad. The ranch thing was even more sad, as it simultaneously made me dependant and resentful on my father.
I went to an Episcopal church camp near Baytown in about 1964 and 1965-"Camp Allen". Had a great time. I was only 7 years old and also swam competitively for the Beaumont YMCA. Crafts, large glasses of Ice tea, prunes, and grits. Church every morning after breakfast and fun the rest of the day. I shook hands with the Bishop-and was impressed that he told the group he had met Mickey Mantle. I saw a red fox and racoons eating ears of corn from a garden.
My uncle convinced me to go to Church camp at Louisianna Tech with him one year. It kind of sucked. I was never big into church.
Another swimmer! I swam at the Dad's Club (now the Westside Family YMCA I believe) beginning in the summer of 1964 as a 9YO. Many fond memories. Remember how the cottonwood used to fly at Camp Carter in Ft. Worth every summer?
I went to Bible camp for many years. It was one week long, we had service twice a day. Aside from the service time, which was just all right, it was great. Games, tuck shop, sports - it was great!
In México, we had this thing called "Pentatlón", which was a sort of gymnastics/self_defense/boot_camp kind of deal where they had "excursiones" (camp) during the summer. This is where I learned the awesome power of SPAM and how to "pitch a tent". I did this probably 3 or four times, with my 2 brothers and many other friends, along with the high-ranking officers, who didn't let us stay up long at night. Freakers.
I went to day camp when I was 6 (YMCA Day Camp - 2 sessions ) and 8 (Camp Kingwood). I didn't really like either, especially since I stepped on a piece of glass during the second session of YMCA Day Camp. They were super nice to me when it happened, probably because they were afraid they were going to get sued (the stupid substitute counselor allowed us to go barefoot wading in the San Jacinto river). I also went to an Episcopal camp named Camp Allen when I was 11, although it was located near Austin, not Baytown. Finally, I went to Boy Scout Camp for a week when I was 12. After I earned my first aid merit badge on Monday, I informed my scout leader that I found the merit badge activities boring and planned to spend the rest of the time wandering around. He wasn't very pleased, but I didn't care. No camp after that - it was all about hanging with my friends.
