Hey, Camp Fans!

The ‘Share Your Camp Story’ drawing here at Everything Summer Camp brought in almost 30 entries! What a great response—which is exactly why we’re eager to publish each one right here on the Blog! After our seven lucky winners, everyone else who submitted received a $15 gift certificate to our online store. Today’s post features Ella B.’s camp story about her physical and spiritual summer experience at

“Step after step. I pause to wipe the sweat off my brow using the back of my hand. I can hear my heart pounding, feel the blood coursing through my veins. I am so close to the summit, I can feel it. But standing between me and the top of Mt. Canon is a huge, almost perfectly vertical slab of rock, it’s cold and cruel voice mocking me. I take a deep breath and start to scale the boulder in front of me, gasping as my feet suddenly lose their grip and I plummet to the ground. I latch on to a tree on the way down, my white-knuckled hand rapidly losing hold. I use all of my strength to pull myself onto a shelf in the cliff. Once I catch my breath and the immediate threat is gone, I smile, adrenaline running through me like a drug. I scramble back on to the mountain and continue up the path. As soon as I climb to my feet, I see the summit, the sweet resting place I was looking for. I rush over, and collapse. Grinning, I reach into my backpack and grab my water bottle and throw a handful of trail mix into my mouth. The view is worth it. Not a soul in sight, with only the sky and the sweet smell of pine riding across the breeze to keep you company. The clouds lazily drift across the sky like a boat in the sea. I feel so small and so big at the same time. I close my eyes and let all my worries melt away.

‘Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.’ – John Green”

Thanks again for your submission, Ella! It’s great to hear that you had such an active camp stay that provided you with a cool connection to the great outdoors! To anyone else interested in Camp Arcadia, you can check it out right here. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

The ‘Share Your Camp Story’ drawing here at Everything Summer Camp has brought in about 30 entries! It was a great response! That’s why we’re eager to publish each one right here on the Blog! After our seven lucky winners, everyone else who submitted received a $15 gift certificate to our online store—so really everyone who submitted was a winner! Today’s post features Sophie M.’s camp entry about her productive and educational summer stay at Sjolunden Swedish Language Village:“Through Concordia College in Moorhead Minnesota, I have had the privilege to attend their Swedish Immersion Camp in Bemidji, Minnesota for six years. This past year was my first year as a high school credit student, which means I earned high school credit for my language learning. With 180 hours of instruction in Swedish, I passed with an A! After five years of being a two-week camper, I was finally a “big kid”. Sjolunden is always the most special part of my year, but this first year filled with learning, fun, and lifelong friends will always stand out in my mind. This camp is a passion, a love, and my second home. It will always be a part of me and my childhood. This camp means the world to me, and I can’t wait to be a counselor in four years! My friends from all around the world and the counselors from all around the world make it all worth it. I love my summer camp, and can’t wait to go back next year!”

Thanks again for your submission, Sophie! It’s great to hear that you are so driven to learn! I hope you have a great time next year at Sjolunden. To anyone else interested in Sjolunden Swedish Language Village, you can check it out right here. As always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

The ‘Share Your Camp Story’ drawing here at Everything Summer Camp has brought in nearly 30 entries! What a great turn out! We’re eager to publish each one right here on the Blog! After our seven lucky winners, everyone else who submitted received a $15 gift certificate to our online store—so really everyone who submitted was a winner! Today’s post features Flannery P.’s camp story about a wild encounter during her summer camp stay at
A letter from camp:

“Dear Mom and Dad,

Let me tell you a scary story.

It was a dark, stormy night. Okay, so it wasn’t actually dark, but it was raining. I had just gotten back from the overnight backpacking trip the eighth graders take that morning. We had less than an hour until supper, but I was about to leave the cabin. I picked up my raincoat that was still on my bed from backpacking. I was sticking my arm inside one of the sleeves when I felt a little prick. Earlier, when I was unpacking the tent, I was poked by a small piece of wood, so, thinking it was just another splinter, I pulled out my arm to check. What I saw was not a woodchip, but an actual, CONFIRMED BY THE HEAD COUNSELOR, scorpion. That’s right, A SCORPION.

I dropped my jacket with the scorpion on it in horror. One of my cabin mates yelled to the head counselor, and I started to freak out, not because it hurt, but because I thought it stung me and that I was going to die. I may have overreacted a little bit, considering it didn’t actually sting me, but it’s your fault for giving me a book called ‘House of The Scorpions’ for Christmas a few years ago. And how was I supposed to know the deadly ones are only in Texas and Mexico and stuff? Anyway, I survived. Thought you might want to know.

Love,
Flannery”

Thanks again for your submission, Flannery! It’s great to hear that you survived your summer camp stay despite your scary encounter! I’d throw away your copy of ‘House of The Scorpions’ if I were you! To anyone else who dare attends Camp DeSoto, you can check it out right here. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Lovers!

Continuing our Camp Story Submissions, today I have an entry from Ms. Cheyenne R.! Cheyenne tells us all about her awesome summer stay at Prude Ranch where she met lots of friends, had great times, ate delicious food, and bonded with beautiful horses. Here’s what she had to say about it:

“Hi, there. My name is Cheyenne Rondeaux and I went to the fourth session of Prude Ranch summer camp 2015 as a city slicker (which are the older kids). I’ll go day-by-day explaining, in detail, what happened each day. First day was Sunday, getting settled into our new cabins. My cabinet was a Harmony one. I didn’t know anyone there except for my friend Macy and Becca and I couldn’t wait to meet lots of new friends. I got unpacked and settled in finally, got to know everyone in my cabin—it was very exciting! I was really looking forward to seeing what horse I had for the rodeo and going for the two weeks! The next day (Monday) we kinda got more organized. We got our schedules for the first week of our daily activities and our rest period. My activities were swimming, funny Farm, Soccer, and, finally, archery. Later Monday night, it was Branding night. This is where all the first years come for the first time at Prude Ranch to get their butts burned by the fire! It sure was exciting because, since I was older, I was a city slicker so we have more damages and we tried to catch the little kids so they can get their booties burned! (it doesn’t hurt as bad as it sounds)! Anyways, it was Tuesday early that morning we got up for activities at 7:15. We went hitching post and prayed. At 7:45 we went and ate breakfast. After breakfast, our daily routine was to go to cabin clean-up and get ready for the first activity—Hold on!—let me just pause my story—I’m going to skip ahead advance to the next Sunday because it’s partly the same routine every day plus we have riding at three and we are separated into three writing groups which we switch off what time should we ride. Sunday was pretty exciting. We got to go and horseback ride at the Deep pond. It was pretty dang fun! After a couple hours that we continue with a regular day after going to lunch we went and slept for a few hours. We practice barrels and another form of pole bending! I ride at home so I know the whole routine of rodeo! On Wednesday we went to Balmoray pool and that was pretty exciting and we spent the night there and swam all the day while the wranglers cooked this amazing dinner and lunch and breakfast! I was very grateful for the amazing cooking! On Thursday, it’s called Dr. Pepper day and that’s when we ride into town on horses (it’s 6 miles in town). Then right through the town grab a Dr. Pepper and head back. It sounds more fun than I’m saying it but it’s still great time the Dr. Peppers’ all nice and cold for your throat because it’s all dry from the summer hot sun. Then the final full day of camp Friday. This day is the rodeo and all of us were super excited but also sad because it meant the end of camp was near. My horse’s name is Streak and he was super-fast! He won me a Prude Ranch buckle. I’m so proud of him, I love him—not just because he won me the buckle, but because of his personality. He is 16 years old but has a little kid personality. I loved it! Then finally Saturday is when we checked out, go over stuff, and packed up. It’s very sad to have to say goodbye to all my good friends I met, but I can email them or text them! We have a skit prepared to entertain our parents. Our skit was about the horses of Prude Ranch. It was super funny! We won the Beske award then we won a little carved wood with our awards on it. It’s super creative and fun! It was a sad day to say goodbye to everyone but I was glad to be home with all my animals and family and I hope to see all my friends next year and counselors!”

Thanks again for your submission, Cheyenne! It’s great to hear that your summer camp stay was so much fun! To anyone else who may be interested in Prude Ranch, check it out for yourself some time. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

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 from brother and sister Noah and Ella T.! Read about the great time they had at: I just wrote a Camp Spotlight post about Eagle Ridge on Monday. Here’s what Ella had to say:

“On my last two weeks of camp it was hard to get around because I was on crutches with a broken ankle. I couldn’t do anything athletic and I couldn’t do water sports. I still had a wonderful time at camp. I could do things like arts and crafts, archery (if I was sitting), improv, and cooking.

For theme night instead of being in a group I got to help the counselors and C.I.T’s for capture the flag, I got to ring the bell. On Wednesday, I went on the overnight. My cabin and I pranked Wisdom on Thursday. The dance was AWESOME even though I could not dance. Saturday and Sunday were trip days. The trips I went on were Cook’s Adventure and Bowling. In cook’s adventure we threw warm fuzzies all over Serenity.

Like I said before, I still had a WONDERFUL time at camp. I wish I could go to camp longer next year. This year a lot of my school friends got to share the experience with me. Maybe my school friends will go for two weeks next year.”

And here’s the entry from Noah T.:

“I went to Camp Eagle Ridge. It was fun. I like swimming because we swam out to the swim area in a group and it was fun swimming with my friends. I like going to the rocket in the lake. I didn’t take the swim test so I had to wear a life best but I will probably take the swim test next year. I got my Discovery Patch. I tried three activities I never did before. I did Ultimate Frisbee, kayaking, and Gaga. I also went on the overnight tent trip and it rained. Next year I want to go to camp for two weeks. If I go to camp for two weeks next year I get to go on a weekend trip. I want to go tubing and berry-picking for my trips. I made new friends when I was at camp. I am excited to see them again next year.”

Thanks for these submissions, guys! It’s really great to hear that you two had such great summer camp experiences at Eage Ridge (even despite a broken ankle!). To anyone else who may be interested in Camp Eagle Ridge, check it out sometime! And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John