I’ll have to admit, I thought we were crazy when I saw the “Program Notes” this week and saw that Sliding Rock was scheduled for tonight. After all, it’s Saturday night of a long holiday weekend. The weather has been absolutely perfect, gas prices are lower, and it’s hot everywhere except the mountains. That’s a recipe for a busy scene. But, I have my trump card. A couple busloads of squealing 10-12 year-olds will clear a swimming hole like nobody’s business. And it worked like magic again tonight. The line that was there when we arrived, dwindled down to nothing and each of our girls got to slide til her heart’s content…four or five times.
Sliding Rock is a treasure. If you aren’t in the “know,” I completed my Sliding Rock Challenge this May, taking a trip down each month all winter long. From easy slides in September to breaking ice in January, it was indeed a challenge.CRAZY! I love nothing more than taking girls to the Rock, and though there are plenty of staffers who are as or more capable of running a great trip, I just don’t want to miss it. I have a crazy outfit that transforms me into a complete geek (like I need help) that I started wearing so long ago that I don’t even remember how it came about. I guess it is watching the excitement and pure joy on the faces of little girls all the way up to our “big” girls on staff. It’s just THAT much fun. Part of the fun is the inside joke that everyone “gets” when we drive past Looking Glass Falls on the approach. Everyone points and yells “Sliding Rock”! Of course, to the uninitiated, Looking Glass with its 60′ sheer drop doesn’t look like a lot of fun…and probably wouldn’t be. Years ago, way before my watch began, an Illahee year-round maintenance staffer and avid kayaker ran the falls successfully during high water. But, I digress.
Heigh Ho, our middlers got to go tonight. As if Sliding Rock were not enough, topping it off with a couple of scoops at Dollys is icing on the cake (cone). Dollys has anchored the entrance to the Pisgah Forest since I was a camp counselor back in the eighties. It is just one of those all-time great ice cream shops…generous scoops, and a nice front lawn to sit and hang out on a perfect summer evening. Dolly loves Illahee, and comes out and gives hugs and signs bumper stickers, posing for pictures. Illahee Swirl is one of 15 or so summer camp flavors; the first and still the best selling. The idea of a group of Sparks ten or so years ago, the camp flavors are her most popular.
So, how many is too many? We put up what I feel may be too many photos today. I don’t want to overwhelm, and maybe I’m wrong. My thought is that given time, you can go through them and tag them, even if you can’t keep up this summer. If it is overwhelming, wait til your camper gets home, let her go through them and tag herself and then you can look only at those images!
The other two hills had a great night as well. HIllbrookers had the swim lake all to themselves for a luau and swim party while the elders..Pineview…watched a movie in McLeod. Tomorrow will be a little bit slower-paced, but not much. We will take cabin pictures and portraits in the morning after a little later wake-up bell…and then enjoy worship in the Woodland Chapel before a great Sunday lunch. The Olympics will be the program for the afternoon…a cookout and then campfire.
There are NEVER too many pictures! We truly appreciate all of the time and effort in taking and posting photographs of the campers. It really helps us, as parents get to see and enjoy what our daughter is doing while she is at Illahee and makes us feel like we are at camp too! It is also fun to see ALL of the girls grow up through the years too! thank you for your nightly blogs, photos, words of wisdom, and watching out for all of “our girls”! Your entire staff is amazing! Thank you all!