Ridiculously Awesome!

June 13, 2013 by zoob

June 13, 2013

Link to Today’s Pictures

It was a great day in and out of camp today.  We had a trip to the French Broad River with canoeing this morning and another one this afternoon.  The climbers spent the day on the south side of Looking Glass Rock.  We had an all day hike that visited DuPont State Forest and another group went caving at Woorley’s Cave.  This evening Holiday IV headed out on their cabin overnight to indulge in pita pizzas and s’mores over the fire.  This is the part of camp that is fairly straight forward; the activities and the structure.  Camp is so much more than what first meets the eye.

My friends often ask me what I do at camp and I often give them the official answer but really I can’t explain all of the crazy things that happen in a day at camp.  Camp is one of those places where the very unusual seems almost common place.  The fact that we call one of our drinks bug juice, we play things like gaga ball, we all know all of the words to Mountain Dew and sandwiches on river trips should always have pineapple.

We had a staff member announce that Wednesday’s should be “Waikiki Wednesday” and then wore a Hawaiian print shirt. This past week we had no less than ten counselors that embraced the trend.  Tie-dyes are still the shirt of choice every other day and as far as matching- who cares?   It is a world that pays homage to favorites and comfort.  It also helps when clothes are clean which of course we encourage.

Camp is a place where we breakout in song for really no good reason and the skits are often ridiculous.  It is a place where the news of what’s for lunch spreads like wildfire, especially on mini corn dog or taco day.  There are chants that ring out when certain phrases are uttered like one of our age groups who call themselves “The Atomic Greens” and then shout- “Boom -eat your greens” followed by laughter.

It is the level of acceptance here at camp that makes it such a special place.  Campers for generations feel like they are at home while they are at camp and it is because they feel like they belong. They are part of something special even if it is often ridiculous!

I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Zoob Gentle