Summer Living

Breakfast this morning made everyone happy. Rick served us his signature french toast, bacon, syrup, and cut fruit (cantaloupe, blueberries and blackberries). Like all the food he prepares for us at camp, this wasn’t something pre-made and frozen in a factory. He hand dipped each piece of bread, and grilled them all with a little sprinkle of sugar and cinnamon. No wonder everyone was so stuffed during morning assembly! But then after the first period of activities was done, there were plenty of girls interested in the chocolate chip muffins Liz baked for us. Not too surprising!

The rest of the morning was packed with our regular camp activities. With their new schedules, the girls were eager to climb the alpine tower, meet and ride a new horse, and learn the proper techniques of archery. Crafts are just about everywhere at camp, as well. Walk around and you are sure to spot all manner of media in the mix—fibers, string, clay, dyes, papers, paint, leather, fabrics, thread, yarns, markers, and all kinds of natural products. There’s creativity percolating in just about every corner.

While camp is definitely action packed, we also make sure to provide plenty of time when the girls can do what they want— time before lunch, right before dinner and right after dinner —freedom for swimming, hanging out in their cabin with friends, playing games on the hill, exploring the creek by “Curosty,” chatting with their counselor, preparing a skit for evening program, or just reading a book. It’s long been part of Rockbrook’s philosophy to make camp a welcome relief from the overly scheduled routine of life back at home and school. We believe kids need a special place, a haven, where they can set their own pace, follow their own interests and thereby allow their own sense of fun to flourish. It’s really what summer vacation was meant to be.

Lunch was an impromptu picnic on the hill with hot dogs, all the fixins’, chips, and watermelon. It was a wonderfully sunny afternoon, with a light breeze now and then. We sat in our crazy creek chairs, listened to music and just soaked up the scene on the grassy hill.

Jeff took the Hi-Ups on a really cool waterfall hike in Dupont Forest after lunch. They went straight to High Falls so they could enjoy a little swimming in the pool at the bottom of the huge waterfall. There’s even a short sloping section of the falls that can be a “sliding rock” of sorts. We did spot a couple of northern watersnakes hiding amid the rocks, and while quick to get out the way, still got our hearts pumping a bit! One was very small, a baby snake, and did get at least one comment about being “cute.”

Dinner tonight was also a special event: Harry Pottery Restaurant Night! The girls were encouraged to dress up like their favorite Harry Potter character, adopt a European accent of some sort, or just come prepared to “add to the magic.” Ellen became Professor Trelawney, the divination professor. Several campers became students at Hogwarts, complete with capes and brooms, and even Sarah dressed up as Narcissa Malfoy. After dinner, keeping the theme, we had a wand making workshop for the girls. With ribbons, glitter, and colorful tape, they decorated wooden sticks to make really cool looking magic wands.

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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!

Camp Carnival Fun & Games

Welcome August Mini Session Campers!! Welcome to Rockbrook! Today a big group of new and a few returning campers arrived for this, our last mini session of the summer. Like our other mini sessions, these are shorter sessions perfect for younger and first-time campers, so for the majority of these girls, this was their first day at Rockbrook. After waiting most of the school year and now until August, their anticipation made for high pitched, and maybe a little nervous, excitement. It doesn’t take long though to settle down after meeting the staff members and other girls, and realize how friendly and welcoming everyone is. Parents are sometimes surprised how quickly and easily their daughter is ready to say goodbye, and to run off with her new cabin mates.

While the new mini session campers were checking in and getting settled, the full session girls followed our regular Sunday schedule— sleeping in a little, enjoying a breakfast with fresh Krispy Kreme donuts, dressing in their white uniforms and red ties, performing the flag raising ceremony, and attending the wooded chapel service. Chapel today was put on by the Senior campers and the theme was “Growing.” Right before lunch the whole camp gathered under the big walnut tree on the hill with the gorgeous mountain view in the background, for our Sunday assembly. This a chance to introduce key staff members (e.g. Mandy, Jessi and the Line Heads), see skits about the various activities available at camp, present the “Mop Awards” to the cleanest cabins, learn and sing a couple of new camp songs, and afterwords, take state photos. Biggest state this session? North Carolina, by far.

Right after lunch the new campers and their counselors zipped down to the lake for their “swim demonstrations.” Sarah, several lifeguards, and Elizabeth, our head of the waterfront, ran through the exercise designed to test everyone’s ability to swim and tread water. When a girl “passes” the swim demo, she receives a special colored buddy tag alerting the lifeguards of her swimming skills. If someone’s uncomfortable in the water, or if they can’t complete the “demonstration,” she will have to wear a life jacket and stay in the shallow end of the lake, but is certainly welcome (though not required) to come down for swimming lessons during her swimming activity or during one of the free swim periods.

The afternoon’s activity was a crazy water carnival we held down on our sports field. It was crazy because there was so much action, so many girls having fun in different ways at the same time. We had a giant inflatable water slide where after climbing up, would shower you as you flew down into a pool of water at the bottom. There was a tent where several counselors were painting faces (and arms, and backs and stomachs!). We had a coconut bowling game going on, and a “cake walk” game where the girls danced in a circle, landed on numbers, and if lucky won a tasty cupcake prize. The snow cone machine was making icy treats non-stop, and everywhere there was someone working out a hula hoop.

The slip-n-slide was probably the biggest hit. What could be a better use for a long sheet of plastic? Stretch it down a gentle hill, add a little baby soap and water, and launch yourself down for a wet slippery ride! Add some upbeat music and you’ve got an awesome time. The big surprise though, was a shaving cream fight at the end of the Carnival. We passed out a couple of cases (yikes!) of shaving cream, and the girls took off trying to spray each other, splatter it in each others’ hair, and ultimately cover their entire bodies in white slippery foam. All kinds of creative hairstyles soon appear, with laughter and smiles all around. Be sure to check out the photo gallery to see more of that. We rinsed off a bit under the hose, and headed back up for a quick shower before dinner. Whew! What a fun afternoon, and a great way to open the August Mini session.

A Full Day of Camp Activities

It’s the Hi-Ups who started the first full day of camp today by ringing the rising bell at 8am sharp. This gives all the campers 30 minutes to get dressed, clean their cabin a bit, and make it to the dining hall for breakfast, which today was oatmeal with all the fixings (e.g., toppings of brown sugar, walnuts, blueberries, and dried cranberries), sliced South Carolina peaches, and orange juice, along with our usual fruit, yogurt and cereal bar. After a few brief announcements and a quick stop at the Infirmary if they take daily morning medicine or vitamins, the girls were off and running to their first period activities. This is quite a sight with small groups of girls heading out in different directions, some dressed for horseback riding in long pants and boots, others in bathing suits ready to work on kayaking at the lake, and others with water bottles preparing to go on a hike out to Rockbrook Falls. There was a group of Middlers meeting at Hiker’s Rock to go rock climbing on Castle Rock with Katherine and Tara, a group of Seniors learning how to knit, and a group of Juniors headed down to riflery for their first experience shooting a real gun.

Between first and second period we have our “muffin break,” a time when everyone (literally at times!) runs to the dining hall porch to have one of Liz’s freshly baked muffins. It’s the talk of the camp to find out what flavor muffin Liz (the camp baker) has made that day. Today’s? Sugar Spice, and they were awesome! We all look forward to the surprise of muffin break each day.

Also this morning, the CA girls and their counselors went hiking with Jeff to John Rock in the Pisgah Forest. In addition to reaching the summit of the rock, there was a second goal to achieve— picking the secret theme for this session’s banquet, the big party the CA girls plan for the whole camp. It’s a big deal to pick the theme because it affects the food served, the music, decorations, costumes, skits, and dance numbers that might be included. The CAs work all session preparing for the banquet, so having everyone excited and invested in the theme is crucial. When we reached the top of the rock, and were enjoying the amazing view of Looking Glass Rock from up there, the theme was set. You’ll have to wait a couple of weeks to find out what it is!

The weather helped this afternoon by providing a nice cooling rain shower just at the start of rest hour. Rest hour is just that, an hour after lunch when everyone heads back to their cabins to rest. This might mean just reading in your bunk, or writing letters home, but for a surprising number of campers (and counselors!) it’s a chance to take a real nap. It’s really wonderful, and you might think that there would be complaining about having to take this time out, but the girls really do look forward to it… maybe because we stay so active at camp.

More dancing, swimming and making things (really cool pottery vases, for example) completed the afternoon camp activities, and cabin skits got everyone laughing down each Line’s evening program. It really was a full day at camp today. Be sure to check the photo gallery. We’ve got new stuff up there everyday.

Opening Third Session

Welcome, welcome, everyone to Rockbrook! We are all very excited to see you and to begin your session of camp in the “heart of a wooded mountain.” Over these next few weeks we’ll be creating something everyday, taking adventure trips, playing all kinds of games, learning to ride, shoot and flip, and more than anything, having a great time laughing and goofing around with friends.

Getting settled into the cabin is the first step— moving trunks and dufflebags, setting up a shelf of things near her bed (flashlight, book, photos, stationary for writing letters home, etc.), meeting her counselor and other girls in the cabin. While most of the campers are returning to camp from last summer, we’ve taken care assigning cabins so there’s always a mix of new and returning campers. It’s a good way to ensure that everyone will have new friends to make.

Rick and his kitchen crew prepared our favorite comfort food for lunch: homemade macaroni and cheese, with a tomato and cucumber salad, carrots and sliced peaches. Along with our regular salad bar and peanut butter and jelly station, everyone had a great first meal at camp… just right on a warm summer afternoon. It’s during meals that all those crazy camp songs come out too. The Hi-Ups (10th graders) got everyone going with big powerful versions of the “Coconut song,” “the Milk Song,” “An Austrian Went Yodeling” (Paola, our Australian who lives in Vienna, gets a chuckle from that one!), and others.

After lunch everyone headed out to the main hill in camp, some with their Crazy Creek chairs, for an assembly under the shade of the big walnut tree. This was a chance to learn more traditional camp songs, meet some of the Line Heads and other lead counselors, and to find our more about camp. We also were treated to a series of skits performed by the activity instructors and counselors, short songs and scenes they put together to explain what happens at their activity. It’s a fun way to let the campers know their options when it comes time to sign up for their activities, but also a good way for everyone to meet the other staff members at camp. My favorite was the swimming skit where Gracie performed a dramatic reading of a short story she wrote while the lifeguards danced and interpreted the scenes in the background. It was hilarious!

Next, each cabin of campers comes down to the lake to perform their swimming demonstration. This is a simple check of swimming ability were each girl receives a personal buddy tag if she can swim out 25 yards, back another 25 yards, and tread water for 1 minute. Meanwhile other cabin groups are taking tours of the camp, learning where all the activities meet, how to go through the tunnel to the equestrian center, and the trail to the alpine climbing tower. This is also the time, right before dinner, that the girls sign up for their first set of 4 activities. After meeting the counselors, finding out what the activities actually are, connecting with friends, and knowing where everything meets, the campers are now much more prepared to make their own choices about their activity schedule. By the way, all of this is why we don’t “pre-sign up” for activities before arriving at camp. We’ve found over the years that campers get so much more from making their own activity selections after arriving. It’s a big part of camp at Rockbrook.

After an awesome dinner of chicken fingers, baked potato fries, and sauteed local summer squash and zucchini, with Liz’s chocolate chip cookie bars for dessert, we enjoyed a relaxing evening on the hill before each Line’s (age group’s) evening program. It’s always amazing to see how quickly the girls settle into life at camp. Everywhere you look, it’s easy to see friendships forming, enthusiasm for what’s going on (even for clearing the table after dinner, for example!), and excitement for all the opportunities around them. It’s a cool thing. We all tend to stay up a little later the first night of camp. All this bottled up excitement keeps the cabins chatting late into the night, anticipating the first full day tomorrow. It’s gonna be a good one.

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.

Staying Cool, Focused and Relaxed

First I have to tell you about today’s muffins.  They were amazing!  Liz created yet another one-of-a-kind masterpiece flavor: peanut butter and jelly.  I’m pretty sure they didn’t teach this recipe at the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Cork Ireland where Liz was trained, so she deserves all the credit.  A classic camp flavor turned into a fresh baked muffin.  YUM!

As most everyone on the east coast is experiencing record-breaking temperatures this week, we have found plenty of ways to stay cool at Rockbrook. First of all, temps are still falling into the 60s at night, and stay cool most of the morning as it takes a few hours for the sun to come up over the hill.  In addition, the lake has been a very popular spot in the afternoons. Even if the campers don’t have swimming as one of their regularly scheduled activities, everyone can go for a dip during one of the two open “free swim” periods each day. That’s also when we open the “Toy,” “Aqua Ropes Course,” or “Water Challenge Course.” As you can see, it’s quite the obstacle. Campers first try to climb up the outside edge, grabbing the ropes, and stand on the top rails.  From there they grab the dangling rings and go hand-to-hand from one ring to the next.  There are five in all.  It’s really tough to reach all five rings (see how it’s sloping uphill?), so we reward anyone who can with a special treat, usually a trip to Dolly’s.  Missing means just a big splash!

In the photography activity, former camper and now star counselor Jane, who is majoring in Fine Art Photography at The Corcoran College of Art & Design in Washington, DC, is helping the girls learn how to take better pictures. To make this more fun, she’s planned several games that send the campers scurrying around camp looking for certain color pallets, shapes (e.g., letters), or textures. She’s challenged the girls to take 20 photos of a single small object making sure each is different. She’s also helped them learn a bit about stop motion photography, and make short motion clips using play-doh. We’re planning to show these short movies to the whole camp on Sunday night before the movie.  Several are quite good!

Jessi’s yoga classes are very popular with the senior girls. She offers them as special extra activities once or twice each week.  With yoga mats and towels in hand, they meet in the upper Hillside Lodge to spread out across the wood floor. Jessi plays nice, relaxing music as she leads the girls through a serious of stretching exercises and yoga poses. The class lasts only about an hour, but that’s plenty for the girls to have a workout. Everyone feels great afterwords… a little more relaxed, limber, and calm. Staying so very busy and active at camp, practicing a little bit of yoga like this is really nice.

All in one day, the RBC girls can stay cool swimming in the lake, focused in photography class, and relaxed doing yoga!

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.