Big Busy Thursday
Today was another big busy day at Rockbrook as the campers began their second set of activity choices, trips went out of camp in several directions, and we enjoyed all-camp special events. Down in the Lakeview Lodge, which this session is the meeting lodge for the Middlers, the dance classes were swinging. All three of our historic (built in the 20s) stone lodges have wooden floors, a big fireplace, and windows wrapping around, and the Lakeview Lodge has mirrors on the wall of one end making it a really cool dance studio. The dance classes always have several things going on, usually a new move or dance step to learn, a group choreographed dance to work on, and a silly game like “Freeze Dance” to keep things lighthearted. It’s a good balance of action, coordination, concentration, musical rhythm and goofball fun, and the girls really enjoy it.
We’ve been having lots of families visiting camp this week, having guided tours, in anticipation of next summer (already!). We always encourage new families and their girls who are interested in Rockbrook to visit camp, and for some reason this has been a big week for that. Getting a firsthand sense of the place— just how friendly and relaxed the people are here, for example —is a welcome spot of reassurance that may not come through from just reading our catalog. It’s so great to meet these new families and to hear their stories about how they’ve found out about RBC.
In gymnastics, Elaine our head instructor is working with the girls and teaching them a few moves on the mini trampoline. She sets up the tramp at the end of the carpeted runway and positions landing pads all around. Then, with a couple of counselors spotting, the girls run down, plant both feet firmly on the tramp and jump up and onto the landing pads. Starting off with a good solid jump, they can advance to doing tucks, splits, pikes and even flips in the air. Over on the Alpine, they’re doing a different sort of trick— climbing blindfolded! It’s one of the new challenges over there; after climbing all 50 feet of the tower, up one of the many different routes, the girls can elect to climb again without being able to see. They get plenty of help from their friends on the ground shouting out instructions (“A little higher with your left foot!”), so they do quite well, sometimes climbing even more confidently than without a blindfold.
Clyde and Kelsey signed up a group of girls to go whitewater kayaking on the Tuckaseegee River all day. This is an intermediate river suitable for kayakers who are comfortable in their boats and who have previous whitewater experience. It has several excellent rapids and offers great opportunities to practice catching eddies and ferrying. It is a dam control river, and the water was up nicely, making it a fantastic trip. By the way, “Tuckaseegee” is a Cherokee word meaning “place or river of the turtle,” and sure enough, we just about always see turtles in the river over there.
For our evening program tonight, our friend Gary Greene, who is a wonderful storyteller, singer and musician, came over for an all-camp campfire. He brought his guitar to teach us a few songs, and of course presented several stories for us to enjoy. He’s really talented and quick to involve the campers in his performance, animating different parts of the poem “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll, for example. This was also a chance for some of the counselors to get in on the act. Grace and Gracie transformed themselves into gypsies, acting as occasional story and joke tellers throughout the evening. They had all of us cracking up with their flamboyant accents and witty vignettes.
One last thing… If you haven’t heard the news about Malia Obama, the President’s daughter, attending summer camp, here is an article discussing it. It’s a very nice article, well worth reading, because it affirms the benefits of camp for all children.
Adventure Sports and Storytelling
Things are really in full gear at camp these days. Everyone has learned most of the songs, making the dining hall a deafening place at times… there’s something about that “Austrian Went Yodeling” song that really gets the girls going. We’ve begun everyone’s second set of activities, so there’s new crafts being made (pottery bowls, sewn pillows, knitted hats, and tie dye t-shirts), new bullseyes in archery and riflery, and new tricks on the alpine tower. Up in the Junior lodge, the drama activity is spending time practicing for this session’s musical Annie. It’s so nice to wander by and hear the girls singing a song from the play. I’m sure it will be a wonderful performance. Down on the tennis courts, a class of seniors were having fun playing a game of rotating doubles (after each point, the winning pair stays to challenge a new pair, and so forth). At the lake, there were canoers out and 2 girls in whitewater kayaks learning how to roll. Lots of action!
In addition, there were several outdoor adventure trips out of camp. Clyde and Kelsey packed a lunch and took a group of girls kayaking on the lower Green River. Junior Line Head, and seasoned paddler Christine went along as well to help Tor our videographer capture some footage of the trip. We’re updating our camp DVD this summer, so you can look forward to seeing that footage. Heading off in another direction was Tara, Edith and Jackie leading eight other girls on a backpacking and camping trip in the Pisgah National Forest. With their tents, food, water and cooking equipment, they were loaded down, but with 11 people going, it was easy to distribute the weight. Jeff took the Hi-Ups out for a short waterfall hike, and Mallory ran several girls up to Castle Rock for a day of rock climbing too. Plenty of adventure to go around.
For tonight’s evening program we had a special guest come to camp, Gary Greene a local Brevard storyteller and musician. All the girls gathered in the Senior Lodge to enjoy several stories, songs and skits Gary brought to perform. He’s a very talented guy and is great at pulling in the audience to participate. He had the girls hooting with laughter and at other times perfectly silent as they listened. That’s not easy to do with more than 200 people! The counselors performed a few skits too with plenty of camper involvement. The whole evening was very nice, and while not as goofy or silly as other things at camp, the girls enjoyed it immensely.
Bedtime at camp is probably a lot like at home but with a few bits of added excitement. For example, each night the girls have milk and cookies (another fantastic treat from baker Liz!) before bed. This is one of those long Rockbrook traditions started before anyone can remember and continued today. It’s a nice social time among all the girls and counselors of each line. After dressing in pajamas and visiting the “Deducky” (RBC lingo for bathroom. Why? Again, nobody is quite sure, even some of the older alumnae we know!) to brush their teeth, the girls usually take a few minutes to talk about their day in the cabin. The counselors lead the group as everyone mentions their “Pows and Wows,” a high point and low point of what happened that day. It’s another way for the girls to get to know their cabin mates, learn from each other, and feel good about the day. A little bit of quiet time in their bunks and then it’s lights out for everyone. You might think it would be hard to sleep in a cabin with 9 or so other people, but when we stay this busy at camp all day long, sleeping comes easily. Next thing you know, you’re hearing the wake up bell and it’s time to hop up for more camp fun!
