Jump In With Both Feet
We love Main Campers! They don’t waste a minute because they understand the way camp works: every minute Might become a favorite camp memory of all time… the kind of moment that becomes special as soon as it is experienced. The kind of memory that is shared with the entire camp at the Senior Speeches. These moments often take place on the first day of camp when we first play… sliding down a piece of vinyl, sitting on see-saws or swinging by the lake, swimming during a rainstorm, or playing an intense game of tetherball or jimball (ga-ga ball) surrounded by cheering friends that we have not yet met. Every smiling face is full of potential, every offhand comment worthy of note… we expect to make friends, so we do so! EVERY DAY!
So when we awoke to a light rain it was not with groans of disgust, it was with a loud cheer heard throughout the cabin area “It’s Going to be a GREAT DAY!”. Granted, not everyone cheered, but enough did to make the rest of us smile and nod our heads in agreement. This is going to be awesome! No Matter What!
Our first EP on the pagent court last night was beautiful. It is an amazing venue… the lake smooth as glass and reflecting the surrounding mountains in its green/blue water. Sunset happened unnoticed in the middle of the program, thus bathing us in golden light for the first half and purple/pink hues in the second half. Fireflies arose from our feet and beside our crazy creek chairs, we caught them easily then let them go just so we could catch another. The counselor acts were really funny and surprisingly fresh and innovative (except tennis… the tennis department ALWAYS does the same skit but the girls LOVE IT and wouldn’t have it any other way). We ended the program reciting the 4 verses that hang in the pavilion, maintaining a tradition that has encouraged campers for generations.
First Breakfast (Ham, Baked Apples, Biscuits, Grits, Fruit, Cereal), first Breakfast Club (Social growth, Joke about a highway to Hawaii), first Morning Assembly (super loud singing and dancing to the praise songs, devo on why we read the Bible). Then classes in the rain!
All classes go on as normal but we adapt as needed to the circumstances. As long as it is not thundering, no problem.
We have a superb infrastructure for protecting the camp from lightning, a common afternoon weather feature in the mountains. The layers of protection begin with a state-of-the-art lightning warning system called “Perry”. It monitors lightning in the clouds and lightning that strikes the ground with real-time satellite data, giving an immediate warning when there is a danger. This new system provides more time in the activities than the old system (which was prone to false alarms). We also have wired the trees on the pagent court and waterpark with lightning rods (protecting those areas and those trees from direct hits). Every lightning rod protects a 300-foot diameter around the tree from lightning… since we put them in we have not lost a tree (nor had a dangerous strike).
- Lunch BLT’s
- Dinner Chicken Fajita’s
- EP Tentalow Lip Syncs
A word about the food - it is different this year! I will do a blog on it later but suffice it to say that we have reimagined the whole system and just about have it perfected. We are cooking (from scratch) more food than we ever have cooked… and sending more leftovers to the local pig farmer than we have ever sent. We are loving the FORT (very comfortable, very spacious, cool, and million dollar views from every side), and we celebrate Gervais’ cooking… which is fantastic! The biscuits this morning were perfect (flaky, hot, buttery, slightly crunchy, slightly chewy) and the fruit bar (every table gets a full fruit bar delivered to their table) is amazing. A four-star resort could not provide a better fruit experience!
That’s about all I got for the day. Thank you for checking in!
