While there is no such thing as a perfect day, life at camp today was almost picture perfect. We woke up this morning to a cool breeze in the air that brought campers snuggled in sweatshirts down to Reflect at the Rock. The sun quickly warmed the mountain and beamed brightly for our Session A panoramic photo after breakfast. After smiling til our cheeks hurt, cabins raced to get a popsicle on the way to their second period. The temperatures were in the high 80’s for most of the day, and the evening brought a chill that only North Carolina can provide - the perfect temperature to sleep soundly.

Favorite Details of the Day:

• Reflect at the Rock - Reflect this morning reminded us all to make the most of every moment at camp; slow down and appreciate the gift. Don’t count the days (because they are going to fly by)…make the days count.
• Meals - Breakfast was the yummiest egg and sausage casserole and breakfast potatoes. Lunch was PIZZA! Dinner was the biggest hit…Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya and Sensation Salad (A favorite meal for this Louisiana girl). I was amazed at how much salad these campers ate. Apparantly, if you put it on the table it tastes better than making one at the salad bar!
• EP - Tonight’s EP was Cabin Challenge. Cabins dressed in theme and ran all over camp to compete in everything from musical ice buckets to freeze dance or relay tic-tac-toe. Cabin 1 took the victory in the finale of tonight’s EP!
• Off-Camp Trips - One of the things I love the most is getting our campers into the nature of Western North Carolina. Today we sent our campers rafting on the Nantahala River, hiking in Pink Beds and climbing at Table Rock. Adventure is waiting, and our campers went to find it.

I loved watching the enthusiasm of our campers on camp today. While we have a lot of returning campers this session, there was a joy on all of their faces as if they were enjoying each event as if it was their first time. As I looked through the pictures from today, I am reminded that pictures don’t tell the whole story. While they show us the pride of hitting a bulls-eye,the joy while flying off the blob or the surprise from sitting in a bucket of ice at Riverball, they often do not show the events that led to these beautiful emotions. They don’t show the struggle of missing the target completely from the first two arrows, or the counselor talking to the camper who was scared to death to jump off the dock, or even the strike out a camper had in the first inning before the bittersweet ice bucket. At camp we measure growth through the process and not the product. I am happy to report that the pictures only tell you part of the story, and these stories are truly worth 1000 words.