Climbing Camp? Seriously?

Yes, I have rental cabins in the New River Gorge.  Also, I’m a dad.

Here’s some quotes from an exchange I had with my kids last week:

Climbing camp?  Wait… you want me to pay so you can sleep in a tent just a few miles from home and climb?

@#$%$%  You can do that in our back yard for free! Seriously.  There’s a cliff right back there- go climb on it.  You can sleep under the over hang were the neighbors used to keep the milk cow.  And then you’ll still have time to get some chores done.

Now that I hear myself say it, I can see why he wants to go to camp again.

Our son is a repeat at the camp only because he loved it enough to put up some of his own money to pay for it. Coming from a 12 year old boy, that’s an endorsement!

It’s too late to get your kids here for this year, but you should start looking into it for next year. Stone cold (climbing pun) pros run the camp with years of experience and training. Both girls and boys of all ablity  levels attend. The kids actually “camp” IE in a tent and make meals over a fire. They do have showers and bathrooms at the camp ground. Each day involves way more than climbing.

If you’re interested (and you should be) check out the camp’s web site and Rock your kids world (another climbing pun). You can also see lots of pics on their facebook page.

Okay, time to come clean: this is not a totally selfless pitch for the camp.

The idea is that, while your kids are at climbing camp you might want to enjoy some vacation time in our area, and stay at one of our cabins.

There. I didn’t want to have to spell it out like that, but doesn’t that sound like a great plan? Sunday afternoon, drop the kids off at camp and then go check into the cabin KID FREE.

I don’t mean to sound over excited about it but, well, to me, that sounds exciting. Our own kids camps are all opposite weeks this year so we are not KID FREE at any point this summer. Can you believe it?!

I am going to have to work on that for next year. Even if you are not bringing your kids to climbing camp you might want to find time to get away KID FREE some time soon.  Seriously.  I know I do.

I hope my wife reads this.