Mountain Day
It was such an action packed day yesterday that I didn’t have a chance to post an update. I’ll try to fill you in on some of the details. Mountain Day begins with a wake up call by the head counselors. Yesterday’s wakeup held a special treat. One of the gentlemen on our maintenance crew serves our community on the North Lookout Mountain Volunteer Fire Dept. Gene was able to bring one of the fire trucks. Decked out in costume, the head counselors hopped on the fire truck. Riding through camp with sirens blaring, the head counselors eagerly woke up each cabin area.
What you would expect is that boys would sleepily stroll onto their porches, rubbing eyes and wondering what is going on. But what you see is boys that are prepared. Boys spill out of their cabins, decked in any costume they could piece together. Word spreads quickly that it might be Mountain Day. So they are ready. Sometimes a costume is preplanned and put together, mostly it’s an inside out shirt with shorts on head and sunglasses, or something of the like.
Country band Alabama is the music of choice for Mountain Day (the hometown boys hail from just down the mountain in Fort Payne, AL and still reside in the area). Dixieland Delight and Mountain Music swirled through the air as we enjoyed our pancakes with chocolate chips and blueberries.
Our Team Sports staff brought us a full morning of Olympic competition, tribe vs. tribe. Field events, tug of war, and some relays kept us busy all morning. And yes, there was music there too. That’s the beautiful thing about being unplugged for a time period. It makes you appreciate so much more. A little recorded music on Mountain Day gets us all excited.
Lunch could not have come sooner. Mrs. Gail’s Mountain Day special: BBQ chicken awaited us. Served with green beans, mashed potatoes, salad, and strawberry shortcake, we feasted.
In the afternoon Richard and Carter had planned a special activity for the Hunters - Braves. The gym hosted our inaugural “Alpine’s Got Talent”. Each cabin prepared a special talent or skit to perform for the camp. Laughter filled the gym for the afternoon. Some talent was found, mostly we just had fun. In the end, Grey Owl and Cliff Dwelling came away winners. Grey Owl for a combination of solving a Rubix cube in under 30 seconds and forming a human circle while singing “Will the Circle be Unbroken.” Oh and one of the boys was dressed as a hot dog dancing in the middle of the circle. This is the beauty of a boys camp! Cliff Dwelling had prepared a rap medley, with Alpine lyrics. It was super creative and prepared completely by the boys, I’m told by their counselors.
The best part of the whole day (and maybe the term) came at sundown. The Alpine County Fair. With snowcones, cotton candy, and ice cream I probably need not say much more. But there was so much more. We arranged for an ice cream truck from Doodles, an ice cream shop in Birmingham, to arrive that evening. Parked at the back of the gym, they offered flavors like Cookies and Cream, Oreo Mint, Birthday Cake, and Ninja Turtle (a blueish concoction that seemed to be very popular with the younger boys).
Currency at the fair is dried pinto beans for games and a limited number of tickets for food items. Loaded with an envelope full of beans, boys are turned loose in the gym and field to play fair type games to their heart’s content. One younger boy walked up to me midway through and exclaimed, with cotton candy in hand, “This is incredible!”.
To top it off we enjoyed a brilliant fireworks show, capping off one of the best Mountain Days I can remember.
Today we’re back to our normal activity routine, enjoying all that camp has to offer for just a few more days. Thanks for reading and more news tomorrow!
Glenn
