Experiencing A New Girls Camp - Day 1!

I was up so late on Monday night, gathering things last minute to bring to camp. Finishing pillow gifts for my cabin (sleep masks) and secret sister gifts (t-shirt..my girl loves dogs!)

I was up early (6am'ish) on Tuesday to pack the car, finish gathering things, shower and eat something. I was so nervous though! We were meeting at the church at 7am and I got there at 7:08 and we didn't leave until almost 7:45. Mormon standard time I guess! I wish I had known we were not leaving on time and I wouldn't have rushed so much at the end. I ended up taking 3 girls in my car and I caravan-ed with 2 other ladies in the ward who were driving up with girls in their vehicles.

Once up at camp, I had no idea where anything was, where to park, what to do, where to go, etc. It seemed like people kept telling me to do things or asking me questions and I would just kind of stare blankly because I didnt know how to process what they were saying or what answer to give.

Part of the parking lot area. You can also go down around to the left which is where my car was parked.

I carried a few things to my cabin and someone parked my car for me, backing it in with the other ones. I grabbed a few more things from my car and brought them to the cabin. I had thought it would be great to bring donuts for the girls in my car and then none of them wanted the donuts so I had a box to figure out doing something with.  Awkward. 

I got my schedule for the day and tshirt. I was a cabin mom in the 15 year old cabin (they dont do levels anymore - boo!) and they were all out on a hike so it was kind of just me solo in the cabin for a bit trying to set up my space.



Inside our cabin. There was a window on the wall to the left.



Left pic is door on the other side of the cabin
Picture on the right was my bed space. Nobody slept above me. I haven't slept in an actual cabin at girls camp in so long! At Camp Ritchie I usually get a bed up in the lodge or the nurses cabin upstairs.



A difference at this camp vs. Camp Ritchie is that each cabin had their own bathroom. So the 15 year old cabin kept the left half of the bathroom (separated) clean each day. My knees almost hit the door in the bathroom stalls. I didn't attempt to take a shower. 

Had some camp orientation for a bit and finally the 15 year olds started arriving and claiming their bunks. I had a nice girl named Dorian who moved to Bishop from Arizona. There were some other nice girls in the beds around me as well.

Started out right away once the girls arrived with a spiritual hike. It was interesting that they did this during the day instead of as an evening activity.

Afternoon electives, I kind of just picked one. There was a guy who teaches shop somewhere in Ridgecrest, maybe at the college, maybe on base, I don't really recall now. Maybe he just teaches students how to fix cars. But he brought this car up to camp, let girls learn how to change a tire and a few other things and then let any girl drive it who wanted to. Even the 12-year-olds! I am not sure about the 11-year-olds turning 12. That was impressive...the girls I saw do this did a great job. He was a good teacher.



The girls also got to do archery. This is Dorian taking a turn.







Mexican food themed dinner - straight down to the churros. Wow!
The cooks went all out. There was a new head cook this year (Arlene) and she did an amazing job as did her crew. Each meal we had was really good.







After dinner cleanup. I'm used to wooden tables with long benches and wood flooring. This was linoleum tiles and 6 or 8 foot tables with bright orange chairs. So different. 



Everyone bringing their own dishes to eat on and hang to dry after every meal.



Another thing very different - is we had to bring our own dishes to eat on and wash them after each meal. This is the station set up behind the lodge with a garbage can to scrape scraps in to and then 3 different buckets to wash, rinse and sanitize. Apparently the trash is 2 hours away so in order to cut down on garbage, they have people eat on their own dishes and take care of them themselves. 



Campfire had some songs, not really any games, some of the adults shared things. Different than what I am used to but not bad I guess. It felt lonely because I was always sitting by myself. The few people I knew already had people sitting by them usually. I should have sat with my girls maybe but didn't want to be hovering.

In the evening there were group scavenger hunts. It was a lot of walking around camp to and from the locations but the girls seem to have fun. It was like an escape room with clues to put together but all outdoors.



Girls putting together the clues



The lodge at night.

And then a ward or two (ours was Tuesday night) got to go get some night photography done with the stake president. He is very talented at this. Some nice ladies (most or all were in my ward I think) invited me to ride with them a couple miles up the road to the spot. Which I swear I have been to before but in the dark it was hard to tell. This was so nice of the ladies to invite me because I was feeling really sad and lonely with everyone joining up with drivers and I felt like I was the only one who didn't know where to go.

Was able to get a solo photo by myself. So very cool!

By the end of the night I was feeling a lot better.