Hey, Camp Fans!

Time is running out! There are only several days left to get your entry into us for our unprecedented April Share Your Camp Story Contest from Everything Summer Camp. The mailbox is still open for now and will be until Thursday, April 30. So hop to it if you haven’t yet or complete your story if you started your story but aren’t finished just yet and get your story submitted to share with us!

We asked for your stories from last summer: your favorite memory, your new friends, the activity you liked best—whatever you like. Or if you’re feeling super positive about this upcoming camp season, you can write about that too. Pretty much anything goes.

Also, be sure to mention the name of the camp you attended and what you loved most about it! Include your first name and your last name initial and how long you’ve been going to camp. We loved hearing about your summer for the last few years and I can’t wait to receive a fresh new batch of camp stories from this year!

In case you’re not feeling overcome with inspiration, check out the suggestions I made when I first announced the contest. Read that post by clicking here.

If you have yours ready to go, take care of it now and click here.

We’re doing things a bit differently for this edition of our Share Your Camp Story Contest. There will be one random winner chosen who will receive an Everything Summer Camp gift certificate of $100. A winner for second place will be randomly chosen as well for a $25 gift card to our store. And all other participants will receive S’more Bucks (our reward point system here at Everything Summer Camp).

So, get your submissions in to us, Camp Fans! And, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

You know who else is a fan of summer camp? As well as founder and chief executive of Dell computers Michael Dell is a former summer camper. In fact, this isn’t the first Blog post I’ve posted about Mr. Dell. But in our country’s time of need throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Michael Dell has decided to forgo his salary for this year and contributed $100 million to help fight the current pandemic.

In his previous post, we learned about his upbringing in Houston, Texas as well as his time spent at Camp Champions along the shores of Lake LBJ near Marble Falls. But that first post only scratched the surface. Let’s learn more about this business mogul right now!

Wunderkind
A wunderwhat?! A wunderkind refers to somebody who is very successful for their age. That’s exactly what Michael Dell was in his freshman year of college. He brought in $50-80,000 from his dorm room by supplying his fellow students as well as his teachers with computer services. It was easy after this to convince his parents he didn’t need college.

Giveaway
$100 million donated to the fight against the coronavirus is a huge amount of money, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to his total donations he’s made throughout his life. He’s currently at donated $1.5 billion to charity and he’s always giving more.

AI Deny
While contemporary thinkers and theorists such as Elon Musk or Michio Kaku have thrown in their warnings of the potential for AI (or artificial intelligence) to be developed beyond the control of mankind, leading to a takeover from digital and robotic entities. Michael has made himself clear that he does NOT believe AI takeover is a possibility.

On behalf of Everything Summer Camp, we’d like to say thank you to Michael Dell for his generous donations in response to the coronavirus pandemic. To everyone else, stay healthy and active. And, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Wishy-Washers!

Doing the laundry nowadays is as simple as loading a machine and pressing a few buttons, but this chore used to be much more involved and labor-intensive. The further back you go, the longer it took to do the laundry. And our methods of cleaning our clothes have shaped how we store and haul our dirty laundry.

In ancient times, people would tend to settle in spots nearby water sources since water is such an essential part of our lives—not just for consumption and survival, but for cleaning ourselves and our clothing as well. And back then, cleaning laundry was something practiced only by those with servants to do the chore.

And what a chore it was! A lot more than adding detergent and applying the right settings, washing clothes involved beating clothes over rocks and then scrubbing with abrasive sand or stone. After that, the clothes went into a process that we all know as the spin cycle: pounding the wet clothes with wooden tools or simply stomping them underfoot.

By the 1800s, wooden washboards had become popular to help make the chore less of a production, but, it still wasn’t until the early 1900s that the electric washing machine really cut this chore down to actual convenience. But where were laundry bags this whole time?

There’s not much record of them existing for a very long time. It seems that people stuck to wicker baskets for much of the evolution of laundry cleaning. Baskets and hampers are still the preferable choice for domestic use. However, the rise of community laundry services like your local laundromat brought people out of their homes to do their laundry and that’s when laundry bags found their time to shine.

While baskets can be beneficial to carry not just dirty clothes to the laundry room, but it can hold the clean, folded clothes to be carried back. To actually transport clothes out of your home and back, however, laundry bags are much easier to haul. As you can imagine, laundry bags are a popular and often times required item for summer camp.

Check out all the cute, stylish, and printed laundry bags we have available at our online store and enjoy picking out your favorite of our plentiful options! Bring convenience to your camp experience with your laundry bag and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hello, Hikers!

Hiking is a staple to pretty much every summer camp across the country! Taking a rigorous daytrip  through the camp trails doesn’t require much except a backpack packed with water along with anything else you want along and a good pair of shoes! We’ve got you set here at Everything Summer Camp when it comes to quality hiking boots and trail shoes from leading names such as Northside.

Take a look at one of our latest additions from Northside with the Gamma Mid Hiking Boots. We’ve got a pair for boys and we’ve got a pair for girls, but aside from the look, they’re the same Hiker. Both are designed with an athletic appearance and given top notch construction.

You don’t have to hold back on your adventures at summer camp when you sport your Northside Gamma Mid Hikers! These rubber sole mid high rise hikers are made with athletic lightweight knitted nylon upper with breathable riptstop nylon inserts, molded high-frequency injection, and an abrasion-resistant molded rubber toe guard for great protection as you traverse the wilderness terrain.

Constructed to keep kids' feet cool, dry, and comfortable, Northside gave these boots a cushioned EVA insole with moisture-wicking lining, a gusseted tongue, and a padded collar. Boots like these are no joke when it comes to comfort! Your feet would never know you were trudging through the woods or crossing rocky terrain.

For trips that lay a long stretch of trail ahead of you, make sure to keep your feet comfortable on those long journeys and get your Gammas on! You can browse all the rest of our Northside footwear collection when you click right here and consider all the options we have to offer. Enjoy hitting nature hikes with the proper hiking boots and, as always, thanks for reading, Camp Folks!

- John

Hey, Camp Folks!

There are lots of cool things you learn throughout your camp stay. Some are crafty while some are athletic, others are academic and some are survival skills. The proper filtration of water is an essential survival skill which can come in very handy should you ever find yourself in need in the wilderness! Water filters can be made with common camping material and other natural items from around a campfire. Check out what you need:

Plastic bottle, scissors, cloth, charcoal, sand, grass, and rocks.

It’s surprisingly easy to put together. Simply cut off the bottom of your plastic bottle, position it upside-down, and lay a small piece of cloth over the mouthpiece opening—this is just to ensure nothings falls through. Gather some charred pieces of wood around the campfire for your charcoal and fill the top inch or two of your water bottle with it. On top of that, add an inch or two of sand. Then roll up a good handful of grass and put that on top of the sand. Last, add a couple inches of rocks.

Pour your stream water or whatever water source you have handy over the stones in your plastic bottle. The water will run past the rocks which will filter out any larger particles like chunks of sticks, leaves, or dirt in your water.

After that, the grass will catch any other larger particles like frog eggs and other things you definitely don’t want to drink!

The water then reaches the sand which starts working on catching lots of the smaller contaminants that slipped by the rocks and grass.

Lastly, the water passes through the charcoal to give it its final and, in some ways, most important stage in filtration. I say most important because the charcoal layer is the one that works on the most micro level removing contaminants from the water that you can’t even see!

Now that this water is filtered, keep in mind that you still don’t want to drink this—you just ran water past a bunch of stuff that you found on the ground! It’s not purified for consumption! You need to boil the water. Parasites that can do you harm cannot survive at 170-175°F, so bringing your water to a rolling boil is a surefire way to provide yourself with properly purified and 100% safe water for drinking.

Enjoy your drinking water and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John