The weather has been absolutely perfect these last few days with bright sunny skies, lower humidity, and milder temperatures. First thing, we all layered up with a fleece or sweatshirt to temper the fog and cool 65 degree morning, but later happily swam in the lake and relaxed in the sun.
Today the kitchen crew made us all a delicious lunch of tilapia tacos, homemade guacamole, rice, beans, salsa and cheese. With corn chips, our regular salad bars, and the peanut butter and jelly station as an option, everyone was nicely stuffed for rest hour. Dinner was also excellent. We had baked chicken breasts (or tofu) and basmati rice, Otis’s amazing peanut Gado Gado sauce, spinach salad, and brownies for desert. Oh, by the way, Otis says fresh lime juice and coconut is the secret to his sauce.
A group of the senior girls took an all-day kayaking trip to the Nantahala River with Clyde, Kelsey and Christine. This is a more advanced kayaking river, so these girls knew their stuff. They are comfortable in their boats, know how to catch eddies, ferry, and handle the class 2 and 3 rapids of the river. Back at camp, we heard that the trip went great with everyone making clean runs, and no one flipping their boats. Another, very different, trip also went out today: Juniors rock climbing Castle Rock, one of the huge rock faces on the camp property. Katherine took them up to hop on the route called “Bam.” This is the longest and most exposed route. Towards the top, you can turn around and see the French Broad River Valley from what looks like 1000 feet up (even though it’s really about 80 feet from the base of the rock). It took a while to make the climbs, but even these 2nd and 3rd graders could tackle this climb. Pretty cool.
The afternoon riding classes enjoyed bareback riding today. The girls love this because it allows them to ride several horses in the same lesson (musical horses!), and to really feel their horse while riding. Cara, our Riding Director, plans this every so often to mix things up a bit, and because it helps the girls work on their balance while riding.
A short walk from the center of camp is our “Outpost” camping area where our juniors can sleep out. Tara took 2 more cabins out there after dinner. This is big fun for the girls. Imagine a slumber party with sleeping bags all lined up, pillows, a couple of stuffed animals, card games, flashlights, and lots and lots of giggles and chatting. Now imagine it out in a dense forest on a tent platform under a tarp. They build a campfire, roast marshmallows, and of course sing songs and tell stories into the night. Everyone’s a little tired when they get back to camp in the morning, but it’s the “good” kind of tired we thrive on at camp.
