Hey, Camp Folks!

The Everything Summer Camp ‘Share Your Camp Story’ drawing saw an excellent response with nearly 30 entries! That’s why we’re publishing each and every one right here on the Blog! Today I’ve got two submissions ready to go from Grace L. as well as Reagan T.! They’re entries are both on the shorter side, but you can tell there wasn’t any shortage of fun at the camps they attended.

First, take a look at what Grace said about her stay at Red Pine Camp:

“This year was my first year at camp I was super excited and couldn’t wait for it to be July 10th!! My cabin mates and counselors were amazing and fun and funny. The name of my cabin was cedar and I was in the forester unit. My favorite camp activity was probably waterskiing! This year I went for my sailing basic so that I could be on sailing team it was my first year to take sailing and it was really fun sadly I didn’t get my basic in sailing but maybe next year. I am very sad that camp is over but I am looking forward for next years camp experience!!”

And here’s the submission from Reagan about her experience at Camp Ridgecrest:

“This was my first overnight camp. It was also the first time I was away from my parents for five days. The camp was awesome! We had lots of activities to choose from. I participated in fishing, cooking and baking, kayaking, hiking, paddleboarding, and go cart racing. I won the biggest fish tournament! My catfish was 12 inches long. I met new friends from my church. My favorite time was worship time. I LOVE worshipping the Lord! I hope I will go back to this camp next year! I also want to attend Camp Ridgecrest next year.”

I’m glad you guys have had such positive first times at summer camp. If anyone else is interested in one of these camps, you can further check out Red Pine Camp and Camp Ridgecrest sometime! As always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

We got great submissions in response to our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest here at Everything Summer Camp and we’re very excited to share them right here on the Blog! After seven lucky winners, everyone else who submitted received a $15 gift certificate to our website! Today’s post comes from Zoe O., who wrote in to tell us about her unique time at Camp Blue Star.

“I went to Camp Blue Star for one summer but I didn’t realize how much it would change my life forever. When I got there, I didn’t realize until then how big the camp was! That had made me quite excited because the land was beautiful and looked fun to be in, however I was also very anxious about making friends and how everything else at the camp would go. When I got to my cabin, everybody there was extremely friendly right away and some girls (who ended up being some of my closest friends) even helped me get situated in my area in the bunk. While we were there, my relationship with my cabin grew tremendously, especially when we had free time away from our counselors at night. I also made a couple friends outside of my cabin who were also super lovely. I think my favorite trip we took was definitely when we went camping. I took pictures on the camera I brought with me of all my friends and we all worked together to stay warm and feed each other, all while having a good time. We made the most of our time, despite our fire going out occasionally because of the rain that, of course, eventually passed. Another thing I enjoyed while I was there were the activities. I took video editing, which is a pretty rare activity that many camps do not have, and it was quite amazing. The two counselors that taught us were also YouTubers, so that was pretty cool. They not only taught us the mechanics of editing but also showed us how to work on YouTube videos successfully. I also took acting, which is a hobby I am very passionate about. We were taught and prepped for the play by an actor from Broadway and put on amazing show for all of the camp to see! I enjoyed my experience there and I wish I could’ve gone another summer.”

It’s always great to hear campers note the life-changing aspect of camp; it shows your growth in introspective nature. We’re glad to hear summer camp was such an influential experience for you, Zoe. Video editing sounds pretty cool! If anyone else is into that, maybe check out Camp Blue Star’s website for yourself by clicking here. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

We got lots and lots of submissions for our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest here at Everything Summer Camp—over 30, in fact! We’ve been enjoying weekly posts in which we publish the entries here on the Blog! Once we got through our initial, seven lucky winners, all of our other entrants received a $15 gift certificate to our website! Today’s post comes from Merrill T., who thought to share the experience of her second year Camp Huckins! Thanks for this post, Merrill!

“As my second year at sleep away camp began, I thought I was prepared for the experience that was about to commence, as I entered the white gates I began my second two weeks at Camp Huckins. The weeks flew by while I was water skiing, crafting, dressing up, singing on the tables, and staying up to memorize my lines for the camp play. One of the last nights, instead of sleeping in the cabin like we usually do, we got to sleep at the Indian Camp Fire. I slept with my friends Danielle and Daphne, but we talked into the night while laughing and having so much fun I almost forgot we only two days of camp left. By the time camp was over, I could hardly believe how much I had done in two weeks. Now I’m even more excited for next year.”

Sounds like camp was a blast the second time around, Merrill! Time certainly does seem to fly right by when we’re having the level of fun that we have at summer camp. But at least our memories last forever! If any readers believe Camp Huckins just might be a good match for you, check it out for yourself by clicking here and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

We saw so many submissions for our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest here at Everything Summer Camp; we got more than 30 entries! We’ve been having a great time publishing your entries here on the Blog! So, after seven lucky winners, all other entrants received a $15 gift certificate to our website! Today’s lovely Valentine’s Day post comes from Khami A., who shared with us her love affair with summer camp. She thought to tell us about her relationship with summer camp over the last six years! Read the fun and the passion in Khami’s submission.

“The six years I spent at Camp Blue Ridge was definitely an experience of a life time. While I was there, I learned several different things. The first thing I learned while I was there was that family doesn’t always have to be a group of people that you’re blood-related to. While I was there, I made several close friends who are like brothers and sisters to me. Being around them at camp was a similar feeling as one would get in the comfort of his or her own home. I also learned the importance of staying healthy. While I was there, I took upon many interactive activities like ropes course, archery, and so forth, which is surprising considering I’m more of an artsy, indoor person and never really went outside much before then. I did this in addition to developing new skills and making more friends. Additionally, I learned the importance of making the most of the time I had there. Those 6 years went by very rapidly, but I took in as much as I could while I learned new skills there, made as many amazing friends as I possibly could, and enjoyed the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains we lived upon every single summer. I also documented a lot of the time that I spent there with my video camera. Anyways, aside from what I learned this summer, I also met some amazing people. I met my best friend Teegan my first year and we’ve been inseparable ever since. For our first year it had just been me and her generally, however we had branched out and since then have developed a greater group of friends who I love and cherish very much. Another outstanding thing that happened while I was there was the scenery of the camp. It hailed sometimes while I was there, which is a rare event that ever occurs where I actually live. The mountains there were also absolutely outstanding. The open, vast land opened up to taller parts of the Blue Ridge Mountains which were absolutely breathtaking and heavenly. In addition to the mountains, we also had beautiful lakes, ponds, and tall trees throughout the camp. Many dandelions grew amongst the land which was another rarity that I viewed while I was there. We also had fun events as a camp, considering that we weren’t a large group of people so it was easy to work all together. We did scavenger hunts, campfires, camping, ‘guess that song’, karaoke, plays, and so on. As you can see, Camp Blue Ridge was a very important part of my life and I always love to look back at and cherish the moments I spent there every summer with the people I love most.”

Well, you certainly are a seasoned vet when it comes to summer camp, aren’t you, Khami?! It’s great to hear that camp has shown you a number of your ‘firsts’ including hail and dandelions! We love to hear that you’ve gotten so much out of your time at summer camp and that you’ve SPENT so much time at summer camp! If any readers think that Camp Blue Ridge might be a good match for you, check it out further by clicking here. And, as always, thanks for reading! Happy Valentine’s Day!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

We loved seeing all the submissions we received for our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest here at Everything Summer Camp; we got more than 30 entries! So we’re super-excited to share the entries right here on the Blog! After seven lucky winners, everyone else who submitted received a $15 gift certificate to our website! Today’s post comes from the mother of Josephine P., who thought to share the following letters from camp written to her grandmother during her stay at YMCA Camp Arbutus Hayo-Went-Ha.

“Dear Grandma:                      July 17th

It’s the second day of camp and everything is great. My cabin is Bows (the same one as last year) but I’m with different girls. Melina and Catie are in my cabin, they are my friends from my first year. The other girls are great and we are all good friends already. In total we have 7 campers (including me) and two counselors. We had waffles for breakfast and chicken pot pie for dinner. We learned how to portage today. One person holds the canoe while another leads them. After lunch we went on our ‘shake down’ (practice night for our trip). We canoed across Arbutus Lake and spent the night at a campsite. I have a new sleeping bag and it worked really well. We had dehydrated food for dinner and then s’mores. We spent the night then paddled back to camp in time for breakfast. We had our last shower today (July 18^th) and we are getting corn rows in our hair later today. That’s all I have to write about now, but I’ll write when I get back to camp from the trip (we leave Thursday).

I hope everything is going well and you are feeling better.

Lots of love, Josephine

Hi Grandma:                                       August 3^rd

I’m on the bus driving home now. The trip was amazing! We paddled in a huge circle around the park. We also had to portage a lot when we were going into a different lake. In the beginning of the trip we could only portage for 2-3 minutes at a time, but now we can go for 15 minutes. We only had two days of rain. The first storm was the worst. It caught us on the water and everything got wet. The second rain wasn’t bad at all, we were prepared this time. We usually woke up at 6:00am and paddled/portaged for a few hours. We always got to the campsite before lunch. Then we would just hang out and swim until dinner and going to sleep. There were so many wild blueberries, we would eat them almost every day. Melina (my friend) and I made a pie with the blueberries and oatmeal one day. It tasted great. We also made quesadillas. We had a layover day halfway through the trip. On our layover day we went on a day hike up to Topaz Lake. Topaz is a tiny lake up in the hills. It has a rock bottom and a beautiful blue green color. We spent the day there swimming and cliff jumping. (The cliffs were 15-20 feet tall!). Another day we stayed at Lake Nellie, the clearest Lake in the park, it was beautiful. I can’t even describe it. We swam all day and wrote “AHWH” with a heart at the end on the bottom with rocks. (You can see all the way to the bottom it’s so clear). One of my favorite memories is when Melina, Catie and I went fishing. We made the hook out of a safety pin, the line out of dental floss, the pole out of a stick and the bobbin out of a piece of foam. We used slugs as gait. I taught Melina and Catie how to put the slug on the hook the way you showed me. We caught three fish!!! They were small so we threw them back, but it was so cool that we got them. Another day we stopped mid-portage to hike to the top of a mountain called Silver Peak. The view was amazing. We could see for miles, all the lakes and trees sprawled out below us. On Day Nine of the trip we got to go to a store. We have $25.00 to spend on the trip. I bought a KitKat, Oh Henry Bar and a portage sign for $10.00. Last night we stayed at Widgawa with all the other cabins. (There are 4 cabins in total, 26 campers, and 8 counselors). There was another store at Widgawa so I spent another $5.00 on an Oh Henry Bar, doritos, and a coke. The counselors surprised us with a pizza! It was great to have real food again. We stopped at McDonalds for lunch. I got so much food. Melina and I put our last $10.00 together and feasted. Now I feel sick but it was worth it. We are almost at camp now, the bus ride was about 8 hours but it was really fun. I’ll write again and tell you what I do at camp.

Love you!

Josephine

PS – I had some extra string so I made a key chain thing. You don’t need to keep it, I just wanted to send it to you.

Dear Grandma,                       August 9-11

Camp has been so much fun. Since we have gotten back we have paddled to a park on the Lake Arbutus and made a blueberry pie on one of the grills there. It was so good we took it back to camp and shared it with everyone on staff. On Monday we did laundry. With our left over money we got food at CVS. I ate a whole pint of ice-cream and chips with salsa. For Super Saturday we had a food fight. It was a lot of fun. I was covered in pie and ice-cream. We jumped in the lake to rinse off. On Sunday the Explorers (me and the other girls that went to Killarney) lead chapel. We used the four core values of YMCA camps, Honest, Caring, Respect, and Responsibility. Last night my cabin and I slept outside in our hammocks, the moon was full so it was the perfect night. We have also done all the classic activities like high ropes, climbing wall, paddle boarding, splash mat and outdoor cooking. Tonight was casino night. We all dressed up in crazy clothes and danced all night. We had challenges and games to earn money. We used the money to bet on activities to do as a cabin. My cabin won ‘Gaga with Add Staff’. Gaga was so much fun, it was muddy but everyone got so into it. Second-to-last night at camp is Leader’s Follies. The counselors and staff put on little plays and skits. They were all very funny. Today is the last full day at camp. We are packing and had our last showers. I’m going to miss outdoor showers. Later today we have paper plate awards. Our counselors make a paper plate with silly awards for us and inside jokes. The campers make plates for our counselors too. Tonight we have Final Banquet. I’ll probably cry. Our counselors sing a song about our trip to us, they are always really cute.

Love,
Josephine”

So happy you decided to share these letters with us! They certainly are treasures. These letters are so sweet, Josephine. And we’re elated to hear what a great time at Camp Hayo-Went-Ha! You can check out Hayo-Went-Ha to see if it might be a good match for you by clicking here. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John