Back in the early 1970s, when I was about 12, my family owned a 22 foot Prowler pull trailer. For two summers in a row, my dad pulled it up to a Catskills campground in Accord, NY and parked it there. My mother, sister, brother, and I would spend the summer there and my dad would join us on his days off.

They were great childhood days. We made friends with a family from Brooklyn (the Murrays) and another family (the Smalls — where are you Albie?) who were doing pretty much the same thing. Every day was spent doing stuff outdoors: fishing, swimming, splashing around in the creek, exploring the woods. There was an abandoned blueberry farm not far away and in season we’d all go pick blueberries. There was a rec hall with pool tables and pinball machines and a jukebox. I can’t tell you how many times we played “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress” on that thing.

They say you can’t ever go back, but that’s only partially true. I went back today. 40+ years later, the place is bigger than it was, with lots more campsites. The trees have grown and there’s lots of shade. I walked around with Penny for a while and reminisced about the old days.

This one lane bridge is the only way in or out for the campground.

This building, which we called the Pavilion, was open sided in the early 1970s. They showed movies in there on Saturday nights; it’s where I saw The Graduate at the tender age of 12 or 13. Our friends’ parents pulled them out after the tasseled pasties scene. Oops.

This fifth wheel is parked in the campsite my family occupied our first season at Rondout Valley. The trees weren’t there and behind our site was an undeveloped pasture.

The second season, we camped near here, with the creek behind us.

The rec hall is gone without a trace, but the waterfall just outside the campground remains.