The Story behind the Picture

When we started Naked Wanderings, there weren’t all too much others who had a naturist blog or any other of online presence that had something to do with naturism. There was of course The Meandering Naturist (https://meanderingnaturist.com), a handful of personal blogs and then some female bloggers of whom most moved towards a more sexual “blogging career” not all that much later.

The big exception was Mr. Stéphane Deschenes. He owned a naturist resort called Bare Oaks in Toronto, hosted the popular podcast about naturism The Naturist Living Show, and was ever present on social media. Basically, if an international newspaper needed an opinion about something that had to do with nudity, he was the guy they called.

One day, we received a message from Stéphane that he had found our blog and loved what we were doing. And if we were ever in the region, we definitely had to pass by. For a beginning blogger, that’s like Jennifer Lopez sending you a message that she likes your voice and invites you to her mansion. It’s not just something that makes you proud, it’s something you just can’t say no to.

Almost exactly one year later, we drove through the gate of Bare Oaks Family Naturist Resort. We had no idea what to expect. You know, the owner is a legend. And then something weird happened. Before we were allowed to enter the resort, we were told to watch a 15 minute video about naturism. A VIDEO. Who still does that? For a second, it seemed like the owner of the most progressive resort in the world that we had ever heard about maintained a pretty old-fashioned standard.

We quickly refined our opinion though. Bare Oaks did prove to be an example resort, especially that side of the Atlantic ocean. And the strategy proved to be working. It had been a time since we had seen so many women at a naturist resort. And so many young people. We had almost forgotten about how it felt to not be the youngest at a naturist place. And now there was a bunch of youth that was way younger than us. Also the people at Bare Oaks proved to be amazing. Within hours we had made new friends and were having late night gatherings around a campfire.

This picture has been taken at the lake of Bare Oaks, which is the central point of the campground and a meeting spot throughout the day. “Meeting” is probably an understatement. It sometimes took us hours to get from one side of the resort to the other. Although it was just a 15 minute walk, every couple of steps we needed to stop to talk to people. Is it the friendliness of the Canadians or the atmosphere of Bare Oaks? Most probably a combination.

Ever since, we keep regular contact with Stéphane. He has been an inspiration for Naked Wanderings and we have appeared several times on his podcast. Most of all, he has taught us that there is no competition in the promotion of naturism, but instead, that it’s much better if we all work together.