Weekend Update

Happy Saturday from Alpine. I’m writing this a bit earlier than usual in the day, during Store Period. Store comes immediately after Rest Hour. Today is one of those days we’re grateful for a rest during the heat of the day. It’s a hot one today. We are pushing water breaks in activities and reminding boys to stay hydrated. So after Rest Hour the bell rings and boys rush out of cabins, the sound of hundreds of feet hitting the floor off beds, screens slamming, than gravel crunching. Boys race to the Store in hopes to be early in line for a cool drink and sweet treat.

Of course, the cabins who won cabin inspection earlier that day, winners having been announced at lunch, get to arrive 5 minutes early to store. They beat the line and get to be the first to the ping pong tables or Gladiator court. Once boys get their snack they have about 25 minutes of free time to eat and enjoy with friends. Some sit on rock walls or boulders with friends, others head directly to play a game. We have a new group game near Gladiator and ping pong, called ladder ball. Some of you have probably played it at the lake or a cookout. Our talented maintenance guys built a larger, sturdier wooden version than what is sold in sporting goods stores.

In a few minutes the bell will ring calling guys to their fourth and then fifth activities of the afternoon. We have a new class offering this summer for our Chiefs: Cooking. We only offered one section of the class, not knowing what the demand would be. It filled instantly with much funfare. 14 of our 2nd year chiefs signed up to learn some basic cooking skills from longtime Alpine staff member Will Givens. Our very own head cook, Gail Collins, is also making appearances to teach the boys. She says she might even teach them how to make her secret pancake recipe! No promises. Will is teaching skills like knife handling and basics like scrambling eggs. They have also learned how to grill chicken on our large outdoor grill, paired with homemade Alabama white sauce, prepared by the class. The class meets again this afternoon so I might just find my way out to our smaller commercial kitchen at Deerfoot Lodge, where they are meeting.

Speaking of cooking, the rest of this post will be devoted to food at Alpine and our new Dining Hall. I am adapting much of this from a post I made during First Term. I think it’s informative enough to repost, with some details updated for this term.

Over the years I have consistently heard how much parents enjoy knowing what their boys are eating when I report on meals. You can imagine what they might eat at a certain meal (or not eat). Surprisingly, many boys try new foods for the first time at Alpine, often the result of positive peer pressure from the cool college guys on each end of the table. No guarantees though!

Today at lunch we dined on Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, lima beans, and a chopped green salad with chopped tomatoes. Feeding this many guys 3 meals a day is not for the faint of heart. By the time we sit down to eat Gail and her team have moved on to prepping the next meal.

On top of the sheer logistics of cooking for this many, up until this summer Gail and her crew have been cooking in a 50 year old kitchen that was sized to feed about 150. But not any longer thanks to the dedicated work of so many this past offseason.

Your boys are a part of Alpine history, the first summer of campers to eat in our newly renovated Dining Hall. This project has been in the works for several years now and we are so grateful and excited about it’s completion. As you can imagine if you’ve ever done a home reno, there is still quite a punch list to be knocked out. But we are in it and everyone is loving the new space (true when I wrote this in June and still true now in July!).

Basically we demolished the back 1/3 of the building, the kitchen. We added back a kitchen about 2.5 times the size, much more appropriate for our current size. We also renovated every portion of the main Dining Hall from the new roof down to the added foundation and floor joists. Landscaping and drainage is now in place to address years of erosion and wet weather run off (everything slants to the river around here!)

If you are interested in Alpine history, the current Dining Hall was originally the camp gym when Carter’s dad, Mr. O, bought the property. One summer in the early 70’s the old Lodge, which housed the dining hall, burned down about 5 days before camp was to start. Mr. O and his staff hastily converted the gym into the Dining Hall with the help of many of the other camps on Lookout Mountain. Wood Fruitticher, our longtime food supplier, sent a refrigeration truck and parked it outside to store the food. And they opened camp on time! After that summer, Dick built the kitchen that existed up until this year on the back of the old gym, now Dining Hall. So the front portion of the building, the dining portion that was renovated this year, dates back to probably the 1930’s.

Food is a big deal at Alpine. Camps are not always known for their tasty food; see almost any camp movie ever made! Mr.O’s father told him when he started camp at 24: whatever you do, don’t skimp on the food. Mrs. Gail is a second generation food director, following in the footsteps of her legendary mother, Bea Crow. 2 head cooks in 66 summers is something for which we are very thankful.

We’ve always felt that the Dining Hall is the heart of camp, the gathering spot, the place of many meaningful memories for generations of campers. We believed strongly that it was worth going above and beyond. There’s something intimate and special about sharing a meal with friends and mentors. It’s a celebration, a feast, and way to share fellowship and laughter. In today’s modern world, our meals are even more special with not a bit of technology in sight. To look out on 38 tables, 10 boys and 2 counselors to a table, talking and sharing stories, and no one buried in a device, is rather refreshing.

So that’s a bit about the Dining Hall. I should also shout out our Kitchen Boys, high school boys who are too old to be campers, that come back to work in the kitchen, washing dishes and waiting tables. We have a fantastic crew during Second Term - they work hard and have fun. Last night the Kitchen boys took a much needed night off, with their counselors. In their place, some of our older campers helped the ladies serve a hamburger buffet. Cabins fixed up burgers with their choice of pickles, tomatoes, cheese, lettuce, and condiments along with baked beans and chips. They ate picnic style in many of the new seating areas around the outside of the Dining Hall.

Thanks for reading and we hope you are having as good of a weekend as we are! Glenn