My wife, Alison re-discovered camp back in about 1999 while looking through a copy of Sunset magazine.  Her excitement was palpable once she realized that this was the same Bar 717 that she went to as a child.  Sure enough we signed up and headed up to our first family camp around 1999 or 2000 with our two young boys, Max (now 21)  and Isaac (Now 18).  We have been coming back ever since.  My first memory of pulling into camp was Marlys coming out of her office as we drove into the entrance.  But more was Alison’s reaction as she realized that this was the same Marlys that cooked for her all those years back when she was a camper.  This thread through time is one of the things that truly differentiates Bar717 from anything else I have ever encountered.

This first interaction gave me my first inkling of how special a place this was.  Since then both my boys have been campers.

My second memory is of losing my eldest child.  He went away to camp as a well developed but somewhat shy 14 year old – we were late starters.  What I got back was a different child.  Alison went with him as a resource assistant, and to be fair, some air cover, but that proved completely unnecessary.   He signed up for an outpost away from camp on the first day and ended up living out at Cedar Glades for a week.  Alison called me that night saying she was all alone up there as Max had “de-camped”.  Max came back as a self assured kid who knew what he could do, understood how to function in a completely strange environment, and overall was a much more confident individual.  As important, he was now a Bar 717 alumnus and dedicated supporter.  He has been virtually every year since then, and was a counsellor two years ago and will be a counsellor this summer.

Isaac, my younger son, was similarly a late starter, but once bridged from family camp into a regular camper, became equally as dedicated Bar 717 supporter as his brother.  He has only had a couple of years of this but carries the lessons that he learned there with him every day.

The circle of life continued last year when the son of our care giver (who took care of Max and Isaac for ten years off and on) went to camp.  Like Max he was somewhat shy when he arrived, but by the time he left he was ready to go back.

Hopefully this thread will continue for many years to come, through us going to camp as family campers and then eventually Max and Isaac’s children becoming the third generation of Polkinhorne Bar 717 alumni.