Family camp redux.

a person climbing a rock wall

My favorite place on earth – Tuloumne Family Camp – burned down two years ago.

berkeley tuolumne camp

I was devastated. My family has so many memories of this special place. Here’s my son jumping off a rock into that same swimming hole shown in the smoldering photo above:

Screen Shot 2015-07-24 at 5.08.17 PM

In a burst of serendipity, my family ended up going on a very long trip last summer, so we hopscotched over the issue of what we would do now that camp was gone. However, the issue loomed large this summer. The City of Berkeley gently suggested another family camp – Echo Lake – for the Tuolumne Diaspora, but I wasn’t sure if I could bring myself to go. Tuolumne had been so special to me, and I knew that Echo Lake just wouldn’t be the same.

One of the moms in the other families we vacation with snapped me out of it. “We’re going,” she informed me. “And I’m forcing you.”

Well, okay.

We went. And while it wasn’t the same, it was good for now.

The silver lining was that my kids got to do some pretty cool things.

IMG_0754So at the end of the day, I’m glad we went.

But I’m still mourning the loss of my favorite place.

What’s your favorite place of all time? (And I have to ask – what would you do if it got destroyed?)

5 Comments

  1. So glad you found at least a for-now, spot. And more importantly, friends, if not the same community, to enjoy it with. (My fave place of all time is Burning Man and it changes every year. I try not to think of it as destruction…)

  2. You’ll never believe my answer — HOME IN ATL. As much as I love to travel almost continuously,home with my sweetie in Atlanta is my favorite place of all. I am so blessed. If it burned down, I would just be thankful to have my sweetie and a good insurance policy.

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