And It Is Just The Second Day

July 28, 2015 by Don Gentle

It was a beautiful sunrise in the mountains this morning.  It seems like most of the valley was fogged, but life at 3000 feet has its advantages; we get to see the sun sooner :)…  I headed up to our typical morning meeting around 7:30.  Our meeting consists of all sorts of daily logistics (Zoob’s job) as well as notes from the previous day.  We are always staying up on campers as well.  We want to be sure everyone is havign a great time.  If someone needs a little help, we all want to know so that every boy will get what they need.  Woody and Dan are the Father-Son team that is the core of camp happiness.  They make sure every camper and staff member is doing well.  They typically roam the cabins around call to quarters on opening day just to be sure all is well.  Turns out life was good last night.

My daily alarm on my Fitbit went off for morning wake-up.  I’m not sure if you have a Fitbit, but I love to see how many steps I get on a “camp” day.  My best has been 35,000!  I typically hit 10,000 steps by 11:30 most days.  I was introduced to this device by my wife.  I think she bought it for the silent alarm.  In the winter I get up to work out pretty early and she didn’t like my alarm going off… Anyhow, it’s been pretty fun to have AND we are happily married :).  So, back to the wake-up bell…  I gave it the usual “lusty tugs” and belted out my best “Good Morning, High Rocks!”  Immediately, you could here the responses back from the cabins.  I continued to scream out cabin names and in the distance you can hear “Good morning, Don” in the response.  It brought joy to my heart.  What a great way to start the day!

The first of many cabin meetings began last night as well.  It is a great venue for the counselor to bring up things that may happen at camp.  It is also a great time for campers to speak up, ask questions, and talk about their day. A lot of great opportunities and learning happen during these cabin meetings.  It’s not really the first thing they think about when coming to camp, but it will be something they always remember.

After breakfast, it was off to assembly to get a jump on the day!  Check out our Facebook post that features one of our many motion songs.  It should give you an idea about how things are going at camp.  From assembly we rolled right into our morning intro rotations.  The excitement continued all over camp!

We had a nice rain storm that cooled things off just before lunch. It made for a cool dining hall experience that carried us right in to rest hour.  The rain parted almost on cue as rest hour ended and the sun was out again!  The intro rotations continued as excitement rolled up from the lake, the barn, the tower, hiking, and the activity field. My favorite was the afternoon canoe group!  The young guys down their were having more fun tipping their canoes over than the were paddling. All the boys first learn how to put on PFDs, get into the boat, and finally tip it over before they ever learn to paddle it.  Of course they are nervous at first, but then all they want to do is tip over again!  That is the magic of camp.  Try something new! It might make you nervous at first, but then you will enjoy it forever.  The chaos continued all the way to dinner as the creative staff then tipped a canoe over and made a slide off of the dock with it.  Pure joy!

Tonight during evening program the boys will have some time to run around with their age groups, but then head up to the dining hall for activity sign-ups.  The five activities they pick will be their schedule for the rest of the session.  Of course, there is always choice period for some activities that you may not want to do every day.

It sure was a another great day in the mountains at Camp High Rocks. Tomorrow the boys start off on their own adventures and the first of the cabin overnights will begin tomorrow night!

Have a great night,

Don

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