During the week of July 18 to July 22, I went to Walden West summer camp with my sister, Amy.
It was a blast.
And got me screaming sentimental songs in the shower for 20 minutes after it ended. Again.
Okay so before I start, just going to say that I’m going to be referring everyone by their nature names (which are names they came up with at the camp), because I’m not gonna reveal their private info without their permission. Except for my sister.
Just saying, my nature name’s Willow.
At first, I was really reluctant to go–it’s for 2nd to 7th graders, and I’m going to 7th grade next year. After the traumatic experience I had at Gorin Tennis (see “Not Fair”), I really didn’t want to be the oldest in a group again. I thought it would be terrible.
Lol, I was so wrong.
Groups
First off, there were 7 groups this year and each group was pretty much for a different grade level, so everyone in my group was the same age as me.
Songs
And at first, when we sang the first camp song “Banana Slug” I thought it was extremely cringe cause the lyrics go like, “Ba-na-na Slug, Banananananana, Ba-na-na Slug…” etc. And there were some “weird” movements. There were also lots of other weird songs like Tan Oak and Lump of Dirt and Bags of Water and Dance Dance Dance (though I never really did like that one).
By the end of the five days I’d learned not not care about that stuff. It was fun and the songs (especially Banana Slug) brings me lots of memories. And there’s also two songs that are serious and have some pretty sentimental lyrics. I still sing “I Wish You Well” a lot (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMONXP3UjFI, it’s so good!).
Hanging Out
So, besides Amy (whose nature name was Fog), I also went with my neighbor and friend, Redwood (wow it’s so weird referring to her as that). She’s a grade below me, and her older sister’s a grade above me, and I was originally only friends with her sister (because I walked to school with her during the past school year, I was in 6th and she was 7th but Redwood was only 5th. This year I’m walking with both of them). But now, I’ve gotten to know her too and I’ve enjoyed becoming friends.
I had a great time hanging out with her and Amy. Every day, we’d go hiking/exploring with our groups in the morning, but after lunch, we were able to mingle with the other groups and do free activites.
Free Activites
Okay, these were pretty awesome.
There was so many… here goes, I’m trying to list out all the ones I participated in and also some more…
- Camouflage
- Sproutball
- Jedi Tag
- Coyote Dodgeball
- Soak the Counselor
- Giant Jenga
- Swimming
- Steal the Treasure
- Feeding Snakes
- Nature Lab
- Water Balloon Toss
- Strings and Things (making lanyards)
There’s a lot more, but I have the memory of a fish (quote from 6th grade teacher).
I repeat: they were awesome.
Group Activities
Like I said, the mornings were for group activites.
*inhales*
Okay, so I had an AMAZING field instructor, Lobster.
Like, superbly extraordinary.
When we were on our hikes he’d teach us lots of things and he gave me steady, calm, but still funny vibes. Basically he possessed all the good qualities of a teacher and a person. To me.
We also had 4 counselors, Thistle, Terramorphus, Bush, and Twig 3 (there are 2 other counselors named Twig hehe). Of the four of them Thistle and Terramorphus were my favorites. They didn’t look bored and didn’t give the feeling of Ugh-I-hate-these-little-kids but I rather liked talking to them instead.
And even though I wasn’t really friends with anyone in my group (except maybe Rattlesnake, Tree, and Snowdrop) and I didn’t talk much, I still had a great time and I learned a lot.
We petted snakes too, and I love Claudius (or according to Lobster, Cornelius) the corn snake. I dunno, he’s just so shiny and oily-but-not-oily and… okay, he’s just an epic snake, alright.
Thursday Night
On Thursday night there was an option for an overnight stay at the camp, where you get to sleep under the stars. I’m not a very sleep-under-the-stars type of person though, and I was pretty tired, so Amy and I went home at about 8 (Redwood stayed to sleep).
But despite that, it was still really fun, because we ate dinner there, and after dinner there was a cool show thing.
We did “Amazing Camper Tricks (dun-dun-dun-dun)” which was, tbh, pretty boring, cause the campers had repetitive tricks and they weren’t really awesome. I kept telling Amy to go up and perform her dance stuff cause she was better than some other people who did dance stuff up there, but she was hesitant and only raised her hand for the last few turns and she was never called.
But then the field instructors/teachers did an epic dance, Two Dudes in a Bad Mood. It’s actually on Instagram here. And then, ten to fifteen counselors did another dance, I’m not sure what it’s called? If I Were a Counselor What Would I Be or something like that. It was really cool too.
Overall, I had a really great week at Walden West and I’m really sad that I had to leave. And next year, I can’t be in the normal summer day camp anymore, but I’ve decided that I’m going to do Leaders in Training (LIT) which is for rising eighth graders at the camp.
The camp’s ended for me now, but to remind myself of the wonderful times I’ve got there, I have a t-shirt, the hope of being to return next year as a LIT, and endless precious memories of the marvelous and happy place called Walden West.
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