Our first set of whitewater rafting trips for this camp session happened today. Bus and van loads of Middlers and Seniors, 60 in all, made the trek over to the Nantahala River to take a wet and wild ride. It’s now a deep tradition for Rockbrook girls to raft this popular river, one that we started way back in the 1980s. Rockbrook is fortunate to have a forest service permit allowing us to run trips without outside help, using our own gear and our own hand-picked guides. That makes a big difference to maintain the upbeat, friendly vibe of Rockbrook on these trips.

Of course rafting is exciting and fun— wearing the cool gear, riding in the raft with your friends, the shock of the “freezing” cold water, goofing around for the camera at different points along the trip, and the thrill of bumping and splashing through the rapids. We were lucky today to have excellent weather, warm and sunny skies keeping everything bright all day. This is the kind of outdoor adventure we love at Rockbrook— thrilling, funny, and packed with friends. Perfect!

Here’s something I spotted on the bulletin board outside the dining hall. Can you tell what it is? It’s a flier announcing one of the many camper-led clubs at Rockbrook. Starting a club is something that’s caught on this summer for some reason. Anyone can start their own club. All you need is 2 or more people with a common interest, and then a time and place to meet. So far this session, girls have announced about a dozen of these clubs, each designed to invite others to join. During the announcements after meals, club members can come up and pitch the details of their club.

The 0% club is one of my favorites. It’s a club that invites people to show up with any kind of fear, and then working together, they reduce that fear to zero. “We will fix that !! 🙂 ” Isn’t that amazing!? Another is the “Finding Things” club. This one meets at the dining hall, and you can show up if you need to find a lost item. The members of the club team up and help you find it. This club fixes things too. Other clubs celebrate certain individuals, for example the “Sofie Society” and the “Ismini Club.” There’s a “Lima Bean” club for all those (and their like-minded allies) who “love lima beans.” There’s a “Space Club” for anyone who “cares about space.” There are clubs devoted to different book series like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, as well. We can only imagine the conversations that happen in each of these clubs.

I love the spirit of this club-creating phenomenon! It shows how the girls here understand the value of joining a group of people, of being open and accepting of new friends, and belonging to something with a shared interest or concern. They may not be able to tell you a deep reason why they are forming their club or why they enjoy doing so, but I think it’s a wonderful expression of our camp culture— enthusiastic, positive, inclusive, social, and little zany too.

I feel like all of us would benefit from joining the 0% club… but that’s another discussion.

Camp is a place where costumes are expected and celebrated. It’s common, in fact, for at least someone to be wearing something that transforms their look. It might be as simple as a pair of goofy sunglasses or hat with cat ears, or it can be a whole body banana suit, both of which I spotted earlier this week. We know that wearing a costume provides a special freedom of sorts. It allows a person to let an otherwise hidden aspect of their personality show. It’s a chance to parade something of yourself, or perhaps to expose your creativity, all just for the fun of it. Sometimes, we’ll dedicate an entire day to a costume theme, like today’s theme of “grannies.” All around camp, you could bump into folks who were more hunched over than usual, who seemed a little grey or who had a raspy sounding voice. People were wearing nightgowns, using walking canes, and a few seemed to have wigs. Many campers adopted names of their old lady personas. You could meet an Ethel, a Gertrude, and a Nellie today at camp.

Tonight’s evening program continued this theme by gathering everyone back in the dining hall for a rousing bingo tournament! Like all expert bingo players, the girls kept multiple cards up to date as Casey and Marston, our Bingo Matrons, spun the basket of labeled pingpong balls and announced the letter/number of each ball that emerged. We played Frank Sinatra, danced a bit, and had a grand time slowly filling our cards until someone shouted BINGO! That won a prize of some sort for the entire cabin group playing— cookies and milk, popcorn, or popsicles, for example. It was another example of Rockbrook girls being a little silly, playing a game together, laughing (a lot!), and enjoying the feeling camp.

The first day of activities at camp, what we might call a “regular day,” is definitely not regular for the girls who just arrived at camp. For the girls new to Rockbrook this is even more so. It’s the first day of experiencing some of the special aspects of camp life. It’s waking up in your cabin a little chilly (temps in the upper 60s) but to the sounds of chirping birds. It’s sitting in the dining hall with your cabin mates, eating a warm bowl of oatmeal with dried fruits, nuts, and granola. It’s heading to your first camp activity, one of the almost 30 options you selected. It’s finding out the surprise flavor of today’s freshly baked muffin served at “muffin break” (it was “funfetti.”). It’s encountering a surprisingly large bug on the fence at archery. It’s smelling the wood smoke at the campfire in WHOA, the outdoor skills activity. It’s learning the parts of a loom and giving weaving a try.

This is the first day when you can take a ride down the waterslide during the “Free Swim” period before lunch. And ride it again, and again. It’s the first day when you decide for yourself how to spend your free time… maybe playing tetherball with a few other girls from your line. It’s a regular day of other activities to try, so all over camp today there were girls happily climbing, tumbling, swimming, paddling, shooting arrows or rifles, hitting tennis balls and of course riding horses. Groups were riding the ziplines, tying and dying t-shirts, and just lounging in their crazy creek chairs on the hill. It’s a regular day that balances being active and being artistic, having free time and lots of things to choose to do. There’s time for rest and for play. It’s a day filled with laughter and friends. It’s very different from home, and packed with new, fun experiences all day long.

Because it’s so different from home though— different food, different sleeping setup, no parents, no electronic entertainment, for example —today can also at times be a day when a wave of homesickness hits. Especially during rest hour, that quiet time after lunch when girls often write letters home, their thoughts of home can become overwhelming and they can feel sad. It’s very common for campers to miss their family when they are away from home. Even seasoned campers feel a twinge of homesickness now and then.

It’s completely natural and healthy to miss home, just as it’s natural for parents to miss their children while they’re away at camp. But of course, being away at camp is full of rewards too, so the secret to recovering from homesickness is to lean into camp life, to get busy, and begin to experience some of its benefits. As campers adjust to camp life, finding themselves being even more excited to try new activities, spending more time with their camp friends, being more regularly engaged with the camp community, those waves of homesickness become smaller and less frequent. Being at camp over several days inspires greater courage to overcome the challenges that make camp a place to grow.

The caring and supportive community of Rockbrook make it a wonderful place to work through feelings of homesickness, too. More than likely, with time and some encouragement, girls refocus on the fun of camp and begin to enjoy their newfound independence and confidence. It can take time, but it’s amazing to see that transformation arise!

Today was a day filled with first feelings, a complex array of real world experiences, thrills and adventures. You should be proud of your girls! They are doing great at camp, and I predict they’ll continue to grow more comfortable and confident as the session unfolds.

Today was the day when the girls attending our third session of the summer could finally begin their long awaited time at Rockbrook. Beginning at 8:15 am or so and continuing throughout the morning, girls and their parents (and sometimes their dogs too) lined up and drove through our check-in sequence patiently tolerating each step of the process. It was obvious to me that this last bit of waiting in line was torturous for the girls given how long they’d had already been waiting for this day, some waiting for months or even a whole year for this. Thankfully the line kept steadily moving and soon the girls were meeting their counselors on the hill.

It’s a big deal to get ready for camp. There’s all the health forms, the covid testing and protocols (Thank you for doing that!), the packing, and the travel —all of these take a lot of planning and effort. Meanwhile, the campers have visions of camp in their heads —all the new people they’ll meet, the different activities they’re looking forward to trying, and the surprise events they know are coming. There’s a lot to be excited about, especially when it’s been building all summer long.

No wonder we saw girls literally vibrating with excitement, sometimes nervous excitement, but clearly jittery, wide-eyed and happy this day had arrived. These girls were ready! They were ready to get all this preliminary stuff out of the way, to stop just thinking about camp, and to finally get started doing it.

When they met their counselors at the last stop of the arrival process, each camper received a name tag made from a slice of mountain laurel and strung on a piece of lanyard. It starts out simple, but we encourage the girls to personalize their name tags adding nicknames, beads and other decorations that they might desire. Some can get quite elaborate! This summer the campers also receive a purple lanyard and clip so they can keep a mask handy. Especially at the beginning of the session, we are asking everyone to wear a mask when they are inside a building (except in their own sleeping cabin where masks aren’t necessary). We’re hopeful that our pre-camp COVID screening has been successful keeping the virus out of camp, but in case we were not 100% successful, masking like this will help minimize the spread of an infection if one should crop up. We hope to be able to relax these standards as the session unfolds.

After a fantastic comfort food lunch (homemade mac-n-cheese, salad and cool fresh watermelon), the age groups took turns touring the camp, meeting with their Lineheads, and heading to the lake for the “swim demos.” The tours are especially fun for the new campers because they learn about the major buildings in camp (dining hall, health hut, gym, office, etc.) as well as the different activity areas (archery and riflery ranges, climbing tower, tennis courts, nature nook, etc.). For the returning campers, the tours are another chance to chat and get to know the other girls in the cabin, and really to begin to settle down into the rhythm of camp.

It being so hot and sunny today (not record heat for us, but still close to 90 degrees), most everyone was happy to have a chance to jump in the lake this afternoon. Our “swim demos” are our introduction to the lake, and when the lifeguards assess how comfortable each camper is swimming in our chilly mountain lake. Showing you can jump off the dock, go under water, swim confidently and tread water for a minute are what we ask each camper to do for the swim demo. Campers who can’t do all of this comfortably can still enjoy using the lake, but we will limit access to the certain parts of the lake or ask they wear a lifejacket as appropriate. These are the summer days when the lake is very popular. For everyone!

This photo helps summarize the feeling of camp at the moment. It shows a cabin group hanging out after the swim demo, chatting and getting to know each other. I think it shows a little bit of awkwardness, but also the beginnings of friendships. This makes good sense for a group that’s been here only a few hours. I’ve found it can sometimes take a little time for the girls to loosen up and relax, both new and returning campers alike. Coming to camp is a big change from life at home, and it simply can take a little getting used to. It can take some time to dig into the activities (we’ll launch right into that tomorrow), to understand that folks at camp are genuine and nice (no posing necessary), to realize that this is a place where it’s easy to be included. It often takes a few days to understand the rhythms of camp and to become more confident away from parents.

But I can tell we’re off to a great start, and whatever awkwardness is lingering at the moment will certainly fade. There are more stories to be shared, natural wonders to explore, new activities to try, and fun surprises to experience this session. There are more smiles on the way!

It’s a question you’ll here around camp, and one that girls have asked me probably every year. “What’s your favorite banquet?” Usually, I try to answer in a way that doesn’t commit to any single favorite. I’ll say something like, “I’ve seen so many good ones!” Which is true, since over the years I’ve been to more than 40 different banquets. Of course a few are more memorable because they are exceptionally well done— elaborate costumes, detailed wall decorations, great music, and entertaining dance numbers and skits. Generally though, all banquets, these end of session parties, are really fun events that everyone at camp looks forward to.

This session’s banquet was no different, but I have to say, it ranks up there as one of the best. The CA campers (9th graders) and their counselors created a one of kind experience for the whole camp that I think everyone will remember as amazing. Their surprise theme was the 1980s. They called it “Retro Rewind,” and it featured colorful characters, images and popular styling from the decade. Naturally, music from the 80s was a big part of the party, with familiar pop songs lined up in the playlist.

The sounds of Madonna, Michael Jackson, The Cure, Hall & Oats, Billy Idol, Whitney Houston, Cindy Lauper and more got everyone up and dancing, and singing along. Most banquets mix into their music selections contemporary pop songs. Not this one. They had more than enough upbeat, fun dance songs to play, songs that despite being 30 to 40 years old, were familiar to the campers and staff.

We could say something similar about the painted panel decorations that lined all the walls. They showed an incredible variety of 80s references, from music, movies, television shows, and celebrities. There were panels featuring, Star Wars, the Outsiders, Pac Man, MTV, Dirty Dancing, Ghost Busters, Top Gun (the original!), Raiders of the Lost Ark, Back to the Future, and Footloose to name a few.

The CA girls all dressed as different 80s characters. With 29 CAs and 6 counselors, there were a lot of costumes! We had smurfs, jazzersize instructors, Care Bears, Star Wars characters like Princess Leia and Darth Vader, Ghost Busters, Jurassic Park characters (including a T-Rex!), Scooby Doo and Velma, Maverick and Goose from Top Gun, Stevie Nicks, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, and others

The dance numbers were fantastic! The version of Thriller, led by Michael Jackson, brought the whole camp to its feet cheering. Madonna’s performance of “Material Girl” was just as exciting. “The Time of Our Lives” from Dirty Dancing included some incredible acrobatic dance spins. The whole camp loved seeing the performances.

The campers wore their camp t-shirts to the banquet. This year’s yellow shirt fit right into the theme. They sat at tables grouped by their lines (age groups) to eat their meal and to watch the CAs perform. We ate “Tetris Tots,” “Marty McMelon Balls,” “Time Travel Tenders” “Super Sonic Salad,” and “Retro Rockbrookies” for dessert. Half the time, everyone wasn’t sitting; they were up and dancing, jumping and spinning to the 80s music.

The vibe of this 80s banquet was incredibly upbeat and joyful. All of the elements amplified the celebration— the costumes, the party favors, the candy, the black light and mirrored ball, the neon color scheme, the pumping music, the sheer exuberance of the campers singing and screaming with delight. You’ve probably never seen this many girls having this much high energy fun. It’s an experience that can’t be recreated anywhere except at camp. That’s probably an important reason why Rockbrook girls all love the banquet. They get to experience it only once a year.

But I think they also love it because it’s fun like nothing else, and that I think comes from the friendships that form the base of it all. The special bond they feel with their camp friends makes this party special as well. Knowing each other this well, caring for each other this deeply, feeling accepted and encouraged this fully, empowers the girls to let loose a little more, maybe dance with more gusto. The smiles, the singing, the dancing arm-in-arm, the energy of it all— it’s electrifying. Truly a blast.

This was a terrific banquet. Just ask anyone who was there. They’ll probably admit it’s one of their favorites.

It’s long been a theme of mine to point out how camp is different from life at home. It obviously is. After all, that’s why you send your girls. You want them to have the sort of unique experiences camp provides— opportunities to explore, worry-free time with friends, a break from technology, more fun, etc. There’s no doubt that what girls do at camp, what they get at camp, how they feel at camp, is different than their lives at home. We love that Rockbrook provides a strong sense of community, regular moments of adventure and creativity, genuine kindness practiced and received, constant face-to-face communication, and all in a beautiful setting and among really great people. It’s worth identifying these differences because I believe they are what make camp not only delightful and often surprising, but also inherently educational and formative. How a particular difference makes a difference is usually interesting to consider.

So I’m always on the look out for ways that camp life differs from the “real world.” A good example happened today after lunch when we surprised the girls with the “Biltmore Train.” This is a special event that’s become a tradition of sorts at Rockbrook, something that many of the returning campers look forward to each year. Its name is derived from the Biltmore Estate, the property near Asheville built by George Vanderbilt between 1889 and 1895. The estate originally included a working farm, and a commercial dairy that would deliver milk products to local businesses. On a regular basis, a truck from the Biltmore Dairy would come to Rockbrook to bring milk products, in particular, ice cream. These trucks were decorated with a train motif, probably as a nod to the Vanderbilt family’s ties to the railroad business in America. It soon became a tradition for Rockbrook girls to meet the truck/train as it pulled into camp, and enjoy a cone of Biltmore ice cream right there on the spot.

The Biltmore dairy has since closed (It has a become a winery and tourist destination.), but we still celebrate the memory by holding an all-camp ice cream party once per session. But there’s a twist. The girls are allowed to have “unlimited” scoops of ice cream, but they only get one cone. Their strategy is to carefully (and quickly!) eat the ice cream out of the cone, and get back in line for a refill. Eat ice cream, not cone, and repeat… making a train! With each trip though, the cone begins to disintegrate, ultimately becoming a soggy blob incapable of holding any more ice cream. For the determined, it’s possible to end up with four or even five scoops. There’s a rumor that someone once ate 15 scoops, but I think that’s impossible.

Today’s Biltmore Train after lunch was exciting and fun. We had three stations set up, each with three different tubs of different flavors. This shortened the lines, and spread out the significant work our counselors did hand scooping all those cones. In the sunny and warm afternoon, the girls had a blast refilling their cones, chatting and laughing. As the cones softened, they also got a little messy, hands and faces becoming stained and sticky. But that too was part of the fun.

I asked a couple of campers if they were enjoying the event, and one said, “Oh yeah, I love ice cream!” Another, older camper said, “yes, but I’m only getting 2 scoops. That’s enough for me. You might wish for unlimited ice cream, but when you get it, it’s too much.”

How insightful! A big part of the fun of the Biltmore Train is the chance to eat multiple scoops of ice cream. Different from home where parents wisely put a limit on such a sugary treat, the campers can have their wishes for more come true at camp. But with those wishes come the consequences of getting messy and perhaps having a stomach ache. Too much of a good thing, and it can easily become bad. Or at least uncomfortable!

The Biltmore Train event is another opportunity at camp for the girls to make their own decisions, in this case how much ice cream to eat. It’s strange and exciting in its excess, but at the same time a little serious because it can end up making you feel bad if you go too far. It’s a decision of degree, of “how much” rather than “yes or no.”

It’s great to see the girls play with this decision, and to gain some experience that will help them down the road, both in knowing how much ice cream is too much, and in knowing that some decisions are matters of degree. I suspect most of the campers don’t appreciate this aspect of the Biltmore Train at camp, but it appears that some do… sticky faces and all.

Let’s take a quick look at camp “free time.” If you’ve seen the Rockbrook daily schedule, you’ll notice there are three main blocks when the girls are not scheduled to be at a certain activity, meal, or age group gathering— “First Free Swim” right before lunch, “Second Free Swim” right before dinner, and “Twilight” right after dinner. The idea behind all this free time is to avoid over scheduling the campers’ days (something that’s pretty common the rest of the year) and to provide them with even more opportunities to decide for themselves how to fill their days. We think it adds significantly to that great feeling of freedom the girls love about camp.

How the campers spend their free time is fascinating. It varies widely. They have the whole camp at their disposal, and while certain activities that require skilled instruction or special supervision for safety reasons are closed, many areas are open. So we provide lots of options, but don’t require any particular thing. For example, the girls can finish craft projects in one the many craft areas if they like. They can visit the tennis courts to practice serving or the gym to shoot some hoops, and of course the lake is staffed for those who might want to swim or cool off with a ride down the waterslide.

There are a couple of organized clubs that meet during the First Free Swim. One is the “Rockbrook Runners” running club. Anyone interested can meet at Hiker’s Rock near the dining hall and join the group as they head out on a 2-mile loop through the woods of camp. Some folks run, and others walk. It’s a gathering of all age groups and abilities. For those dedicated runners, logging 26 miles (13 for mini session campers) earns them a spot in the “Marathon Club.”

Another club meets at the lake for a different form of exercise— swimming laps. Here too, the goal is for anyone interested to swim a certain number of laps and be inducted into the “Mermaid Club.” There are different amounts of laps that each age group needs to swim to be deemed a “mermaid,” but when they complete the number, the lifeguards announce their name in the dining hall. This is true for all of the various club achievements; we recognize members during the announcements that follow a meal.

It’s also common for campers to use these free swim periods to meet up with friends from different cabins or even different age groups. They’ll meet at one of the tetherball courts, the gagaball pit, or the new nine square in the air court. The youngest girls have fun during free time playing in the creek by Curosty. They’ll take their shoes off and wade in the water, rearranging rocks to make waterfalls and currents. Others will grab their crazy creek chairs and sit on the hill reading. It’s the same for the many red rocking chairs on all the porches at camp; they’re great places to relax and read a book.

During the after-dinner “twilight” time, we always schedule some kind of optional activity. It varies from playing a huge game of dodgeball in the gym to a hula hooping contest on the hill. Last night, a couple of counselors led a session of joke telling, essentially a group stand up comedy show. The counselors take turns leading these twilight activities, so you never know what will be announced at dinner.

Perhaps the best thing, however, to do with this free time is to take advantage of the freedom and simply do nothing. Yep, it’s nice for these campers to give themselves permission to just relax with no expectations of productivity or progress. Some of the older girls love this. They take showers, hang out and talk, and just soak in the vibe of camp… completely at their leisure. Like that resort vacation where you spend all day at the pool ignoring other amenities and activities, these girls enjoy just being at camp with their friends. That’s the core experience for them, and it’s made even better somehow during their free time. For them, it might be “free,” but that makes even more valuable.