Last weekend Lenny Aberman went back up to camp for the first time in 20 years. 20! He took his wife and two kids and tried to convey to them how much everything there meant to him. From the account he wrote of this return to the valley, it seems that he did a fairly good job. Here's Lenny:I was taking my family to Frost Valley for the day. It has been over 20 years since I had been back and I was really looking forward to it. It took us approximately 3 hours to get there. I was surprised by all the new buildings and lodges, although, it was nice to still see a few old cabins. I was surprised by the renovations at Reflection Pond, but thought it still must be a great place to catch frogs and newts.
As I expected, old memories came flooding back and I tried to share some of them with my wife and kids. We had a lot of fun boating, doing crafts, and walking around. I saw that Mt. Hayden is now just a chimney and no longer a climbing wall with the ultimate reward and badge of courage being a nose smeared with soot. The black-top in front of the infirmary is no longer a street hockey court, but rather a parking lot in need of a paving.
Castle hill is still as steep as I remember and, if it had not been for my wife obeying a warning sign, my son and I would have been rolling down the hill as I did many times in my childhood. I wanted to go up the mountain to where Outpost and Lenape were, but time did not allow for that. I did get to take my son in a canoe and walk with him through Big Tree Field. I showed my daughter where we used to go tubing and she wondered how I ever made it down the wall using the small steps built into the wall. My wife and daughter made flavored vinegar using plants grown in and around the greenhouse which now occupies the place I once knew as the archery range.
It was a great day and we will go back.
