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.

80s Dance Party !!

On Tuesday night we also held a fabulous dance party for the whole camp, and the theme was the 1980s. The counselors decorated the gym with posters of pop slogans from the 80s like “Where’s the beef?” and “I’m a pepper, you’re a pepper, wouldn’t you like to be a pepper too.” For music, they gathered an amazing collection of 80s pop songs: Kenny Loggins, Culture Club, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Wham!, Thompson Twins, the Romantics, and so forth. But the really funny part of the evening was everyone’s costumes. You might think these “new millennium” children wouldn’t know much about the 1980s, but with a little help from the counselors we saw lots of big hair, light blue eye shadow, jazzercise leggings, baggy t-shirts pulled off one shoulder, and sweat bands.  It was like stepping back in time!  One highlight was Michael Jackson’s song Thriller, and everyone following along doing the Thriller Dance.  The whole event was good, and sweaty (!), camp fun.

After dinner Wednesday, once one of our typical mountain afternoon thunderstorms cleared, we took all of the Middlers in camp to sliding rock. This is always an exciting trip. We load campers and counselors into our buses, drive into the forest along Looking Glass Creek to the big slab of granite that forms the natural water slide. Of course, the water is really cold. We describe it as “refreshing,” but the campers say it’s “FREEZING!” Though, what a excellent mountain treat! So many wide-mouthed squeals of delight as the girls zip down the rock and into the pool of water at the bottom: It’s just great. Once we’d slid enough, our next stop was at Dolly’s Ice Cream stand for a quick sweet treat. Whether it’s a cone of Rockbrook Chocolate Illusion or a cup of Carolina Cha Cha, there’s nothing more delicious after an outdoor adventure than Dolly’s ice cream.  As you might guess, it’s a perpetual camp favorite.

Cabin Day

Wednesday is cabin day at Rockbrook. This is a special day when after a morning of regular activity time where girls go the different camp activities they signed up for (alpine tower climbing, weaving, archery, riding, etc.), we do something special in the afternoon. There are many options, but what’s unique is that each cabin has their cabin day together. Instead of pursuing different interests and activities, the girls stick together on Wednesday afternoons.

Sometimes, we’ll plan something special for an entire age group, all the Seniors for example. Today, we took all the senior girls on a trip to sliding rock in the Pisgah National Forest. If you haven’t seen it before, Sliding Rock is a natural water slide formed by Looking Glass Creek as it plunges into a pool of water. It’s a classic mountain summer thrill and everyone loves it! On the way out of the forest, we just had to stop at Dolly’s for a cone of “Rockbrook Chocolate Illusion” ice cream. Yum!

The Juniors played group games in the gym, but after dinner were excited to learn they were going camping tonight. Tara our hiking guide would lead them out to our overnight camping outpost located on the Rockbrook property out near Rockbrook falls. With their sleeping bags, flashlights and bug spray in hand, two cabins took the short walk through the woods to the outpost. Tara and Jessi built them a campfire, they roasted marshmallows and sang songs into the night. It takes a little while for everyone to settle down and go to sleep on the covered tent platforms, but that’s because it’s so much fun!

Oh! I forgot to mention the muffins today… Cranberry Walnut. They were awesome!

Sliding Rock North Carolina Fun

This part of North Carolina, in the western part of the state, is well known for its lush mountains and waterfalls. In the Brevard area alone there are more than 250 named waterfalls (Do you know the two that are on the Rockbrook Property?). Some of these waterfalls are quite remote and hidden, but others are popular places for swimming.

The most famous example of these waterfalls is Sliding Rock. This is a place in the Pisgah National Forest where Looking Glass Creek cascades about 60ft over a smooth sloping rock and drops into a deep pool at the bottom. The Forest Service has developed it into an organized recreation area so it can provide parking, lifeguards and first aid services during the busy summer months. In the last few years, Sliding Rock has become so popular the Forest Service has begun charging a small fee to use the area.

The Rockbrook Middlers and Seniors take a trip to Sliding Rock most sessions. We go at special times when the area is less crowded and we always bring our own additional lifeguards. It’s a great mountain experience for the girls, and when you top it off with a trip to Dolly’s Ice Cream stand, it really can’t be beat.

You’ll have so much fun, you might raise your foot in excitement!

A Rock for Sliding and Swimming

How many times have you gone down sliding rock? In the Pisgah National Forest, not too far from Rockbrook’s kids camp, there’s a famous natural water slide formed by Looking Glass Creek as it slides down about 60 feet into a pool at the bottom. The US Forest service has improved the area and now provides lifeguards during the busy summer season.

Most sessions at camp, we’ll take our Middlers and Seniors over in the afternoon for some cool mountain fun. It’s swimming. It’s adventure. It’s thrills, and because it’s also a clear mountain creek, it’s chills too. The girls just love it!  On one trip last summer, some of the kids raced backed to the top and slid down 9 times!  Have you tried it?

Collect $200 Salary As You Pass GO!

Today was cabin day and the Senior line took an excursion to Sliding Rock. The temperature peaked at around 98 degrees, so it was a refreshing change for the girls. Sliding Rock is basically a large rock which mimics a gigantic water slide. It is located in the Pisgah Forest, and is just a little ways outside of Brevard. The girls went down a handful of times, and then were taken to the infamous Dolly’s for some ice cream. We were quick to get back to camp, for banquet was about to begin!

There was much anticipation in the air, for the kids were eagerly waiting outside of the dining hall to be called in for banquet. The CAs (counselor assistants) for this banquet were quite prepared, and hosted one smashing banquet! The theme was Monopoly, and the dining hall was set up in as if it were the board game. The posters were painted in various places on the board such as: Go To Jail, Chance, Community Chest, North Carolina Avenue, etc. The 4 of the 5 CAs were dressed up as pieces for the game, and were covered in silver paint. The other CA, Elizabeth, was the Monopoly guy. The skits involved the CAs moving around on the board by rolling dice, and advancing on the board. Jerry always has a role in the banquet skits, and this time he was the police officer, and took one of the CAs, Morgan, to jail! Thanks to the CAs and their counselors who put on banquet, they worked very hard and we all enjoyed another successful banquet!