To Reach Simple Life of Summer Camp, Lining Up for Private Jets

[n2doc]

Ana Sosa, 13, at the airport in Augusta, Me., on Saturday. She took a private jet from Miami with her parents to attend camp.
By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY
Published: July 24, 2011


Gov. Paul LePage of Maine happened to be waiting for his flight at Augusta State Airport on a recent Saturday when the weekend crush began.

A turboprop Pilatus PC-12 carrying Melissa Thomas, her daughter, her daughter’s friend and a pile of lacrosse equipment took off for their home in Connecticut, following the girls’ three-week stay at Camp All-Star in nearby Kents Hill, Me. Shortly after, a Cessna Citation Excel arrived, and a mother, a father and their 13-year-old daughter emerged carrying a pink sleeping bag and two large duffel bags, all headed to Camp Vega in Fayette.

“Love it, love it, love it,” Mr. LePage said of the private-plane traffic generated by summer camps. “I wish they’d stay a week while they’re here. This is a big business.”

For decades, parents in the Northeast who sent their children to summer camp faced the same arduous logistics of traveling long distances to remote towns in Maine, New Hampshire and upstate New York to pick up their children or to attend parents’ visiting day.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/25/nyregion/to-reach-simple-life-at-camp-lining-up-for-private-jets.html

[wilt the stilt]

1. yup Mr. Lepage

right up there with manufacturing.

[MineralMan]

2. Meanwhile, kids in the cities open fire hydrants to cool off.

The contrast is shocking.

Hey, kids! Welcome to Summer Camp!