I've been going up to my family's camp for my entire life. It's in Sandy Pond, which is near Pulaski, N.Y. The camp is my mom's family's, but my uncles and their families go up to our camp as well. If you were to ask me what my favorite place on Earth is, I would without a doubt say it's my camp. And here are a few reasons why:

The beach.

Every day (that it's not raining), we go to what we call the "boat beach." We ride our boat across the pond to a large strip of land (the boat beach), and we walk over to sit in our beach chairs and swim in the lake (which is Lake Ontario). The beach is my happy place. I could go there at 10 a.m. and stay until 9 p.m., without being bored or asking to leave. There is truly nothing better than that beach.

The sunsets.

Sometimes, we'll stay at the beach until the sun sets, and everyone else has left to go home. The sun will sink into the water, and as soon as the last sliver of orange is swallowed by the horizon, the whole sky lights up into blurs of orange and pink and purple. It never gets old, no matter how many times you see it.

The campfires.

After dinner, my uncle usually starts a fire, and we'll all pull up chairs, dressed in sweatshirts to keep the chill of the summer night (and the mosquito bites) away. We'll make s'mores, and tell stories that we've heard a million times. We'll stay up later than we ever would anywhere else, because you never want the night to be over.

The stars.

You know when you're in the city, and you look up and you can't see any stars, or you're in the suburbs and you can see a few, but the streetlights dull the shine? Well, at my camp I can see every star in the sky. We'll walk down to the pond late at night, and lay down on the concrete, staring at the stars until we're ready to go to bed. I could stare at those stars for hours on end. It truly takes your breath away.

The people.

There are a lot of great parts of camp, but none of it would be as special as it is without the people. Camp equals family to me, which is why it's so incredibly special.