Campers on the Move

The weather has been absolutely perfect these last few days with bright sunny skies, lower humidity, and milder temperatures. First thing, we all layered up with a fleece or sweatshirt to temper the fog and cool 65 degree morning, but later happily swam in the lake and relaxed in the sun.

Today the kitchen crew made us all a delicious lunch of tilapia tacos, homemade guacamole, rice, beans, salsa and cheese. With corn chips, our regular salad bars, and the peanut butter and jelly station as an option, everyone was nicely stuffed for rest hour. Dinner was also excellent. We had baked chicken breasts (or tofu) and basmati rice, Otis’s amazing peanut Gado Gado sauce, spinach salad, and brownies for desert. Oh, by the way, Otis says fresh lime juice and coconut is the secret to his sauce.

A group of the senior girls took an all-day kayaking trip to the Nantahala River with Clyde, Kelsey and Christine. This is a more advanced kayaking river, so these girls knew their stuff. They are comfortable in their boats, know how to catch eddies, ferry, and handle the class 2 and 3 rapids of the river. Back at camp, we heard that the trip went great with everyone making clean runs, and no one flipping their boats. Another, very different, trip also went out today: Juniors rock climbing Castle Rock, one of the huge rock faces on the camp property. Katherine took them up to hop on the route called “Bam.” This is the longest and most exposed route. Towards the top, you can turn around and see the French Broad River Valley from what looks like 1000 feet up (even though it’s really about 80 feet from the base of the rock). It took a while to make the climbs, but even these 2nd and 3rd graders could tackle this climb. Pretty cool.

The afternoon riding classes enjoyed bareback riding today. The girls love this because it allows them to ride several horses in the same lesson (musical horses!), and to really feel their horse while riding. Cara, our Riding Director, plans this every so often to mix things up a bit, and because it helps the girls work on their balance while riding.

A short walk from the center of camp is our “Outpost” camping area where our juniors can sleep out. Tara took 2 more cabins out there after dinner. This is big fun for the girls. Imagine a slumber party with sleeping bags all lined up, pillows, a couple of stuffed animals, card games, flashlights, and lots and lots of giggles and chatting. Now imagine it out in a dense forest on a tent platform under a tarp. They build a campfire, roast marshmallows, and of course sing songs and tell stories into the night. Everyone’s a little tired when they get back to camp in the morning, but it’s the “good” kind of tired we thrive on at camp.

Rockbrook Girls Climb

Did you know that all of the girls at camp can climb our Alpine Tower, even the youngest Juniors? You might think a 1st grader would be too little, but if she wants to sign up and give it a try, she can. When campers first take Climbing for one of their activity periods, they meet at the gym steps so a counselor an escort them through the woods to the tower (like all climbing trips, there’s some hiking to start off.). Next, they receive an orientation to the basic safety equipment: the harness, helmet, and rope. After the staff members in charge demonstrate the belay commands and a few climbing tips, it’s time to get climbing! The Alpine Tower, if you didn’t see it, is a 50-foot tall pyramid shaped tower constructed of wide telephone poles, bolts, aircraft cables, and ropes. The company that built ours still builds them all over the world. What’s neat is that there are over 90 different ways to climb the Alpine Tower, different obstacles (“Elements”) and maneuvers to get you to the top… ropes, ladders, walls and poles with holds bolted on. Also we can have up to 6 girls climbing at the same time, each belayed separately and climbing up a different way. Some routes up are easy and great for the littlest girls, and others are more difficult and challenging for the experienced climbers. The Alpine Tower is super fun, and as you might guess, very popular as well.

At dinner tonight the Hi-Ups inspired everyone to dress up for “Pop Star Appreciation” night. We got to see some crazy, and creative costumes. I think I saw Hannah Montana, Taylor Swift, 3 or 4 Lady Gaga girls, and several more generic Pop Stars. All through the meal, the tables took turns signing pop songs too. It was amazing how well the girls new the lyrics to so many songs! The food tonight was amazing also. Rick and crew served homemade pizza. I saw him mixing the dough in the afternoon (a giant batch of flour, yeast, butter and water) and touching up the marinara sauce. We had bowls of fresh blueberries and blackberries, and our regular salad bar offerings as well. For dessert, Liz made us chocolate tart bars which were a huge hit. There might have been one crumb left in the dining hall at the end!

That’s all for now. Of course, lots more is going on than what I highlight in these blog posts, so be sure to scan through the photo gallery as well. We’re posting photos everyday.

Granny Bingo

Grits, sausage, eggs and fruit for breakfast… homemade broccoli-chicken casserole, salad and butternut squash soup for lunch… cheese tortellini, focaccia bread, with roasted summer squash and peppers for dinner.  It’s hard not to talk about the food at camp with this kind of variety and good healthy fare coming from Rick’s kitchen.  Oh, I forgot to mention the chocolate chip muffins we had for muffin break and the chocolate pudding served for desert at dinner.  The campers love when we have chocolate pudding because, beyond it being a sweet treat, it means the counselors have to clear their cabin’s table (instead of a couple of campers).  It’s a long, funny tradition at Rockbrook that even has a short song to go with it.

After breakfast Clyde took a bunch of Juniors on a day hike to Moore Cove in the forest. (By the way, have you read Clyde’s Bio?)  They looked great all geared up with their backpacks, water bottles and cameras.  It’s a short bus ride to the trail head, and from there, a wonderful easy hike through the woods to a cool 40 ft waterfall.  What’s neat is that you can walk under the falls and see from the “inside out.”  The falls are narrow and delicate, and in the morning in direct sunlight.  It’s truly beautiful.

Tonight the Juniors and Middlers played bingo in the dining hall, but not just ordinary bingo— Granny Bingo! At Rockbrook, everything is more fun when you can dress up and become a funny character. So tonight the girls pulled out wigs, glasses, robes and head scarves. They stuffed pillows inside their clothes (for an added effect!), and found a cane, or just walked around with a bent posture and talked with a scratchy voice. Very funny stuff. Of course, there were loads of prizes to win each round: stickers, card games, key chains, RBC sunglasses, etc. The counselors led the whole event by also dressing up and by calling the numbers “in character.” “N29… oh dear, I remember when I was 29… such a good year!” There are more photos in gallery, so be sure to check those out.

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