So much is going on, it’s hard to imagine that we are sending 75 girls home tomorrow, many of whom have had their first amazing Illahee experience. Almost 200 are staying put for the full four-week session, and we have some special treats in store for them over the change-over weekend. These two weeks, marking the first half of the session for our four-weekers, has flown by.
Tonight, I took the Hillbrookers to Sliding Rock and Dollys, a rain date after Tuesday’s planned trip was postponed. As often happens when flexibility makes its way to the forefront, we wondered tonight whether we should make the final night of the mini session and a trip to Sliding Rock a tradition. It is about as much fun as you can have in an evening, and a terrific culmination to two weeks of fun! I will tell you, that taking the youngest girls adds almost 45 minutes to the average time of the trip. There are the girls who just need a little time to muster courage at the top, there is lost and found to be reckoned with, and ice cream just goes a little slower into smaller tummies. So, if efficiency is the goal, we were underachievers tonight. But, we sure did enjoy the process. I love the energy and excitement that comes with a trip to the “Rock.”
Today was another gorgeous day in the “Heavenly.” We had a few cooling showers around lunchtime, but nothing like last night’s dump during evening program. I felt a little sorry for the maintenance crew today. They take such pride in making camp look good all the time, but especially for openings and closings…to the point of getting down on hands and knees and fluffing pine straw and turning the edges under. Vincent, our site manager, and I were meeting yesterday and I congratulated him on how great camp looked…not thirty minutes after he left, the rains came, and an inch and a half later, a half day’s work was left. Luckily, today was beautiful and it looks good again.
Where to start today? The run down…our top tennis players and soccer crew took a trip up to Cedar Mountain. Our Trips Climbers went to Painted Rock and practiced rapelling. Kayakers were on the Chatooga River, and there were several sign-up trips…a waterfall hike to DuPont, a canoeing trip on the French Broad river. Tonight’s evening program also included a visit from the reptile man with snakes and other varmints as well as a big challenge game of kickball. Dee, one of our chefs, made an amazing homemade lasagna with Italian bread, and Caesar salad for dinner…a cookie pie. Yummm.
We’re up for a busy day tomorrow with our Mini 1 close, so I am going to sign off .