Still Camping Some in their 80s still

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing,” said George Bernard Shaw.

One of the ways that some people play young and stay young all summer is to go camping, be it in tents, RVs, cabins or even disbursed campsites on state forest land.

Here five campers describe the places — all different, all fun — that they take their inner child.

Sylvia and Dennis O’Connor of Manlius have been camping together since their 20s. Now 81, Dennis recalls many wonderful summer vacations crossing the country and setting up tents with their four children.

Utah’s Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park, Wyoming’s Yellowstone and the Monument Valley National Park in the southwest were “absolutely

By Carol Radin

spectacular,” according to Sylvia. They once did a four-week expedition to Saskatchewan, Canada, in a 1994 extended Astro Chevy Van with room for six. By far, though, Dennis’s most memorable experience was when they drove, and drove, and drove while looking for a campground in White Sands National Monument. When it got dark, they decided to just plop down where they were. The next morning, they were awe-struck: fine white sand rippled in all directions, for miles, nothing else. “It was the most magical place I’ve ever camped,” Dennis says.

Now that their children are adults, Dennis and Sylvia are back to camping on their own. Among Dennis’s favorite places are the Adirondacks’ Lime Kiln State Park, Eighth Lake and Cranberry Lake, where life is simple, the views are great and “you can sit outside at night and watch the lake,“ Dennis says. Occasionally, the O’Connors bring