Adults summer camp: gourmet s’mores, cocktails & stargazing

Happy Monday, DMV! It’s May 18.

I’m always scrolling around the internet, searching for news and what not across our region. Last week, I spotted this headline on Reddit: “Finally! A summer camp just for adults!” Wow, yes — I clicked.

“Do you remember listening to the crickets at night, chasing fireflies, and getting lost looking at the stars? Somewhere between career paths, tax seasons, and endless notifications, we lost track of that version of ourselves—the one who lived for friendship bracelets and late nights outside,” the parks agency of Montgomery County wrote on Reddit. “It’s time to go back.”

What a hook.

I love summer camp. I didn’t get to go as a kid, but when I was in college, I led four-day camping trips in the Catskills and worked as a counselor in the Berkshire hills of Western Massachusetts.

This adult summer camp in Montgomery County will be held Friday, June 12 through Sunday, June 14, at Meadowside Nature Center in Rockville, Maryland. It costs $550.

Lucila Fernandez, the park naturalist at Meadowside Nature Center, told me this will be the first summer camp exclusively available to adults in Montgomery Parks.

“Montgomery Parks offers amazing summer camps for kids and teens — so why not adults? This is the first year for this exciting program, where adults 21 and older will have a chance to enjoy nature, get away from it all for a weekend, and have fun socializing and learning new skills in the great outdoors,” she wrote.

“Each day has at least one outdoor excursion, whether it’s kayaking, an outdoor ‘escape room,’ or rock climbing, and then restorative activities such as camp crafts, yoga, meditative strolls, tabletop and field games, storytelling around the campfire, stargazing, and more.”

The camp has space for up to 14 guests, and as of last night, there was still space, according to the registration page. Tents are provided, as well as a full bathroom, sink and water fountain.

Meals include a campfire cooking class featuring traditional South American treats (vegan, vegetarian, and meat), and there will also be “gourmet s’mores and a cocktail class featuring a local pollinator,” she said.

“This is a special chance to dance in the moonlight of a hyper-local park in our area, in an experience curated by expert nature guides.”

Dear Lucila: This sounds like so much fun. I would totally do this if I didn’t have other obligations that weekend.

Dear readers: Please register and go! Then tell me all about it and send me photos. I’ll report back if I hear from one or more of you.

This newsletter is free. I work on it solo, spending hours each day interviewing people, going out on adventures and writing about them — because I seek joy and want to share it with you. I treat my Daily Dose as a community gratitude journal and love doing it. If this newsletter brings you joy, please consider supporting my work with a one-time, monthly or yearly donation to help keep me going. Do you know anyone who would enjoy reading me? Share my newsletter to help me grow. For newcomers: To subscribe, click here.

Conor Broderick, 42, snapped this pic on May 7 of a Virginia tiger moth in Takoma Park, Maryland.

“I was working in my little kitchen garden … and noticed this white shape against the dark soil. Thought it was just a small piece of foam that flew out of some motorcycle parts I unboxed [a day earlier],” Conor wrote.

“But as I went to remove it I had to have a closer look, and realized it was this gorgeous little guy. We ended up hanging out for 30 mins, I needed a buddy while I drank my late afternoon coffee!”

Show me your spring life — share your photos here.

* In case you’re wondering: The DMV is how residents here call the D.C. region, which includes Maryland and Virginia. Readers often ask. Now you know.

😉