Hey, Chess Players!

Natural born Chess player and legend in the making, Bobby Fischer was born on March 9, 1943. He quickly rose to prominence as a chess prodigy, winning his first of eight US Championships at the age of 14. His unparalleled talent and dedication to the game set him apart from his peers, leading him to become the eleventh World Chess Champion.

Fischer's most famous match came in 1972, when he faced Boris Spassky of the USSR in Reykjavík, Iceland. Dubbed the "Match of the Century," it was a showdown that captured the world's attention and symbolized the Cold War rivalry between the US and the USSR. Fischer's victory in that match solidified his status as the greatest chess player of his time.

Despite his remarkable success, Fischer's career was not without controversy. He famously refused to defend his title in 1975, leading to his forfeiture and the crowning of Anatoly Karpov as World Champion. Fischer's eccentric behavior and occasional erraticism only added to his mystique, making him a fascinating figure both on and off the chessboard.

Fischer's legacy extends beyond his playing career. He authored the influential book ‘My 60 Memorable Games,’ which remains essential reading for aspiring chess players. He also invented Fischer random chess, a variant of the game that adds an element of unpredictability to the starting position of the pieces.

As we send our children off to summer camp, it's worth reflecting on the lessons we can learn from Bobby Fischer's remarkable journey. Chess is a test of strategy, patience, and determination. Just as Fischer pushed the boundaries of what was possible on the chessboard, so too can our children challenge themselves to reach new heights in their own pursuits.

So, as your child embarks on their summer camp adventure, ask yourself: Did they discover any new games or activities that captured their imagination? Did they uncover hidden talents or passions that they never knew they had? Perhaps they are just discovering a fascination with the game of Chess!

Just as Fischer's love for chess propelled him to greatness, who knows what adventures await your young camper as they explore their developing skills as well as the world around them? Till next time, Folks. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey there, Campers!

Popping onto the summer camp scene in 2009, our Pop Up Soft Trunk was an immediate game-changer! Unlike anything that came before it, this marvel of design was tailor-made for the specific needs of campers, with an array of pockets, an organizer in the lid, and even wheels for easy transportation. It features a wire frame within that allows our trunk to “pop up” so it can essentially function like a hard trunk that campers can actually LIVE out of during their time away from home.

Creating the C&N Pop Up Soft Trunk, however, was no walk in the park. It took the tireless efforts of the Product Development team at Everything Summer Camp to bring this dream to life. They set out to address the frustrations of traditional duffel bags, which lacked structure and organization. Campers needed something they could live out of.

Our team KNEW we had to offer an alternative to our hard trunks, but how could we bring the form and structure of a hard trunk to a duffel? After two years of intense development, countless prototypes, late nights that became early mornings, and more caffeine than they care to admit, the team finally unveiled their masterpiece to the camp world.

With its collapsible design and convenient features, the Pop Up Soft Trunk became an instant hit among summer campers. No longer were they forced to rummage through formless duffels or deal with the limited storage of plastic bins. Instead, they could enjoy the ease and convenience of a bag designed with their needs in mind AND offers collapsibility for simple storage.

Today, the Pop Up Soft Trunk remains a staple of summer camp packing, offering campers the perfect blend of functionality and style. Available in a variety of colors and patterns here at Everything Summer Camp, it's the ideal companion for any camp adventure, providing ample storage space and effortless portability.

So, the next time you pack your bags for camp, take a moment to appreciate the incredible journey that led to the creation of the Pop Up Soft Trunk. And as you wheel it around with ease, remember the dedication and ingenuity that went into making your camp experience a little bit smoother.

Until next time, happy packing and Happy Camping!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

Throughout the month I’ve been announcing the winners to our annual ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest. And, today, the time has come to reveal our grand prize winner for this year’s edition. Find out right here and right now—the winner of our $300 gift certificate is….

Marie H.!

Awesome!!! Congratulations, Marie. You’re our grand prize winner!!! Marie wrote in to tell us about an interesting camping experience she had joining a youth troop. Read her account of a dark and hungry outing right here on today’s Blog post:

Ruffled

“‘Just bring yourself,’ she said. ‘We've already got all the food we need for the trip.’ She'd invited me to join her son's youth troop on an overnight in the mountains, one I've never been to, and I jumped at the chance. After all, it wasn't more than a 90-minute drive from my apartment and I've been working too many hours, so time with family in the outdoors with a chance to see the natural world through the eyes of a troop of 8-year-olds sounded incredibly appealing. Bonus: They had the food bases covered.

‘Okay, I'll bring chips,’ I said, finalized the campground details and hung up.

Three hours later, I was on the highway headed to camp.

Four hours later, driving.

Five hours later, tent pitched, I decided to walk around and await the troops.

Six hours later, slight concern but traffic happens. Enjoying the scrub jays.

Seven hours later, anxiety level rising, no troop yet. Rush hour must be worse than expected.

Eight, nine hours later, same, amplified. It's dark, no troop, just me, my Coleman tent, one bottle of water. Just that and a bag of chips.

I stopped counting hours. I'm on a mountain, cell phones didn't really exist yet and there's not much else to do but wait. I'm not driving back down A pitch-black mountain road. Besides, if they show up and I'm not here, they'd worry about me. Wouldn't they?

Sometime that night, stomach growling, I tear open the Ruffles bag. The salt makes me thirsty, the grease makes me just a bit queasy, as does the slight anxiety over where my party might be. I listen to crickets, remove the tent fly so I can see the stars. Eventually my thirsty queasy self falls asleep.

I hear the voices before I'm fully awake calling to one another, young voices, excited, an older voice giving directions. I can smell the campfire, hear them talking about potatoes, bacon. I'm salivating and it's no dream. In a nearby campground, a troop of Boy Scouts is going to town on breakfast burritos and fruit. Yes, I'm tucked in my tiny tent listening intently to every word. So hungry. My mouth still feels slick from the potato chip grease, I'm dehydrated to a ridiculous degree and haven't eaten real food for too many hours.

What would they think if a disheveled young woman walked up to a boy she didn't know and offered money to buy a burrito? Would it send him screaming for help? Would I get arrested? Would they pity me, feed me, raise their eyebrows, and then have to ration their own portions?

Hour 22: I pack my gear, start the drive down the mountain. Stop at the first place I find on the way home that sells food.

Hour 48: All is well. The troop—not the burrito-makers—ran into road closures, traffic delays, decided to camp closer to home. In the frenzy of rearrangements, they forgot I was tagging along. Even if they hadn't, how would they have reached me? All resolved.

But to this day, I can only eat Ruffles in small amounts, and I always pack my food and water first, no matter what!”

Wow, what an unforgettable adventure! This spontaneous trip really took a turn for the worse when you’re just waiting the whole time along with nothing but your Ruffles! It’s amazing how you turned a situation like that into a funny, memorable story—I could practically feel your hunger and hear those crickets in the dark. The part about hearing Boy Scouts enjoying their breakfast while you were starving is pretty funny, but too bad you couldn’t go get one of their burritos!

Thank you so much for sharing this unique camping experience with us—it’s a great reminder to always be prepared for any situation! That concludes our big prize winners, but stay tuned each week when we publish our participants’ submissions so you can catch all the great entries we received this year. As always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

The Everything Summer Camp ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest is in full swing, and we’re excited to announce more winners and share their amazing stories on the blog. Today, we’re thrilled to reveal our second $200 gift certificate winner!

Congratulations to Leandra L.!

Leandra is our Second Place Winner, scoring a $200 gift certificate to our camping gear shop! She shared her fun story of attending Camp Hickory in Illinois. Check out her full entry here:

“My camp started on June 17 and it ended on June 21. It was a great camp experience because it’s a church camp and we had so much fun. At camp I made a lot of friends and we had fun activities. The food was great and the worship services too. If you go to a church camp or this church camp even you’ll probably have a great time. The counselors are nice. Bathrooms are good. There are senior cabins. The seniors are Seventh grade and up and then juniors are sixth grade to third grade. The staff there at the camp nice. This was a great lakes region camp so only the churches in the Great Lakes region who signed up with the church were allowed to go. This camp took place at the campground camp Hickory in Illinois. There were some wildlife, but they didn’t harm us just deer and things. We had field rec and a lot of other activities. The seniors went to bed at around 12 also, I was a senior this year. And I believe that juniors went to bed at about 10. We all woke up at around seven because breakfast was at eight. We also had to clean our cabins every morning and if you won cleanest cabin, you got bragging rights and cabin points and if you got dirtiest cabin, your cabin would have to walk around with a toilet seat on their head and they have to clean up after every meal. You got cabin points by doing good things participating in the activities and volunteering to clean up, but it has to be the whole cabin but also, some individual people in the cabin can help get you cabin points as well. Either way this camp experience is super fun and I will continue going for my fifth year next year.”

Awesome, Leandra! Sounds like you had an incredible time at Camp Hickory! It’s really great to hear how much fun you had making new friends, enjoying great food, and participating in exciting activities like field rec. How cool that you got to be in the senior cabins this year and stay up until midnight—what a fun perk! The cleanest cabin competition is a good idea—hope you didn’t end up with a toilet seat on your head! Glad to hear the wildlife was friendly too.

Thank you so much for sharing your fantastic experience at the Camp Hickory with us, Leandra. We can’t wait to hear about your fifth year next summer! Anybody else interested in attending the Camp Hickory can check out the website by clicking here. Come back on Monday when we announce our Grand Prize Winner for the Share Your Camp Story Contest and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

It’s the Everything Summer Camp ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest! We’re in full swing for this year, announcing our lucky winners and sharing their stories right here on the Blog. Today, I’m announcing our first $200 gift certificate winner! Today’s winner is….

Sadie S.!

Congratulations, Sadie! You won a $200 gift certificate to our one-stop camping gear shop! Sadie gives us her story of her time at Camp Harlam this summer in Kunkletown, Pennsylvania. Read about it in her Contest entry right here:

 Click here for an enlarged view of Sadie's Letter.

“Camp means so much to me in many different ways. I meet new friends, do lots of fun activities, and try new things. Each one of those things makes camp more and more special.

My first reason why camp is so special to me is that I make new friends. Every year, we don’t end up in the same exact bunk as the previous year which lets us make a new friend. Some of the people that I became friends with, I had no idea that they would be my friends. Even if some of my friends aren’t in my bunk, I still can hang out with them. Meeting new friends makes camp more memorable each year.

Secondly reason Camp Harlam means so much to me is that there are many fun activities. All of the activities are so fun and help me become braver or more happy when they get completed. I love the zipline. Sometimes, the process getting up it makes me braver when I am up there and waiting to zipline down! Also, when climbing the tower, people get scared that they will fall. It is actually really fun when you are climbing it if you focus on the fact that you are attached to it so you can’t fall off that. You are getting higher and higher each step and that your bunkmates might even be cheering you on. At services, we all come together as one camp to sing prayers and some songs. We make the prayers more fun to sing by adding claps to it in between some words. The activities at camp never make me bored. They always make me excited.

My last reason why camp means so much to me is that I try new things. I try new foods that I thought that I didn’t like until I tried it at camp. I also tried new things when we went to Dorney Park as a camp. I went on new rides that I was scared to go on. Camp is about trying new things!

Camp Harlam is so memorable and makes me look forward to the summer!”

Camp Harlam sounds totally awesome, Sadie! Making new friends every year sounds like such a special part of your camp experience. It’s great to hear that you’re pushing your limits with activities like the zipline and climbing the tower! It's awesome how you also enjoy camp services, adding claps to the prayers and coming together with everyone. Trying new foods and taking on the rides at Dorney Park shows just how much camp helps you grow and step out of your comfort zone.

Thanks for sharing your amazing camp journey with us, Sadie! If anyone else wants to check out the great time to be had at Camp Harlam, check out their website by clicking right here. Check back in with us tomorrow for our second place winner and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John