I'm not a camper. I actually used to have a luggage tag that proclaimed my position on that pasttime, similar to the one shown here. I come by my distaste for "roughing it" rather naturally, since my mom once brought her microwave on a church group camping excursion, as the primitive cabin we were staying in didn't have one...But I do have to say that the camping experiences I've had have shaped me in some pretty important ways. As a pre-teen, I attended Camp Lu Lay Lea (stands for Lutheran Laymen's League). I won a Polar Bear award for getting up early each morning and taking a dip in the icy lake, learned how to shoot a rifle and draw back a bow, and had a moving spiritual moment on the candlelight prayer walk.
Later, I returned to Lu Lay Lea for a summer stint as a counselor, which aided me immeasurably in preparing for a teaching career. I learned how to lay down expectations and stick to them, let myself get a little nutty for the benefit of my campers (like allowing them to adorn me with dead fish so we could win the "Ugly Counselor Contest"), and realized that what kids really need most is love.
My brother Kurt was a counselor that same summer, and it was a wonderful bonding experience for us both. I really think I saw him for the first time as something other than a pesky little boy that year. I'll never forget how the cabins vied for an opportunity to have us come sing them to sleep with the ever-popular lullaby, "Hit Me With Your Best Shot." (He could play a pretty mean guitar even then.)
Last week, Creating Keepsakes hosted an online Summer Camp for scrapbookers. Gals around the globe crafted and chatted and created. (Though the official week is over, you can still take a look at the classes and recipes and quizzes here.) We ate ants on a log and s'mores, shared our favorite camp destinations, and created projects based on camp classics like boondoggle lanyards and pinecone bird feeders. What struck me most was that even though we weren't in the woods or by a lake, the campers and I developed that same spirit of camaraderie. When Friday came, it really did have that bittersweet "goodbye until next year" feeling.
So yeah, I'm not a camper. But I gotta admit, I'm itchin' to sit around a campfire and float on an inner tube on a placid Michigan lake. (I'm hearin' a little Kid Rock..."summertime in Northern Michigan...") Come with me!
So, what are your best camping memories? I'd love to hear about your favorite times communing with nature. Grit, insects, varmints, lack of creature comforts and all, it's a magical summer thing to do...
Beth
Hi. I am looking for an older download from CK magazine. It's the recipe book pages from the May 2008 issue. Would you know how I could find that download again? I'd appreciate any help you could give me. Thanks.
Megan
Posted by: megan | July 20, 2009 at 12:01 PM
I love NOT camping too, but just like you I did my time working at a Lutheran camp. LOVED IT! I'm attending a counselor reunion in two weeks. Your photos look like the same time period...83,84,85. I didn't receive a Polar Bear award, since we only had creeks running through the grounds, but I was a charter member of The Order of the Spoon, inducted when I placed an industrial sized camp kitchen spoon completely in my mouth (ice cream was part of the deal for us charter members. Later inductees didn't have that luxury.)
Favorite memories? Besides Order of the Spoon?
First summer working in the kitchen with the cook, Della. She'd order her kitchen helpers our own monster tub of ice cream. The site director never figured out about this cost, as far as I know. We had to climb a make-shift chicken wire gate in the back of the pantry area in the lodge to get to the locked( we knew where the key was) freezers after hours. (That is when the Order started... in a dark kitchen with flashlights.)
He would lock it up so nobody could steal food. I don't know who would sneak in to nibble on big bags of rice, flour, #10 cans of green beans and tomato sauce, but I guess some kids didn't receive care packages from their parents, so you never know. And hey, the ice cream was ours. Della told us so. Della loved us and we her. We would sing to her while cooking.
Grace before each meal..."God is Great" sung to the tune of The Flintstones or Jaws theme. And of course, the Johnny Appleseed song.
Playing the guitar quietly to put my campers to sleep at night. I never had a problem with them being giggly or chatty. They always fell asleep quickly and without fuss.
The best part of camp was the friendships I made. I am still very close to three of my co-counselors from those three years. I'm the godmother of their combined 4 children, and we're family.
I love telling camp stories. (Oh, also, I never attended Lutheran camp as a kid, but went to YMCA camp on Spirit Lake at the base of Mt. St. Helens. The year that I wanted to be a CIT, the volcano blew. No more camp.
I also love visiting your blog. Separated at birth, possibly? Lutheran girl, Lutheran college, Lutheran camp counselor, mothers who don't rough it (My mom said "I'll go camping if I can take my own bed and bathroom, thus we never camped as children.) teacher. I haven't moved on from teaching, though. I'm crafty, but not entirely talented. My dream would be to work with plants or dogs.
Thank you for sharing your joys, laughter, talents, and life with so many. I've been a fan of your scrapbook style, and enjoy checking in once in awhile (one-sided, I know) with you and your sister.
Enjoy the rest of your summer.
Posted by: Julie | July 21, 2009 at 12:00 PM