Monday: We arrived at Eastlake Elementary at 7:30 AM with all our luggage in tow. It was still drizzling out after have rained hard all weekend. The kids were all excited and ready to get going. Once the buses and band truck arrived (to transport luggage) we loaded up and headed south to Davis. There is nothing like a 1.5 hour drive on a school bus with 30 girls singing at the top of their lungs. Once we arrived we found our luggage and hunted out our cabin. The camp site was just as muddy as it was back in Oklahoma City and dragging luggage through muddy fields is no easy task! We ate our lunch and then headed to the activity center for orientation and a tour of the camp. We also completed group and individual cabin photos. Once photos were done we headed back to organize our cabins before dinner. After dinner we did square dancing and a couple of team building exercises, then it was back to our cabins for lights out by 10 PM. We had 9 girls in our cabin with 3 parent counselors. We had a good group of girls with only a couple of minor issues common amongst 11 and 12 year old hormonal girls, but otherwise no behavior problems.
Tuesday: We were all up bright and early and headed to the dining hall for flag raising and breakfast. After breakfast we got on the bus for the 2 mile drive to Warren Mountain and started on our 2.5 hour hike up Warren Mountain. We all expected the hike up the mountain but none of us realized we were actually going to have to CLIMB the rocks at the top! The only way to do it was on all 4's and it was TOUGH! As a kid I was the one who was too afraid to climb the monkey bars so climbing a mountain was a BIG stretch for me! The Principal was on the trail with us and knew my history and cheered me on the whole way. Like me, he knew that a year ago that climb would NEVER have been possible! Later that night many of the other camp counselors and staff came up to me to congratulate me on what I had accomplished as Johnny had been sure to tell them all what I had done. After our hike we had lunch and then a short rest period before heading to the ranch for horseback riding. Again it was something I had never done. Yes, you can call me a chicken. I was nervous at first but it passed pretty quickly. Well, unless going downhill. Downhill on rocks is pretty scary. We rode for 45 minutes and then headed back to camp. The girls went to dissect owl pellets while the other counselors and I got to take a kid free break. After dinner was the snake show. I got close but no snake holding for me. It was lights out at 10 PM and the girls fell right asleep after a full day. I on the other hand cried silently to myself when I realized how much I had accomplished this day.
The weather held out for us today. It was still muddy from all the previous rain but the temperature was perfect.
Wednesday: You guessed it, up bright and early again! It was different this morning -- it is raining, and at times pretty heavily. But, since there is no lightening everything goes on as planned. As you can probably guess, by the time the day was over we were all covered in mud. Today we did the Lake Trail. It circles Lake Classen but it is still surrounded by mountain area so there were still several steep inclines and declines on rocky surfaces -- in the rain. It was a pretty hike though with lots of history. After this hike was lunch and another short rest period, followed by a rotation through 3 activities: challenge coarse, canoeing, and archery. Watching the kids trying to communicate with each other through the challenge exercises was quite interesting. Canoeing was something else I had never done before, or had most of the kids. This made it quite interesting as it was hard to get everyone doing the same thing at the same time so we spent a lot of time going around in circles. But, we did not go swimming (aka tipping the canoe) like one of the groups of boys did! After canoes it was archery. I discovered that archery is a natural talent for Giorgi. Everyone was shocked at how well she did having never even seen a bow or arrow before! After dinner was a flag retiring ceremony followed by smores by the fire. I had never seen a flag retiring ceremony before I it was very moving, leaving even some of the kids in tears. The flag was cut into enough pieces that each of us got to throw a piece into the fire. And with all the physical activity I have been doing so far I allowed myself to enjoy a smore as well!
Thursday: Today is our last trail day. No rain today but today's trail will still be the muddiest so we told all the girls to put on their dirty clothes for the morning hike. Today's trail is the Fossil Trail. We headed up and over Vesper Ridge. Today brought the one thing I absolutely could not bring myself to do: there was no way I could get close to the ledge of Confusion Canyon, never mind climb OVER that ledge and down into the canyon. I stayed up above while the others went down. Once they were back up we finished out the trail by digging for fossils. This area is full of fossils that show proof that this area of Oklahoma was once covered with ocean -- a concept hard to imagine. After lunch we had more canoeing, archery, and challenge coarse time. It was more fun this time without the rain and no one went swimming this time around. After dinner we went on 2 more short hikes -- a sensory awareness hike and another hike up to Vesper Ridge to look down over the surrounding landscape at night. By this time my leg muscles were really screaming uncle and the hike to Vesper Ridge was even harder than climbing Warren Mountain! At one point it became impossible to lift my leg one inch further so I stopped and rested a few minutes and then was able to make it the rest of the way to the top. All of this was preceded by skits put on by all the cabins. Those who really know me know that ordinarily I would never get up and do something like this in front of a group of people, but this time I did -- and I enjoyed it too!
Friday: We are headed home today. Everyone is exhausted and ready, but sad to go at the same time. We pack up and clean our cabins, as well as complete our assigned clean up tasks around the camp. We hoped for a quieter trip back home but the girls still had some energy left and sang the whole way home.
Words cannot describe how happy I am that I got to experience this week with Giorgi, AND that I was able to enjoy it as well. I know that there was no way I could have physically handled all of the strenuous exercise that was involved had I not lost weight.
The school Principal has promised to make Camp Classen a yearly sixth grade event. That means Elizabeth will be attending in 2 years. I have decided to let Chuck go next time. Not because I do not want to do it again, but I know he would enjoy it as much as I did and I want him to have the experience as well.
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