Mountain Music
Tuesday and Wednesday were certainly two of the more exciting days in camp! And music filled the air both days. Tuesday night we danced the night away with the ladies from Camp Desoto. Our younger boys hopped on the yellow school buses from our friends at Round and Round buses (Jenny the owner and lead driver brings her turtlebox and jumped off the bus dancing when she picked us up). The boys were treated to a delicious dinner of BBQ pulled pork, baked beans, and cole slaw before bounding to Desoto’s idyllic camp gym for a called dance of line dances and familiar tunes.
The oldest age groups at Desoto returned the favor, joining us in our Dining Hall for chicken finger, mashed potatoes, and butter beans. Afterwards they split time between the gym floor, dancing and singing, and the tennis courts. The tennis courts served as a great spot for refreshments, water and chocolate chip cookies. And a full array of yard games like spike ball, kan jam, and cornhole helped break the ice. Big smiles and “see you at Glee Club” sent the girls off to the buses after a night of fun.
The music continued Wednesday morning. Decked out in costumes, bluetooth speakers in hand, our head counselors woke up camp in style for our beloved Mountain Day! Most consider this day the most fun of the term. Hopefully you’ve seen the photos from yesterday. A veritable who’s who of costumes showed up at breakfast - dinosaurs, hot dogs, bananas, good guys, bad guys, and so many more!
In the morning we competed in Olympic field games, Mohawk v Cherokee, rewarded by cold, sliced watermelon before lunch. Mountain Day lunch is my favorite meal of the term. Gail slow cooks barbecued chicken overnight in the large convection ovens and serves it with green beans, mashed potatoes and yeast rolls. For dessert, strawberry shortcake!
The best part of the day comes at sunset, after supper, on the field and in the gym. Our special events staff turns the whole area into an old timey County Fair. A snocone truck serves flavors like Silver Fox, Tiger’s Blood, and Blue raspberry. And counselors serve gallons of Mayfield ice cream into cones. Last night’s flavors included cookies and creme, peach, strawberry cheesecake, and chocolate chip cookie dough. Carnival like games give away fun prizes in booths down the porches of the gym. And the head counselors take turns sitting in our dunking booth. Last night was just a perfect night for it - cool and breezy, with a moon coming up over the trees as the last bits of natural light gave way on the field to the illuminated pole lights. Multiple boys told me this was their favorite night of the term so far.
Today was a regular day of activities, with a true gift of partly cloudy skies and cooler temps. The high probably reached 82 today, a true summer Appalachian day. When we woke up the weather forecast predicted a 70% chance of rain at some point in the day. So we are going to bed tonight thankful for getting a full day of activities in with no disruptions. We literally had about 5 minutes of light, light rain just before lunch and that was it.
The special events fun rolls on tomorrow. Friday, July 24 - summer Christmas Eve! Rumor has it Mrs. Gail and company are serving a traditional Christmas lunch tomorrow - turkey and dressing with gravy, and all the fixin’s. Maybe we’ll even have a visit from Santa Claus! Stay tuned this weekend for some great photos from the Hunter age group. Carter has some special activities planned for them to celebrate Christmas.
Thanks for reading and good night for now, Glenn
