The Sari Diaries- Friday 7/19/19

Dear Chippies, Parents, Family and Friends,

Today was HOT. But it was also AWESOME! It was action packed, unique and overall amazing. Despite the heat, the energy and silliness levels were high all day long. And here are the details…

In preparation for today’s high temps, one of our Program Director’s, Leah Berns, organized two air conditioned field trips in the afternoon. Because of those field trips (read on to learn about those), we had shortened activities this morning. Despite that, there were lots of good things happening at those activities. After four years of working at it, Emily W dropped a ski and skied around the lake on one! Ava S declared, “When it’s time to go on the bus to go home, I’m literally going to tape myself to a tree because I don’t want to go.” Good thing we still have three weeks left for her to enjoy :).

After morning activities, Colt Village enjoyed an open swim while Wrangler Village had an early lunch. Wrangler then loaded school buses to head to Lakeland Cinema to watch Lion King in 3D. The reviews were very positive though some campers still prefer the animated version. I had a chance to hang with them at the movie theater and it was very nice- a chill afternoon for the Wrangler Village campers.

Before lunch, the campers and counselors from Copper Stripes, Boots and Cactus returned from an awesome trip kayaking down the Wisconsin River. This is a new trip for us, and from the sound of it, we should make this an annual part of the CRC trip program. Second session campers from Circle C, Wagon Ridge and Rafter^X came back from Bond Falls with great stories as well. This morning they created their very own Seven Wonders Quiz before enjoying the beautiful scenery of the waterfall.

Once all of Colt Village was back at camp, they spent the afternoon at the bowling alley. There were snacks, they bowled and enjoyed each other’s company. And then everyone returned to camp for one last hour of open waterfront to cool off from today’s heat. During open waterfront, campers swam, skied, sailed and hung out on the stand up paddle boards. The water front was booming and campers were thrilled to cool off.

As for the rest of the day/night, it didn’t go quite as planned…but as we do at Chippewa, we still made sure to have some fun. The weather took a turn for the worse and in cautious Chippewa fashion, we headed to the storm shelters. Campers were with their cabins either at The Oh, The Main House or The HNS. I was in The Main House where campers were in the living room watching old camp videos. In the HNS, there was lots of singing; and at The Oh, Lakeview and Timber Walk loved playing with the Camp Doc’s dogs. As the weather lightened up, we enjoyed a wonderful brisket dinner in the lodge…and then headed back to the storm shelters just to be sure we were in the clear. Sure enough, about fifteen minutes later, we headed to the waterfront to see an incredible full rainbow across Dam Lake.

Sadly, because it was already after 8pm, we did not end up having our Friday Night Campfire. Campers and counselors went back to their cabins for a bit of cabin bonding before calling it an early night. Lisa and I went from cabin to cabin to bring everyone dessert…s’mores bars! It was very sweet to see each cabin in action. It was clear that #TheRanch2019 is a place where strong friendships are being built between Chippies of all ages.

So that was our day- it was a good one…a day that I think campers here will remember fondly for a long time. There were different highlights for everybody- be it activities this morning, a camping trip, a bus ride to bowling, open waterfront, storm shelter fun, the rainbow or cabin bonding, there was literally something special for each of us today.

Thanks for reading tonight- talk to you soon!

Happy Camping and Love,
Sari