Week 2 Traditions

Sundays are special around here, a celebration. The start of the week. It’s a day set apart and a day of rest. But not in the come home from church and take a long nap kind of rest. That doesn’t work as well with a bunch of boys. Well, rest hour is a bit longer on Sundays. And they need the rest after a long week, even if they don’t think so.

We began Sunday with maybe not the favorite tradition, but one we hope you will appreciate. Lane Park, professional photographer from Chattanooga, joined us to take cabin and individual photos before church. These will be printed and given to the boys on the last day (the goal being making it home to you!). A memento of their time at camp.

A great tradition at Alpine is the wearing of Sunday whites to church. Everyone, my family included, wear all white. Counselors and campers wear the old school neckerchief around their neck, secured with an Alpine leather slide. We walk to church in a single file line, processing into the gym as the musicians play hymns. This year we have quite a few talented guitarists, a gifted violinist, and several drummers. We worshiped, including a sermon by our camp pastor, Curtis Shields.

In the afternoon Roderick, our 2nd Term Program Director, sliced fresh, cold watermelon on the the athletic field. That was after each cabin enjoyed some “family” time together hiking or playing a round of frisbee golf or perhaps pickleball. Each cabin gets to pick their Sunday afternoon activity (with limits of course).

We end Sundays with a hymn sing and an evening devotional in each cabin area. It’s a peaceful and reverent way to propel us into the coming days. On this particular Sunday our Chief 2’s spent the afternoon packing trail packs with our friends and guides from Higher Ground. Everything they would need for the coming 4 days in one pack: food, snacks, water bottles, cooking utensils and stoves, sleeping bags. Monday morning they departed, with guides and cabin counselors, on a 4 day backpacking and rafting adventure in the western North Carolina mountains. It’s a pinnacle experience for these guys, a core memory. I still vividly remember my time on the Appalachian trail, both as a last year camper and a counselor. The hiking is challenging but doable. The vistas are totally worth it. And the food, prepared by the guides, with help from the boys, is tasty. They’ll end up near the Nantahala River on Thursday morning and raft inflatable kayaks down the gentle whitewater for the day.

Our Chief 1’s also are enjoying some adventure this week. Yesterday 2 cabins bussed to Sandrock Village about an hour away for a day of rapelling, rock climbing, and hiking. Tomorrow the other 2 cabins will make a day of it.

Today was Taco Tuesday! Well, also Tropical Tuesday if you see some tropical shirts in the photos. But Taco Tuesday because we enjoyed a taco buffet for dinner, eating outside with our cabins. Buffet lines of tortilla chips, ground beef, grated cheese, shredded lettuce, rice, diced tomatoes, salsa and sour cream awaited us. A Taco Tuesday buffet also gives our high school kitchen boys, and their counselors, a well deserved night off out of camp. They take the evening off as a group, chaperoned and driven in one of our 15 passenger mini-buses by their counselors.

Thursday of the 2nd week is always Trip Day. Chartered buses will depart throughout the morning with various age groups to exciting adventures around the Southeast. I’ll give you a full report once they return.

Rumor has it that our social calendar may be full for Friday night, an engagement with our friends down the road at Camp Desoto.

All of this fun, plus we are well into our groove with regular activities in camp. Boys are settled at camp, at ease with their cabinmates, learning and having fun in activities at this point in the term.

Thanks for reading and good night for now, Glenn