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Review of Camp Holiday Trails

"It's trash don't go there!!!!!!!!!!" -unnamed tra...

"It's trash don't go there!!!!!!!!!!" -unnamed trashy-looking guy. Homesickness can be hard.

Though an alumni, I can understand the stereotype that looking back at a fond memory distorts perception of the real event. However, having finished my fourth and final year at Camp Holiday Trails about two weeks ago, I think now would still probably be a safe time to tell the world how special of a place this was for me, and the 300 other campers I've seen there since I started (with the exception of the occasional obnoxious-type antisocial you find in every crowd...come to think of it, I think I recognize Trashy Guy from his profile pic.

This camp is like every other camp in that it hosts camping, and canoeing, and arts and crafts, and fishing, and quirky stuff such as messy art and Color Wars; I'm not going to list it all because you can probably figure it out. It's a summer camp!

But what sets this camp apart is something you probably already know from the description; that it's creates an iconic and fun environment accessible by people of any health difficulties, from peanut allergy to cystic fibrosis. And I don't mean "they put a wheelchair ramp to the dining hall and have the number for 911 handy." I mean that they've created an advanced medical system supporting a very normal-feeling experience. Before I got there my first year, I honestly thought it would feel kind of awkward, with all of us very different seeming people with disabilities trying to have a normal time, but CHT has created a literal miracle, and it became a true home-away-from-home.

The day we had the closing ceremony, there was a lot of emotion as my friends and I were leaving a place that had affected us like none other, and how some of us who had been there for many years realized that they were singing their last camp song. But what I noticed different from all the other crying I've been around and/or done is that it all was happy as well as bittersweet. This place had impacted us, and has personally taught me a lot.

The med staff and counselors always went above and beyond trying to make everybody's summer a blast, and there was more life in the air than I've seen anywhere. I m not going to individually praise every aspect of camp, but considering how difficult it can be for people with conditions such as cerebral palsy (as well as easier-functiong but still medical-attention-dependent people like me who have things like seizures), I thought I should mention it. And that's why this kind of situation is great. EVERYBODY needs a total vacation, and whether you have eczema or cancer they can get one here.

I'm turning 18, and Camp Holiday Trails has been the highlight of my childhood. If a camp can do that to someone (and the others I've kept up with online who feel the same), then it sure as hell isn't trash.