Freedom Saturday!

July 3, 2010 by

 Pictures from July 3, 2010 (password required)

A perfect day dawned over High Rocks this morning, with low humidity for a change and the temperature topping out in the mid 70s. The first morning of Independence Weekend got off to a tasty start… pancake day —25 pounds of mix, 4 gallons of water, probably that much syrup and many satisfied, sticky smiles!

When assembly ended and the campers burst out of the lodge towards their first activity, loud music greeted the rock climbers (actually all of camp and some of the neighborhood!) as they made their way to the tower for classic-rock rock climbing day. Down at the barn, horseback riders went on Patriotic Rides, scouring the woods for unpatriotic items such as water pistols and kitchen pots, which their team redeemed for much more patriotic candy and jelly beans, plus carrots and apples for their mounts. Mountain bikers spent the day on trails as well, though not the same ones! Archers in pairs fired their arrows at targets taped into tic-tac-toe boards—the cat got many games, and the riflery pairs located and shot small plastic (non-human) figures.  We sent another canoeing trip to the French Broad River for the morning, our only trip out over the weekend, and in camp the paddlers piled several into a boat and used the T-grips instead of the blades for propulsion. In all cases, the campers got to use the skills they have been developing in classes in new ways, having fun without necessarily realizing how much good hard work they were doing.

Morning free time saw much activity at the tennis courts, since the camper-counselor tournament is now in full swing and many first-round matches were played. Disc golfers are lobbying for their own tournament, but in the meantime teams of them were all over camp, and flying discs are now part of the atmosphere. However, as afternoon choice period began at 5 pm, a strange silence descended over camp, and suddenly not a single camper was visible outside. To deepen the mystery, our water pressure dropped suddenly, pleasant aromas began to waft from the cabins, and, when the campers did eventually reappear, they were all sporting clean clothes, scrubbed faces and combed hair. This can mean only one thing… it’s Square Dance night!

Indeed it is. We’ll have sub sandwiches for supper, washed down with the highly anticipated, once-a-week treat of sodas, and, after some of us have repaired the ketchup and mustard damage to our dancing clothes, we will go to the tennis courts and await the arrival of the Rockrook Camp girls. After we coax the younger campers to get partners, we relearn the moves and the get whirling with Virginia reels and old-fashioned square dances: circle right and left, open the garden gate, four leaf clover, birdie in the cage, bow to partner and corner lady. Even the kids who began the event thinking that square dances are for…squares…get hooked, and by the time we sing “Good Night Ladies,” all of the talk is about next week’s dance!

Then it’s to the cabins and much-needed rest, though we’ll all be a bit restive as we try to wait patiently for the many special festivities tomorrow.

Goodnight.

Dan Noland

Comments are closed.