Adventure Camps

Adventure camp is simply the best! It is like a kids dream come true, loads of outdoor play, fun games (treasure hunts, beach picnics), and the opportunity to see and experience parts of the city they may not otherwise be exposed to. Adventure camp is the outdoor get dirty, have fun, play, be rowdy, explore, learn, and laugh experience that should be a part of every persons childhood. Raising children in the city it is more challenging to provide those sort of experiences, but thankfully Adventure Camp has come to relieve my parental guilt (well at least some of it) by filling in the void.
By far the best camp we have sent either of our kids to.

We have to work on many holidays, so have put our boys (7 & 10) in various day camps around the city, generally to their dismay. They returned from Adventure Camps (in SF) saying «when can we do this camp again?» It sounded like a perfect day of outdoor play with old fashioned fun. We’ll be back.

My three boys have all done stints at Adventure Camp and it is a great program. Rory loves kids, and he knows how to have fun. What could be better than digging foxholes on the beach or finding salamanders under rocks? The kids get out and see the Bay Area, especially in the summer, and Rory’s helpers are always great: upbeat, responsible and good with all kinds of kids. Even riding around in the van seems to be a hit with the campers. I highly recommend it.

So I was running around the polo fields just now, hating life because I have let myself eat way too much, which I totally blame all of it on Unilocal,when I had to quickly run out of the way of a mob of smiling, giggling, sneaking children as they came out of the bushes. They were led by a young guy, probably 18 – 20 or so. They snuck down the stairs alongside the north bleachers and crept around to the tunnel face and suddenly they went berserk! Screaming and shouting and laughing and running and then, all of a sudden, ANOTHER group of these little monsters were running and screaming and giggling alongside them. This group, of course, was led by none other than Rory Judge, perhaps the coolest, hippest camp counselor ever to grace San Francisco.
Immediately I recognized him. Not much had changed over the 20 years since I had been a part of his camp. He had the big grayish hair, the same enthusiasm for each child. I was thrown for a loop during that instant when I remembered back to discovering San Francisco as a child with Adventure Camps. I remembered instantly the bunkers in the Presidio and at Fort Miley, the various beaches we went to, the picnics we had, the trips to swimming pools.
I don’t know how many parents of 4 – 14 year olds read my reviews, but if anyone out there is looking to send their kid or a kid they know to an awesome place where they get the most attention, respect, and love they need mixed in with fun all the time, Adventure Camps is the place to be.