While I always find your weekly column in The Jewish Link interesting, after reading your article this past week, I just had to write to you. I went to sleepaway camp (Camp Ramah) from 1963-1970, went to Israel in the summer of 1971 and then was on staff at two different Ramah camps from 1972-1976. I identified with your article. We had army type woolen blankets, sheets that were retained from year to year as camp sheets (with our names written or name taped in the corner) and we used the three or four wooden shelves assigned to us next to our bunk beds. The counselors were the only ones who got single beds. We came to and from camp in school buses (I think nowadays they have the nicer “tour” buses). We roughed it and it didn’t bother us—we were at camp with our friends having the best eight weeks of our life each year.
I shared your article with my sisters and some friends I am still in touch with from my camp days. My sister pointed out that at one point in the late 1990s, ceiling fans were put into the wooden bunks and the infirmary (where she worked as a camp nurse) got air conditioners.
I also identified with the trips you took growing up. My family also went to Gettysburg, Williamsburg, Boston, Old Sturbridge Village, Philadelphia, Montreal and Washington D.C. for short two to three day vacation trips. My father sometimes combined some of our trips with stops to see some of his customers—I still remember a warehouse in King of Prussia that we spent time in! We stayed in Howard Johnson motels or other places like that. In the car we played games like 20 Questions, Geography (my father made us memorize not only all the states but the capitals as well), license plate games and auto-Bingo. My mother would read chapter books to us. And, of course, we sang songs and had sing-downs. We did similar activities with my children on family trips as well in the 1990s and my son did trips like that with his children in the early 2010s (before they made aliyah).
It sounds like things have changed somewhat.
Thank you for an excellent article.
