Happy Campers Whether You Call It A Workshop Or Retreat, It’S A Chance To Get Away And Be A Kid Again
Grown-ups have rights, too, you know. Specifically, the right to go away to summer camp, just like kids.
More and more adults are finding they enjoy the benefits of camp: the camaraderie, the long days filled with a myriad of activities, the escape from home and office. And all without ever once having to sing “Kum Ba Ya.”
“Adults cherish their childhood camp experiences as some of the finest in their lives,” says Gennie Winkler, founder of Midsummer Musical Retreat, a music camp for adults. “That is one of the reasons I started this experience 17 years ago - to provide those kinds of experiences again to adults.”
From knitting camp to dance camp, from old-fashioned church camp to straightforward nature-camp, you need only have a glimmering of an interest to find a camp to suit your fancy.
Of course, adult camps prefer more grown-up language to describe the experience, hence “camp” is called “workshop,” “retreat” or even “field seminar.”
But the end result is the same: happy memories, and, often, changed lives.
“We have one participant,” says Winkler, “who came to us at a very low point in his life, and music camp changed everything for him. The experience rejuvenated his interest in music and changed the focus of his life, he tells us.” He now attends every year with his adult daughter, says Winkler, who points out that improved relationships is another benefit of camp for adults.
And, she says, something else happens: romance.
“We’ve had several couples marry after they met at camp, and we’ve even had the pleasure of watching their children grow up over the years.”
Midsummer Music Retreat convenes at Whitman College in Walla Walla and bills itself as an “intensive, fun-filled musical getaway.” The noncompetitive curriculum includes large ensembles, chamber music and electives for singers and instrumentalists, both amateurs and semiprofessionals.
The strength of the retreat, Winkler says, is the intersection of a committed, supportive, professional faculty and enthusiastic campers.
And it’s a bargain, too. The cost for five days, including meals and lodging, is $495.
Camp prices vary greatly. Olympic Park Institute offers some backpacking camps that cost only $254 for five days. Of course, participants must provide their own backpacks, camping gear and food.
For their money, participants in the “Ultimate Backpack for Women” program have as guides a former park ranger and a former Outward Bound instructor who teach navigation, low-impact camping and first-aid skills, along with natural and cultural history of the High Divide area of Olympic National Park.
On the other end of the scale, North Cascades Institute offers a two-night birding retreat for up to $425 per person. Included are two nights’ private accommodations at the upscale Sleeping Lady Lodge near Leavenworth, Wash., and seven meals prepared by the lodge’s world-class chef. Participants are taught birding by two of the Northwest’s finest birders, and, from dawn to dusk, chase woodpeckers, flycatchers, warblers, vireos and raptors.
North Cascade Institute also offers another camp classic - basket-weaving. Campers first learn the ancient art of basketry from Lummi weavers. Then, using traditional Lummi techniques, they fashion a basket of Western red cedar bark, wild cherry and beargrass. The seminar is held on Orcas Island.
The San Juan Islands seem to be as popular for adult camps as they are for traditional vacations. On Whidbey Island, the Coupeville Arts Center offers a variety of art and craft workshops, including a number of sewing retreats, photography, calligraphy, silk screen, Navajo weaving workshops and many others. Coupeville Arts Center also sponsors a popular “knitting camp” held on the mainland.
Writers - aspiring or professional - and those interested in environmental literature can retreat each summer to the isolated northeast corner of Oregon to Fishtrap camp.
Closer to home, those who love to dance to contra music can attend a nationally renowned dance camp near Coeur d’Alene. Singing, storytelling, and workshops in tango, salsa and swing are also featured at this camp, held every June. A popular family version of Lady of the Lady Music and Dance Week held each August has been sold out for months.
Montana isn’t too far away for camp, either. In this case, we are talking good ol’ fashioned church camp, but with an up-to-date adventure twist: families attending Camp Bighorn near the Clark Fork River grow together though challenges like river-rafting, hiking, swimming and negotiating ropes courses.
Church family camps abound, and are much less expensive than a traditional drive-to-Disney vacation. Of course, if you choose this route, I can’t guarantee that you won’t have to sing “Kum Ba Ya.”
IF YOU GO Northwest camps Here’s a sample of camps available around the Northwest: Skamokawa Center: canoeing and kayaking camps on the lower Columbia River; (800) 920-2777; www.skamokawapaddle.com. Camp Bighorn: Christian family camp, Plains, MT; (406) 826-3144. Fishtrip, Enterprise, Ore.: writing workshops June 28-Jul 1; Fishtrap Gathering July 1-July 4; (541) 426-3623. North Cascades Institute: field seminars on backpacking, natural and cultural history, literary arts; (360) 856-5700, ext. 209; www.ncascades.org. Olympic Park Institute: field seminars on mammals, butterflies, birds, culture and more, with emphasis on Olympic habitats; (360) 928-3720; www.yni.org/opi. Coupeville Arts Center, Whidbey Island: art workshops; (360) 678-3396. Midsummer Musical Retreat: July 27-31 at Whitman College, Walla Walla; (800) 471-2419; www.musicalretreat.org. Lady of the Lake Music and Dance Week: dance camp held at Lake Coeur d’Alene’s Camp N-Sid-Sen, June 20-26; (509) 838-2160.