Time At Our Camp Is Time Well Spent

We recently started an Okara Lakes Historical Committee to record the history of the camps in order to compile an historical register of the Okara Lakes area. This prompted me to pull photos off my phone and put them all in one photo album on the computer. Warning:  This post is word heavy :-)

Joe built the camp shed. It's a skyscraper :-) The shed holds a LOT of firewood. 

Our camp is far enough off the dirt road to be somewhat private. Especially our backyard since it is designated Forever Wild. The calm surroundings and breathtaking views are just what we need after a crazy work week. You can't beat an early-morning paddle on a misty lake for feeling like you've crossed into another world. Our alarm clock is the call of the Loon. There is a 740-mile water trail that begins near our camp and goes through Saranac Lake and into Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine before ending in Quebec.

Even though this photo is from Budapest, this looks exactly like our lake and floating dock that we use to dive in the water. We even have the rubber tubes. 

The remainder of this post is what I submitted for the historical register. I'm sure my parents and grandparents would have had wonderful memories to share :-) 

Our camp is a single family dwelling built by father and paternal grandfather in the early 70’s. The camp was built in three sections, with the first section being 16 x 16 with a sink to wash dishes. I think the outhouse was built first. J  As children (ages 6-11) we enjoyed spending time at the lake looking for polliwogs and floating on tubes while dad was working on the camp. Then a second section was added, and a few years later the third section. The third section is what we referred to as the “bunk room”. Boy was life good for us. A hardworking father supporting his wife and four children, and going to “camp” on the weekends in a station wagon with the wood on the sides. Travel in the pre-mini-van days of the 1970s – sans seatbelts of course. Upon arrival, we got out the webbed lawn chairs while dad worked on the camp and mom prepared lunch. My dad also had a 1982 International Harvester (Chrysler) that we used to haul items to the camp with my brother. Our next door neighbor was Wilson Candee and his family whom we shared many fun times (and meals) with. Occasionally we would head down the dirt road to hang out with the very sociable Baister family at their camp. When I was a teenager, I babysat at the Pontiac Lodge for the Callahan family.

My maternal grandfather retired from Remington Arms and worked in the summer for Theodore Schenck (Town of Webb peace justice) at his gas station and Little Bayou Cottages (where the arts center View is now located.) My grandparents helped my mom and dad with camp projects and lived in a cute Shasta trailer that he parked on our camp lawn. My grandmother and I would pick blackberries and bake pies in the trailer. Seems that I recall mostly the culinary activities that occurred at the camp. 

Many gourmet meals have been prepared in our camp kitchen and on our outdoor grill, and we hosted 32 people overnight one weekend when our family was younger. One morning I was looking out the window and there was a moose in our backyard. I have counted over 40 species of birds in our backyard, and the loons sometimes wake me up in the morning. We also have our share of bears, fox, deer, etc. Our camp provides us with a kind of “soul food”.  I could write an entire book about the stories we have shared with over hundreds of friends and families around the campfire. My siblings and I now have grandchildren that will create their own memories around the campfire at camp. 

Have you spent time at a family camp? I'd love to hear about it. 

Thanks for stopping by!

xo

Debbie