The Sari Diaries- Sunday 6/23/19

Saturday, June 22 by Sari Hirsch

Dear Chippies, Parents, Family and Friends,

It is hard to believe that week one has already come and gone. Though the time has flown by, it also feels as though so much has happened. That’s a thing that occurs at camp- so much goes on in a day that it feels like a week but each week passes by so quickly that it only feels like a day. As for the details of our first cabin day at #TheRanch2019, I am excited to share them with you…so here it goes.

This morning began with the famous CRC Sunday Breakfast. Cliff made incredible omelets, Lisa’s pancakes were out of this world, Ruth’s special pancake was a hit and a few people even enjoyed a scramble that I prepared. Campers lined up outside the Adler Lodge as early as 7:30am in order to be some of the first to enjoy their breakfast to order. I am pretty sure that everybody left the lodge feeling happy and full!

After breakfast, we boarded the buses to head into Minocqua. I always love when the entirety of Chippewa infiltrates the small town of Minocqua. Walking from restaurant to restaurant and store to store, there are Chippies everywhere! I stopped by Otto’s to find the cabins of Wagon Ridge, Blackfoot, Cactus and Timber Walk enjoying lunch. At the sushi restaurant, Trailriders and Lakeview were consuming A LOT of food. And at the Thirsty Whale I got to spend some time with A-Frame, C-C and Bowed Legs. We had a very important conversation about Trailriders 2020, as they will be joining together in that cabin next year. While we all love being in camp together, there does seem to be something special about an all camp trip into town!

Upon returning to camp, we had a number of awesome and unique cabin activities going on. Silverspurs hosted a spa while the cabin of Cactus told scary stories. The youngsters in Blackfoot had a great idea of offering their plumbing services around camp. While they didn’t do any actual plumbing, they made signs and plenty of announcements to let people know that they are here to lend a hand. It was silly and campy, and quite honestly, hysterical. While all of this was going on, Wagon Ridge and Lucky-X were searching around camp for inch worms and frogs. They ended up finding a couple of frogs and made a nice home for them (don’t worry, they have since been released back into the wild). Basically, this afternoon was the perfect cabin day…a little bit of a looser structure, but lots of memories created between campers and counselors all over camp.

After a pizza dinner, I got to witness a very cute scene at the new Gaga Ball Pit. Playing an intense game was a crew consisting of Halle S, Lauren G, Reese S, Brooke R and Georgia S. They were very focused on their game and were taking it seriously through their giggles. I love seeing a mish-mosh of age groups hanging out, and seeing the eight year-olds and thirteen year-olds together made me smile! The evening ended with a nice movie night. Campers gathered in the New Building, the Little Theater and the Main House with their canteen, blankets and crazy creeks to enjoy a movie together.

I think that’s about all for now but at the conclusion of our first cabin day, I am happy to report that #TheRanch2019 is off to one of the best (if not the very best) starts in Chippewa’s history…or at least the last 27 summers. There will be plenty more excitement in the upcoming week as trips start going out, evening programs continue and daily activities progress. Thanks for reading tonight :).

Happy Camping and Love,
Sari