Building the Memories that Matter Most

How a simple question led a father to rewrite his childhood story.

The YMCA of Orange County’s Adventure Guides program is built around shared parent–child experiences that turn time together into lifelong memories. For families like Marcos’s, the program offers more than outdoor adventure. It offers the chance to be present, to build connection intentionally, and to give children the memories that will last long beyond childhood. 

When Marcos—who everyone now calls “Big Foot”—moved from New York to California in 2022, he didn’t expect camping to become a defining part of his family’s life. “I’m from the city,” he admits. “So, when someone asked if I liked camping, the answer was definitely no.” 

But the question that followed stopped him cold: How many memories do you have with your parents? Coming from a divorced family, he could count only a handful. Then he learned that Adventure Guides is built around shared parent–child experiences — weekend campouts, outdoor adventures, group activities, and simple moments around a fire that become anchors in a child’s life. It also meant it could give him up to ten camping trips a year with his daughters. Over six or seven years, that could mean 60 to 70 shared memories—far more than he ever had growing up. 

“It hit me hard,” he says. “The chance to make that many memories with my girls… I couldn’t put it into words.” Now, Marcos and his oldest daughter, Hunter—proudly nicknamed “Moth Whisperer”—have embraced the outdoors together. 

“I really like camping. It gives me a lot of memories with my dad. And I get to share them with my sister and my friends too.” – Hunter 

For their family, Adventure Guides has become more than a program. It’s a chance to build the childhood memories they once thought they’d missed.

Learn more about Adventure Guides and how your family can start building memories together at ymcaoc.org/adventure-guides/