Mountain Mystery
Maybe you saw a photo of the Mountain Day banner hanging from the rafters of the Dining Hall. First of all, huge props to Wills Frazer, counselor fom UVA for painting me in probably the best light I’ve ever looked as a Odysseus (I don’t ask to be painted, they think it’s funny to use my face every year for the banner!). Well, this morning we arrived to the Dining Hall and a blank canvas was hanging in place of the Mountain Day portrait. Mountain Day was Wednesday, by the way, more on it in a moment.
Shock spread throughout the dining hall as everyone wondered what had happened. Soon several face mask clad art thieves appeared in the dining hall to take credit for stealing the “masterpiece”. A criminal always comes back to the scene of the crime. Then again, who says our skits have to make sense anyway! Everyone knew what this meant. Richard gave us our task, if we would choose to accept it. “Get back that banner!”. Mission Impossible was set for the evening’s night program.
But not before one final practice in the gym just now for our Glee Club. Tomorrow night those that choose to go will board buses to Camp Desoto and get to perform selected songs for the ladies. And they’ll sing to us which is always angelic. So we ran through the entire set list for tomorrow night in order, in hopes of making a grand impression on Saturday night.
Back to Mission Impossible. It’s basically a huge game of Spotlight, played throughout camp. Boys look forward to it all term and it’s a huge surprise as to when it will be. You probably packed some camo just for this occasion. So the head counselors, or Max, if you know your Mission Impossible, dole out clues and destinations to each cabin to begin the game. Cabins travel together to various destinations in search of more clues from good agents stationed throughout camp. The only problem - bad agents are also stationed everywhere. Get spotlighted by a bad agent and the whole cabin must return to Max and start again. Ultimately, we hope that someone will amass enough clues and reach enough destinations to recover the “stolen artwork”. I have faith that our campers are up to the challenge!
Now back to Mountain Day.
Campers streamed out of cabins decked out in costumes of all kinds. Dinosaurs, superheroes, and all manner of homemade costumes spilled out as the head counselors arrived to each cabin area with music and dancing.
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 pancakes with chocolate chips and blueberries for breakfast.
After breakfast we gathered in front of the Lodge for an all camp morning watch. Richard Cox brought us a devotional from God’s Word and our head counselors led some singing. He then instructed campers to change into their tribe shirts, Mohawk blue and Cherokee red, for our next Mountain Day tradition.
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. The event began with a playing of our national anthem and the lighting of the Olympic flame (tiki torch!) by a toga clad counselor. Competition was strong but the music and dancing continued and kept the mood light as well.
For lunch, Mrs. Gail’s Mountain Day special: BBQ chicken awaited us. She slow cooks it all night. By the time it reached our tables it was falling off the bone. Served with green beans, mashed potatoes, salad, and strawberry shortcake, we feasted.
In the afternoon our older boys played Alabama Gold Rush. It’s a hybrid between capture the flag, tag, and an egg hunt played by Warriors, Braves, and Chiefs, throughout most of camp. The boys love it! There are orbs hidden all throughout camp and each tribe has a designated zone in camp with a neutral zone in the middle. You must be brave enough to cross through the neutral zone, hunt for the hidden orbs, and try to avoid getting tagged and sent to jail.
The Hunters and Scouts cooled down in the water, at the pool and river, respectively. And our Trappers raced their recently built derby cars down a long wooden track. Some were faster than others but all were decorated with individual flair and passion!
The best part of the whole day (and maybe the term) came at sundown. The Alpine County Fair. Various flavors of Moosetracks ice cream draw the longest lines. A close second are our friends from Froggy Freeze sno-cones who bring their trailer out to serve flavors like Tiger’s Blood and Silver Fox. The giant pretzels with butter and salt get plenty of business too. And of course, so many games!
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 the fair type games to their heart’s content.
Booths line each side of the gym. Take the Plunge (tossing rings into plungers), the Cake Walk, and Wheel of Fortune are a few of the favorites. And outside the gym there’s a chance to dunk your favorite head counselor in water with a baseball toss.
In case you are wondering, we have found time to fit in lots of regular activities this week in between all of our special activities! We keep boys busy having fun!! It’s hard to believe we are soon entering our final week of First Term. I look forward to sharing more end of term traditions in the coming days.
Thanks for reading and good night for now, Glenn
