The Good Kind of Busy

Walking around camp, you can’t help but notice how busy —the enthusiastic kind of busy— everyone seems to be these days. All kinds of craft projects, for example, are taking shape: tie dye T-shirts unfolding to reveal their colorful patterns, woven mats unrolling off the looms in Curosty, glaze being carefully painted on ceramics pieces, and new bracelets showing up in campers’ mailboxes as surprise gifts from a “secret buddy.” There’s lots of physical activity too: tennis serves and volleys, archery and riflery targets with plenty of new holes, sweat- (and laughter-) inducing games of dodge ball in the gym, and impressive gymnastics exercises that require some real strength. With all this cool Nature around us, we’re ready for outdoor adventure also, with girls climbing the Alpine Tower and Castle Rock, canoeing and kayaking in the lake, and practicing their fire building techniques in the WHOA (Wilderness Hiking and Outdoor Adventure) activity.

Each morning after the first activity period, we all pause for a “muffin break.” It’s almost a race to swing by the dining hall and pick up one of Alison’s freshly baked muffins, and it’s definitely a topic of conversation to find out what flavor she’s made on a particular day. It could be something classic, like “poppy seed,” or something original like “chocolate chip sprinkle.” Today we had “pumpkin spice.” It’s neat to see girls just grab a warm muffin and chomp right down on it, no matter what the flavor. They might not have selected it by name, like from a menu, but at camp, they just dig right in and would probably be surprised to know they’ve eaten and enjoyed something with pumpkin in it!

Speaking of food, the kitchen has been getting quite a few thank you notes recently. Campers and counselors alike are feeling compelled to express their love for the food Rick and his crew are serving us. It takes a lot of work to produce homemade meals for 300 people. Imagine hand dipping sliced green tomatoes to fry for the lunch sandwiches, or kneading by hand 35 pounds of flour and butter to make the biscuits this morning, or preparing 200 pounds of barbecue chicken. Rick also makes an extra effort to stock local fruits and vegetables: this week serving corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, blueberries, bell peppers and peaches. The knowledge and care he brings to the food really comes through and everyone at camp benefits. So yes, we’re busy (again, in the best sense of the word) around here, and we eat really, really well!

Today I think we set a new record for bringing campers to Sliding Rock. We started with a small group of about 25 mini session Seniors and their counselors by packing a picnic lunch and heading into the forest around noon. In the bright sunshine and over the roar of the falling water, the girls had a great time screaming their heads off sliding down the chilly ride. Later, around 5:30pm, we loaded up all of Rockbrook’s Middlers, which turned out to be a huge group of 95 people once we got all of the counselors and lifeguards in the equation! We headed straight for the Rock, and fortunately found it mostly deserted so we could all slide plenty of times. Many of these Middlers had never been to Sliding Rock before making this an even bigger treat for them. An hour or so later, we gathered everyone again and drove to our favorite picnic area in the forest, a special spot ideal for large groups. The girls were probably most excited about our last stop, however: Dolly’s Dairy Bar.  “This is the best place in the world!” one camper yelled as we pulled into the parking lot.  It certainly is the only place where you can order a cone of “Rockbrook Chocolate Illusion,” which might be a little over the top, in all its chocolate glory (but probably not!).  Combine this many girls with this much ice cream and you’ve got a grand time.  I have to say it was a little late, and definitely dark by the time we arrived back at camp, but I didn’t hear a single complaint or even comment about that.

Full-Throated Fun

One of the activities offered each day at Rockbrook is something called “Nature.” While rather broadly defined as anything involving the plants, animals and forests of camp, it’s a real treat for the campers. The notion of exploration, of discovery, describes it pretty well also, because mostly the campers are tromping around through the woods and finding fascinating bits of the natural world. With more than 200 acres of Rockbrook property available, the counselors have come up with loads of really fun ways for the girls to be true naturalists. They take stream hikes, stopping to turn over rocks looking for crayfish and salamanders. Like in this photo, they take nets and capture tadpoles at the lake to compare their stages of development. Or, they may simply hike through the woods, perhaps bushwhacking off-trail, to marvel at some of the huge old growth trees on the property.  Of course part of the fun is getting a little dirty and truly feeling the grit and grime of what they find, but that’s one of the things that helps the girls appreciate the beauty of it all, and for us, is something we can feel good about because of the benefits outdoor experience provides.

During one of the swimming activities this morning, the counselors greased up a watermelon for the girls and organized several fun relay races. There’s still plenty of silt coming down the creek and into the lake making the water cloudy, and this made the watermelon a little more difficult to find when it went under. Having to hunt for a hidden, submerged fruit is surprisingly fun because it can appear far from where you expect it. On a bright sunny day, this is good old fashioned fun, and it comes with a sweet tasty watermelon treat.

Being Wednesday, the afternoon was our cabin day, a time when instead of each camper pursuing her individual schedule of regular activities, the cabin groups and their counselors stay together for special whole-cabin events. Each cabin decides what they would like to do. Many involve hiking, like along the gentle trail to Rockbrook Falls or the steep and severe trail up to Castle Rock overlooking the camp. Today, a few cabins played group games on the hill, a couple of Junior cabins played board games, and others relaxed on the porch of the Lakeview lodge making friendship bracelets. One cabin was caught doing outdoor yoga!

All of the senior cabins took a special trip right before dinner. Dressed in their bathing suits and with towels in hand, they loaded up the buses to head out to a special spot in the Pisgah Forest for a picnic. Our timing was excellent because when we arrived, we were the only people there to enjoy a wonderful grassy field, trimmed with awesome shade trees and just the right number of picnic tables. Rick packed us another amazing dinner of fresh corn on the cob, tortellini, warm rolls, and cool, bright red raspberries. The late afternoon sunshine was gorgeous and we had plenty of altitude to keep things breezy and comfortable. After eating, we couldn’t help but skip around the field and play an exuberant game of “Duck Duck Goose.” You might think teenage girls would be “too cool” for this kind of game, but not so with this crowd.

Our next stop on this outing was the main event: Sliding Rock. Always a favorite, this is the natural waterslide formed by Looking Glass Creek as it drops about 60 feet over a gently sloping rock into a deep pool. Going this late after the Forest Service lifeguards have left (we bring our own) is ideal because it avoids the typical crowds of summer, and thereby allows our Rockbrook girls to spend less time waiting in line and more time sliding.  Is the water cold?  You betcha!  That explains why most of the photos of the girls sliding end up showing them with their mouths open.  A few can remain poised enough to smile for the camera as they accelerate toward to bottom, but most are anticipating the plunge that awaits and just let loose with a wide-eyed, full-throated scream.  You can almost hear it in each shot.  Meanwhile, the rest of the girls waiting their turn are cheering their friends on, clapping and shouting.  It really is super exciting.

With our fill of sliding, there was one more stop to make, and it’s always a crowd pleaser.  On the way out of the forest we took that happy left turn into Dolly’s Dairy Bar so everyone could enjoy a cone of their favorite flavor of ice cream.  There were more screams and cheers of delight as we pulled into the parking lot and all the girls ran to join the line waiting to order.  Dolly’s has refined their serving so it took just a few minutes for everyone to be savoring (for some, gobbling) their treat. Yummy stuff.  It was dark by the time we made it back to camp, bringing our surprise night out to a close, but it was the kind of big group fun we love around here, and a really good time.

Worth Preserving

The NC Legislature just passed a bill, and the Governor has signed it, establishing a commission to study the current length of the school year in North Carolina. For the last couple of years, there has been a broad debate about how much classroom learning our children should have. On one side there are those that call for more time in school, more minutes in class per day and more days per year, because it’s believed academic achievement is proportional to the amount of time in school and it’s been observed that children lose some of their academic progress over the summer when they aren’t studying. On the other side, there are those that value the traditional summer break from school (June through August) and understand it as an opportunity to learn equally important non-academic skills, so-called “life skills” or “personal skills.” These are things like being creative and independent, being friendly and outgoing, being resilient and determined, and so forth.

It’s easy to guess what side summer camps come down on. We cherish the summer months because they provide time for camp, naturally, but what’s important about that is all the important “whole child” learning camp provides even as our kids are having a great time. Check out these two articles we’ve already written on this issue: Longer School Year and Amy Chua and Camp.

There’s plenty to say about this, and I’m sure there will be even more debate as time goes on, but it’s worth remembering the real growth children experience at summer camp. When your Rockbrook girls return home, you’ll see it. They’ll be more excited about things, more likely to “dive right in,” and be quick to smile and laugh at the most common moments. They’ll probably seem just a little taller, in several different ways. A camp experience provides so many benefits that are difficult to reproduce at home and at school, it can make a profound difference in a girl’s overall education, and that’s something really worth preserving.

Today, as part of our cabin day events, we took all of the mini session Middlers and Seniors to Sliding Rock. The Seniors took a morning trip and the Middlers an evening trip. With snacks packed (and a complete dinner for the Middlers— Rick’s chicken potato casserole, coleslaw, bacon, and nectarines— an amazing, delicious combination), we loaded all the buses for each trip into Pisgah. On both trips we went “after hours” so we could have the rock to ourselves and the girls could slide as many times as they wanted. The record I heard was 11 times. That’s a lot of slippin’ and slidin’! As the girls sit down at the top of the rock and they feel the cold water hit them in the back, it can be bit of a shock, the kind that brings out plenty of wide-mouthed screams. But as they begin sliding, pick up speed and get closer to the final plunge, just about everyone either has her hands in the air, is holding her nose, or is screaming her head off! Sometimes all three!

Topping off these trips, we just had to stop at Dolly’s so everyone could pick out a cup or cone of their favorite flavor of ice cream. Dolly’s is a wonderful ice cream stand located at the entrance to the Pisgah Forest that offers more than 50 different flavors, one of which is named after Rockbrook (there are 20 other camp flavors too), “Rockbrook Chocolate Illusion.” Yes, it’s an all-chocolate flavor with fudge, brownies and chocolate chips mixed in, but also mini-peanut butter cups to “lighten it up.” A little over the top, but yummy.

We are all having a great time… a getting a lot out of it!

Camp Outdoor Living

The weather has been just great these last few days of camp. It’s been warm and sunny during the day with highs in the mid 80s, but still nice and cool, around 60 degrees, when we wake up in the morning. Hearing thunder off in the distance, we’ve realized an afternoon thunderstorm or two have been nearby, but at least so far they have all missed us directly. Being so close to the weather, living outside while at camp, is one of the best parts of the experience at Rockbrook. We spend so much of our ordinary lives inside climate controlled spaces, it’s great for children to be able to feel the natural world a little more, to reconnect to the power of their senses. Cool, sweet watermelon by the lake on a hot summer day… Yum!

Down in Curosty, one of the craft cabins at camp (and one of the oldest, predating 1900), the girls have been learning to weave on the looms. Our fantastic weaving instructor Alison has many projects set up: belts, headbands, and wider place mats. Here’s Velvet working on a tabletop loom and making a narrow strap that will probably become a belt. It takes real concentration to operate the harnesses that move the heddles up and down, making the different patterns, but on these top looms there are usually a simple set of levers to press.

Late this afternoon we loaded up all the seniors to take them on a surprise trip into the Pisgah National Forest. They all came prepared dressed in bathing suits. The first stop was Sliding Rock, the natural water slide well-known in this area. Looking Glass creek rolls about 60 feet over a big smooth rock and then plunges into a deep pool at the bottom, so what used to be just a pull-off of the road is now a major attraction in this area. The girls absolutely love it! Over the roar of the waterfall, it’s a series of piercing screams as the girls take turns sliding down in pairs or triplets. Did I mention the cold water? You can imagine how that amplifies everything!

After sliding (some of the girls went down 6 or 7 times!), we drove down to another spot in the forest for a picnic supper. Rick set us up with homemade hummus and veggies, fruit, sandwiches, chips and chocolate brownies. This was a nice time for everyone to eat and talk about their experiences sliding down the rock. But perhaps the highlight for everyone was our last stop of the evening: Dolly’s Dairy Bar. There’s nothing like a yummy ice cream cone of your favorite flavor to top off the day. Singing songs out front, laughing and eating a super sweet treat— what nice trip!

Dolly’s Dairy Bar

Do you know they have the best ice cream in the universe? Do you know they have a super chocolate flavor of ice cream called “Rockbrook Chocolate Illusion?” Did you know that every Rockbrook camper wants to go, and pretty much every one does? It’s all true, and it’s Dolly’s Dairy Bar in Brevard. Located at the entrance to the Pisgah National Forest, it’s everyone’s favorite place for a cool summertime treat. Here are a few photos of our Rockbrook girls at Dolly’s last summer.

We love Dolly’s ice cream!

Lovin Camp 80s Style

Let’s flashback to the 80s. That’s exactly what the whole camp did on Tuesday night this week! The word went out at dinner that everyone should bust out their best 80s attire, that they should go back in time and transform themselves into jazzercise junkies and big-haired beauties ready to bop to the top pop of our favorite retro decade. There were so many tie-dyed, oversized t-shirts torn and slung from one shoulder, lycra tights and sweat bands, jean jackets and Ray-Ban sunglasses, it would make your head spin.  But is was also hilarious to see how well the girls could look the part and how many of the songs they could sing— 867-5309 Jenny, I Want Candy, Mickey, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, and of course, Thriller. The counselors had just as much fun as the campers dancing, making a conga line, and leading different group dance moves.  Just like working out in the 80s, we all were sweating and having loads of fun.

It’s been a couple of days of wildlife sightings here at Rockbrook. The coolest was a peregrine falcon spotted down near the Castle Rock Lodge. We’ve known that a falcon was nesting up on Dunn’s Rock, but this was the first time someone had seen it near camp. Up until 1999, the peregrine falcon was listed as an endangered species by the federal government, and even though it was de-listed then, the NC Wildlife Resources Commission has kept the bird on North Carolina’s list of endangered species because peregrine falcons have not recovered fully in North Carolina. Last night Sarah caught a glimpse of a gray fox cutting across the hill. We’ve seen these shy, bushy-tailed, nocturnal animals at camp before, but they are rare, so it’s a nice treat to be reminded that they are roaming around these hills. Rockbrook really is a wildlife sanctuary of sorts. With more than 200 acres of wooded land that remains undisturbed most of the year, it’s easy to see why.

For our Wednesday afternoon cabin day, the Juniors held a swim party down at the lake with Luau music and games. A perfect way to spend a hot afternoon, but also made complete by a quick trip over to Dolly’s for an ice cream cone. The Middlers’ cabin day was a trip to Sliding Rock up in the Pisgah National Forest. We carted the entire line, eighty something people, to the rock after dinner when we could have the place to ourselves. I think most of the girls were able to slide 6 or 7 times before it was too dark to continue. Naturally, we all had to stop at Dolly’s on the way home for a cone of “Rockbrook Chocolate Illusion,” or some other yummy flavor. Everyone was eager to pick their favorite flavor even after dunking ourselves in the cold Looking Glass Creek water of Sliding Rock.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Rick and his kitchen magicians amazed us all again with a dinner of homemade pork barbecue, beans, coleslaw, fresh cut fruit, and chips. It takes all day to prepare the barbecue, but it’s worth it. We’ve been hearing the “Cook’s” appreciation song sung a lot these days!

We Swim, Dress Up and Slide

It’s hard to say which flavor of muffin is most popular at camp. With Liz, our baker, creating so many new varieties from scratch— not to mention the traditional kinds— there are too many to choose from. There’s blueberry, but also key lime muffins, cranberry walnut, but also chocolate chip, and sprinkles, and white chocolate almond! Liz arrives at 6:30am each morning and gets to work right away to have the muffins baked and cooled by the mid-morning muffin break. Since there are more than 300 people (campers and staff members), that’s a lot of muffin trays, papers and individual dollops of batter to prepare! The muffins are always so good the girls literally run to the dining hall when they hear the bell announcing “Muffin Break.” For everyone at camp, Liz is a hero!

In fact, the entire kitchen crew are heroes at camp. Rick and his crew are really working hard to create great balanced meals for us, and this isn’t “camp food,” pre-processed, frozen, nuggets of whatnot fried and served with ketchup. Nope. All the main dishes are homemade, from the pizza dough, to the pancakes, to the chicken and dumplings. Rick puts together every meal’s menu, so for dinner yesterday we had baked tilapia, wild rice and a spinach salad. Each tilapia fillet was spiced individually, and the salad included a homemade sesame salad dressing. It’s also amazing how Rick takes time to make special vegetarian options. So for example, he made vegetarian dumplings combining green tomatoes, goat cheese and a light sauce with the dumpling dough. It was a pleasantly surprising combination, and with a big green salad, made a great meal. Sorry to talk so much about the food at camp, but after being away for a couple of nights camping, it’s hard not to!

Wednesday we took cabin photos before lunch and during rest hour. Gathering everyone in each cabin, dressed in their camp uniforms, and taking their photograph is a long tradition at Rockbrook. Part of the fun is that each cabin gets to select where it would like the photo taken and how to arrange each person. There are so many different places at camp to pose— on one of the many huge rocks, down by the lake, standing in a creek, or on a porch or set of steps. It’s fun for campers to keep their copy of their cabin photo and to collect them over the years in a scrapbook or camp photo album.

For Wednesday afternoon’s cabin day activities, the three lines split up. A few junior cabins went on short hikes to Castle Rock and Rockbrook Falls, but one stayed to put on a dress up fashion show in the Junior Lodge. Silly, silly stuff. Meanwhile, several cabins of seniors took a quick trip into the Pisgah Forest to take a dip in a swimming hole. The water was pretty chilly (like all the creeks and streams in these mountains), so it took a while for most of the girls to get wet. After dinner, all of the mini session Middlers took a trip up to Sliding Rock. Many of the girls had never been to Sliding Rock before, so it was particularly fun to see them zip down the rock and funny to hear them scream when they plunged into the cold water below. There are lots of photos of this in the RBC gallery. Naturally, on the way home, we had to stop at Dolly’s for a cone, a yummy sweet treat of some kind. Being all things chocolate, the Rockbrook camp flavor is still one of the most popular. It was a little bit of a late night for these Middlers by the time we got back to camp settled down, but we all enjoyed ourselves in true RBC fashion.

Cabin Day Fun

Wednesday at camp follows a different schedule than other days of the week. It starts with the campers attending their regular activities, the set they signed up for on opening day. Kathleen, our camp photographer, spent some time down at the Equestrian Center (or simply “The Barn”) taking pictures of the different lessons going on. Today our farrier was there as well, so the girls were able to learn a bit about shoeing a horse. Cara led one of the classes that was working on drill team riding. In the class, she had 5 riders, plus herself, making 3 rows of 2. They worked on staying in formation and spacing as they walked and then trotted in a figure-8 pattern. By the end of the lesson they were really doing well, starting and stopping on command perfectly. Good work!

For lunch, Rick and his crew had homemade macaroni and cheese for us. The girls absolutely gobbled it up, though were less enthusiastic about the steamed broccoli! With the salad bars, it was a yummy lunch. Oh and today’s muffin flavor (for our “muffin break” at 11am) was chocolate chip, made from scratch by our baker Liz. Boy, those were popular. After rest hour, we began “Cabin Day,” a special time on Wednesdays that replaces the regular afternoon activities and allows each cabin group to do something together. It might be a group craft project, hike to Rockbrook Falls, or baking cookies, but the cabin group decides. We also sometimes plan something for an entire age group, like today when the Juniors had a Beach Party down at the lake. They pulled out all the lake toys, swam and played a bunch of relay games like the classic greased watermelon, and a funny game that involved blowing through a straw to move a small ball across the water. With beach music and bright sunshine, it was a great afternoon “mountain beach party.” To cap it off, we all made a quick trip to Dolly’s Ice Cream stand for a sweet treat.

Later, all the senior girls took a trip to Sliding Rock. This always means big excitement for the girls. The water is so cold and the anticipation of the final plunge into the pool below is so great, you hear plenty of screaming as the girls slide down the rock. Coming up from the water below, there’s even more urgent screams of “Ah, Ah, Ah, It’s so cold!” But as they hop back in line, you also hear, “That was sooo fun! Let’s go again!” Most everyone slides once, but I think some went 4 times in all. Next stop? Dolly’s again. Pulling out of the forest, we stopped so everyone could enjoy a cone of their favorite flavor, like “Rockbrook Chocolate Illusion” or just some soft-serve Vanilla. Dolly’s ice cream is legendary at camp (“This is the best ice cream on earth!” one Junior put it to me), so everyone loves a trip there. Don’t be surprised if your camper asks to stop by on the closing day of camp. It really is good stuff.