Even though Pride month is officially over, that does not mean the events celebrating it should be. You have thousands of ways to showcase the Pride spirit that is within you, and one of them (oddly enough) happens to be roughing in the middle of nowhere. Sound weird? It’s not, because Club Getaway, which is located in the tiny town of Kent, Connecticut, put together its first ever LGBT weekend called “Camp Out” where a variety of members from our community head to the woods for two days of fun activities that include mountain biking, archery tag, color wars and so much more that not only gets out the pride in each of us… but also bring us back to our childhood where camping is a nostalgic feeling that brings a smile to our face.
Club Getaway has been around for about forty years now, and encourages the city dwellers to get out of the concrete jungle for a couple of days and be surrounded by the beautiful nature that it inhabits. Located about 90 minutes away from New York City, this spot is 300 plus acres of beauty that visually is beyond appealing with its lush greenery and beautiful lakeside views that allow you to slow down and really enjoy what’s around you.
Outside of this being their LGBT weekend, they essentially take the ideas of a childhood summer camp but with an adult twist that will allow you to appreciate both ends of the spectrum. This pretty much means that there are copious amounts of alcohol, naughty double entendres hilariously belted out by the performances throughout the weekend and sexy men and women in revealing outfits that will please the eye for all that are involved.
The journey began for me on the bus ride up to Kent via Hell’s Kitchen. The bus primarily had a ton of other gay guys on there, yet that number evened out with the lesbians as we got to Club Getaway. Also, there was booze on the bus which my friend took advantage of to where he was adorably giggling after one and a half cups of white wine. Girl.
The first night doesn’t delve too deep into the whole “camp” vibe outside of checking into our cabins which gives you all the feels of what it is like to be in the woods as you have your basics of a bed, shower and nothing else. No television or DVD player of sorts, which I think is appropriate as they want you to have an authentic camp type experience. There is still WIFI, thank god, but this sort of a weekend shouldn’t really require you to be on your phone or laptop too much.
After we checked in, we all headed over to their Mountain House (each building has its own name), for a lavish dinner where they truly hooked us up with an assortment of amazing food and drink to enjoy. When our bellies were full, we stopped by next door for a fantastic dance party that I myself particularly loved as the DJ played songs from my high school years that included Fat Joe’s “What’s Luv?” and Missy Elliott’s “Get Ur Freak On”. Yasssssssssssss. The night concluded with some fun karaoke, but I was exhausted and headed in for the night as I knew the next day would be chock full of excitement and fun.
Where Club Getaway really does excel is the variety of activities that they have planned for each and every person attending. The assortments are for ones who want to be active to ones who prefer to chill a little bit but still find fun in everything they do. I preferred the former, and after breakfast started with a hip-hop class where our muscle bound & sexy instructor taught us choreography that we did to DJ Khaled’s “I’m The One”. Other activities prior to lunch that you could try included everything from a Mountain Scream Canopy Zip, Wall Climbing, Zumba, and my personal favorite… Bloody Mary Bingo.
The rest of the day saw another variety of activities play out with ones like their Cosmo Hike, where you hike around the campgrounds with a Cosmo or Martini, Keg Softball, Archery, and a relaxing yet hysterical game of Cards Against Humanity. This brings back the earlier point of this having all the fundamentals of summer camp but with a fun adult twist to it.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is that Club Getaway is a great place to dip your body into lakeside. This was very evident during the Gaywatch part of the weekend, which is a gayer version of Baywatch (although the movie really isn’t much of a difference given Zac Efron’s Bel Ami type body), where you get a bunch of super-hot men in red speedos watching over you as you flop throughout the water while jumping into a foam slip n’ slide and playing an intense game of Flip Cup.
After a long day, the only thing that really is on your mind at that point is eating and relaxing which we did at yet another amazing spread at dinner with a comedic performance by the hysterical Christine O’Leary. Christine did a great job of doing jokes about both gays and lesbians, while going after the straight bachelorette party that was there at the same time. I was called out for being one of the only bears there, which I accept, and she was on point with how all we do is eat and wear cargo shorts.
The highlight of the weekend was their Mad Hatters Tea Party, where they designed one of the halls to look exactly like something out of Alice in Wonderland. It was truly a sight to see, and their entire staff dressed up as characters from the iconic story to add to the wonderment of this part of the weekend. The DJ did a bunch of great throwback tracks mixed with today’s hits that made the party that much more fun.
It's sad that this event was only two days, I could’ve done another day or two as there was still so much to be seen and done. The last day was spent brunching it up as every good gay should do, with two drag queen performances done while dining on mimosas and eggs. One of the performers, Pissi Myles, had us in stitches with her twisted jokes about Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson just to name a few. I smell a Season 10 Drag Race contestant in our future!
We had to start leaving around 3:30 PM, so the rest of the day had other fun activities like dodgeball and bungee trampoline. For this being their first LGBT weekend, I have to say that Club Getaway really did a good job at bringing all of us all together and unifying this community in a really beautiful way. We find ourselves so much at odds with each other internally sometimes that it is really refreshing to see the exact opposite and have everyone enjoy each other’s company in such a gorgeous location. If glamping is your sort of thing to do, then Club Getaway can easily be your next destination for fun.
For more information about Club Getaway, click here.