Linger

Today was my last day at camp.

I have been counting down to this day since my first time on high ropes (haha) and while I'm happy to say it's finally here, the moment is still bittersweet. The staff I have gotten to know at this camp came from all over the world and are some of the most incredible people I have ever met. Those who have worked camp jobs before know how closely and quickly you bond in that type of working environment. It made it especially hard knowing that so many of them live overseas and visiting them often is an unreal possibility.

To all of my dear camp friends: I will miss you all more than you will ever know. I have appreciated each of you and your hard work that made this summer possible. We each stuck it out and supported each other in one way or another at some point over these past 10 weeks. I could not have done it without you all. Thank you so much for the laughs and the experiences. I will think of you often and hope we will stay in touch. If we don't, I wish you all the best in life because you deserve it. Find joy in what you do and always follow your dreams!

On another note, I will be home in Texas on Tuesday morning!! I am so excited to see my family...I have really missed them this summer!

Coming soon will be a summer recap on the adventures I failed to blog about during the month of July. Best wishes to my dear friends Alyse and Gilly who are on their way to the most magical place on Earth: Disney World!


"I want to linger
A little longer
A little longer here with you
It's such a perfect night
It doesn't seem quite right
That it should be my last with you..."

Conowingo Creek

We have had a busy last few weeks! I went to an Orioles game in Baltimore last weekend and got on the jumbotron 8 times, a personal record I might add. We got seats in the nosebleed section, but it was right next to the camera man so I pulled out my best dance moves and entertained the audience. I had a blast!

This past weekend we decided to go tubing on the creek here at camp. We take campers tubing, but I had never been before. The rest of the group had gone to D.C. for the day, so we decided to conquer the creek in style. On Friday, we headed out to Wal-Mart and picked up these fabulous Hello Kitty shoes for $5, best purchase I've ever made!!

After putting on our appropriate tubing gear, we headed down to the creek with two infant sized tubes. Mistake number one. We spent 20 minutes hiking up the creek, only to sit down in our tubes and sink to the ground, which resulted in a 20 minute hike back to inflate new ones. Once we were all settled and ready to go, I decided it would be a good idea to take my homemade cardboard boat down the small waterfall. Unfortunately, it didn't hold up as well as I thought it would and ended up sinking right away. I spent a few minutes flopping around in the water until I gave up on the idea and got back on my tube. RIP Cardboard Boat..

A group of staff had gone tubing a few weeks ago and complained that the water was too low, but since it had rained quite a bit the past week or so, the water was perfect! We had such a great time! We came to a shallow part in the creek and had to stand to carry our tubes past the small rapids. Alyse stood up to walk and had some giant crawfish thing attached to her back. I started screaming "IT'S ON YOUR BACK, IT'S ON YOUR BACK!!" She looked at me like I was joking and made no motion to knock it off. I think she got the clue when I had a meltdown and screamed "GET IT OFF!" repeatedly. We both started panicking and finally got it off, only to immediately initiate a crawfish check. For the rest of the morning I was convinced there was one on my head ready to suck my brains out...

After we made it down the creek, we both decided that our Hello Kitty shoes were no longer meeting our expectations and decided to call it quits early. We got out on the All States trail and made our way back up to the other side of camp. For some reason, every single spider on camp decided to make a web across the trail, face level. So I designated Alyse the spider stick person and watched as spider after spider latched onto her face. After the sixth or seventh one was dangling from her hat, she decided that enough was enough and I became the spider stick holder. I eventually got frustrated and just held my tube in front of my face whilst running as fast as possible. We ended up surviving the trail...barely...and after a vehicle rescue from our German friend Spinelli, we were on our way to the comforts of a house with a washer, a bathtub, and a TV with the Olympics on. We rounded out the weekend with a trip to the Waffle House where I had "Texas biscuits with gravy"...


Speaking of Texas,
8 DAYS UNTIL I'M BACK!

Scared Scared Scared!

This past week we had off unexpectedly due to a low camper enrollment. VACATION! I was so excited! I gave my aunt a call and went and stayed with them in New Jersey for half a week. It was WONDERFUL! I can't describe how badly I have missed the following luxuries:

A shower with adequate water pressure/temperature
Edible food
A bed
Air Conditioning
Civilization

I definitely enjoyed myself and got to see some of my family that I haven't seen in over 9 years. I also got to meet my little cousin Tara for the first time, what a joy! We wrapped up the week with a trip to the boardwalk where I ran into some familiar faces:

We spent the night eating too much ice cream and watching fireworks, it was so great! Also, a special congratulations to Team Essington for defeating the claw game and winning a sweet jersey.

After leaving my Aunt and Uncle's house, I got on a train and headed out to Philadelphia. A few friends and I had planned to celebrate the 4th there, so they were going to drive up and meet me. I had it all planned out to where I would take the train in, get on the subway, then walk to the hotel. Unfortunately, I got on the WEST route instead of the EAST route...I realized my extreme error when the Fresh Prince theme song started playing over and over again in my head.

I texted Alyse and decided to get off at the next stop. Mistake number 2. I got off (carrying 3 pieces of luggage, mind you) and found myself in the heart of the West Philadelphia ghetto. I thought about staying in the subway but decided against it after people started following me around asking for money.

I parked it next to a pay phone on the brightest part of the street and waited an agonizing 25 minutes for them to come find me. It was really one of the scariest moments of my life and you would have had to be there to fully understand what I mean.

Anyways, after my friends rescued me from my poorly planned subway fiasco, we arrived safely at our hotel and spent the rest of the night with Queen Latifah, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and the Jonas Brothers. We rounded out the night with an awesome fireworks display, an authentic Philly Cheesesteak and a mob of rambunctious rioters. HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! (give or take a few days)

Summer Bucket List:

Jump in the pond here (wait until you see it)
Celebrate the 4th of July in Philly
Canoe down the creek
Find a sweet spot for my hammock
Find an entrance to an underground railroad tunnel in the woods
Use every latrine on camp
Stay a night in Bell Manor
Identify all of the mysterious berry bushes around camp, then eat them