If summer camp is in the cards for your youngsters, we think a getaway ought to be part of your plan, too. Find respite in a community near your child’s week-long (or more) adventure and create your own Camp Worryfree. As examples, here are a few summer camp/summer getaway pairing suggestions. No matter where you send your children, know there’s something nearby for you, too.
CROCKETT
Nearby
More on exploring Crockett
For a city-dweller used to noise, there’s nothing quite like waking up under a colorful quilt in an antique bed and then looking out the window over a small-town street scene that’s absolutely quiet. That’s how my day began at the Warfield House Bed and Breakfast, just a couple blocks from the Crockett town square. Of course, you can find this pleasure in many small towns, but Crockett, population 6,500, happens to be one of my favorite burgs. Crockett offers equal parts history, culture, and outdoor activities, making the most of its rich heritage and the natural beauty of the Piney Woods of East Texas.
Character Camp’s Youth Leadership Summer Retreat
Water’s Edge Camp, Crockett
Character Camp, based out of Pearland, is a year-round non-profit program that offers “character-demics,” – character training and academics. It started by helping inner-city youth in the public school system. Today, it reaches thousands of students in southeast Texas through on-campus character training, afterschool tutoring, summer academic refreshers, youth social activities, mentor programs, STEM programs, leadership retreats for youth and for parents, and father/daughter and father/son events. It’s Executive Director and co-founder Arthur Davidson was honored as Volunteer of the Year for the 27 schools Character Camp assisted in Houston Independent School District’s south district.
This summer, from July 9-14, Character Camp hosts its Youth Leadership Summer Retreat at Water’s Edge Camp in Crockett. All campers are divided into age-appropriate groups to enjoy canoes, swimming, ropes course challenge, archery, hiking and more. Parents can sign up to eat Wednesday lunch with their camper. For more information, call 832/235-4260 or 844/OUR-CAMP.
BOERNE
Nearby
More on Boerne’s Bounty.
It’s a dicey proposition, living in a picturesque, easily accessible town in the Texas Hill Country—in my case, Boerne. On the one hand, our population swells significantly on temperate weekends, meaning we locals relinquish our usual haunts to the visiting hordes. Plenty of folks who start out as tourists come back to stay—enough to cause an 86 percent rise in population between 2000 and 2012. And though I was one of those latecomers, I was hoping like everyone else that they’d close the gates behind me.
But, oh, on the other hand! We get to live where the cypress-shaded Cibolo Creek runs through the middle of town, past impeccably preserved limestone homes dating to the latter half of the 19th Century. And we’re within strolling distance of a dozen charming antiques stores and more gourmet eateries than a burg of 12,000 residents should ever expect to support.
Cibolo Nature Center Nature Camp and Art Camp
Boerne
Although limited to half-days or full days, the non-profit Cibolo Nature Center’s state-licensed Nature Camp and Art Camp immerses children, ages 5 to 12, in the beauty of the outdoors and offers a hands-on nature education, that also includes creating art.
Cibolo Nature Center is a 162-acre nature preserve on Cibolo Creek, which gives plenty of opportunity to experience outdoor activities. Cibolo Nature Center is at 140 City Park Rd. in Boerne. For more information, call 830/249-4616.
GAINESVILLE
More Nearby
Though a North Texas native, I somehow never considered the Red River Valley a great getaway option—until recently. Tips from savvy friends piqued my curiosity about the stretch of landscape between Gainesville and Wichita Falls.
Once my husband and I packed a bag and hit the highway, we quickly found makings for the perfect road trip, one populated with intriguing discoveries in a pair of tiny towns imbued with sizable doses of Chisholm Trail history. Best of all, we reveled in the quiet of lonely drives on lovely two-lane roads that climb and fall with the ridges following the famous river. In spite of its seeming remoteness, the Red River Valley reveals jewels easily mined simply by wandering along well-worn sidewalks and cruising raw, rewarding terrain. Here’s how our weekend adventure unfolded.’
Camp Kiowa at Lone Oak
Gainesville
One-week overnight camps for boys and girls ages 6-17 includes a bevy of activities that each camper can choose from as part of their schedule.
Age appropriate options include advanced swimming, culinary arts, paintball, archery, robotics, mass media skills (writing, photography, social media, websites), science projects, outdoor survival skills (hike, filter water, build fire, etc.), camping, woodworking, mixed media art, horsemanship, yoga, and health and fitness. Camp Kiowa is at 8484 S. FM 372 in Gainesville. For more information, call 940/665-3800.
