Goodbye Camp Augusta

My month volunteering at Camp Augusta was amazing. I was welcomed into the community with open arms (literally, they're all big huggers) and felt right at home. I was a HERO for the entire period, which means I didn't have a cabin of campers that I slept with and spent a majority of the day with. Instead I was able to spend time with lots of different cabins and villages. There are 4 villages... Pine for the younger boys, Manzanita for younger girls, Cedar for older boys and Oak for older girls. I was primarily a HERO for Manzanita, but teaching clinics and participating in the evening programs/games allowed me to interact and get to know campers from all the villages. Some of the clinics I taught include Plant and Animal Farm (we have 5 goats and some chickens plus a good size garden), Felting (my very favorite), Tie Dye, Candle Making, Candle Carving, Friendship Bracelets, Hemp Bracelets, Recycled Bowls, Celtic Arts, Plantable Cards, Paper Marbling, Wire Jewelry, Creative Boxes, Puppet Making, and Book Binding, plus non-Arts&Crafts clinics like Crazy Canoe and Giant Swing.

(another cute goat picture :)

I also led a variety of PlayStations (not an electronic game... they are games and activities outside) from arts and crafts to an hour of silence (love!) to Creek Hammocking to Taunting Traffic in Costume. Camp has lots of photos of these activities that I will get a copy of after summer ends (so I'll probably share more later), but here are some fun pics I took with my personal camera.

Hippie Themed Lunch

(pilar, eleanor, katie, lilly, and me in hammock village)

edible flowers from our garden. they were quite peppery

(margaret, franny, emma, eleanor)


other tasty camp meals



the secret pool and the secrets ;) it shall keep




one of many costumes



the Wood Cookie i received along with a touching speech on my last day at camp

To everyone at Camp Augusta, thank you for embracing me as your own and allowing me to share in the magic.

the Sunday Special - Camp Augusta Cookies

Soon (hopefully tomorrow) I'm gonna post more camp pictures and some from my weekend in San Francisco.

In the mean time, you may enjoy the Sunday Special ... 'Ode to Camp Augusta' edition.

A friend of mine who works in the kitchen at camp, did something really sweet for me. I made a request that we have cookies (not just any cookies, but camp's chocolate cookie bars) for dessert before I left. The menu was already determined and cookies were not on it so instead, he invited me to come back to the kitchen after work was done for the day, and make a small batch of cookies with him.

in the kitchen with Jim

the recipe

Yummy cookies!

Quite a few staff members were hanging out in the kitchen that night (like a lot of nights) and so sharing of the cookies became a fun part of the experience. Oh, and it took 5 tries to get a picture of me without a few goof balls in there too. Here are a couple funny outtakes.

Wild Wednesday - Camp Style

Ok, so this happened last week, but it is so WILD Wednesday that I had to post-post it.

We have a Canoggan at Camp. For those who don't know what that is... its a Canoe on Wheels with steering levels and "a brake" that we pile counselors and campers a like in and go cruisin'.


Well, I was assigned to accompany one of the Pine (younger boys) cabins for a ride. My first time ever in it. Their counselor was at the steering levers in the very front. There were 5 young boys and me on "the brake". I was told that the brake is really for aesthetic purposes and bringing a little comfort to the nervous. Well, I for one was a little nervous. I had seen others ride in it and even seen a crash. Actually given the choice, I don't think I would have gone in it, but I wasn't asked. So, we all put on our helmets and knee pads and elbow pads and wrist guards. We piled in and off we went down a winding path.


Having never ridden in it before, I didn't know what was "normal" and had to put my trust in the person steering. We were swerving quite a bit, but I thought the driver was doing it on purpose to make it more fun for everyone. It was fun until we approached a steeper slope and started to go much faster. Still trying to trust it was under control, I said the driver's name to express concern and then waited for a cue to brake. We were going fast and swerving down this winding path and all of a sudden....we flip. Screaming. Me and one of the boys face planted in the dirt. Ah, the gritty taste of dirt. Me and a different camper ended up in the ditch of sticker-y plants. We were all mangled together with the Canoggan on top of us. The Canoggan was lifted off of us and we crawled out of the ditch.

My injuries included a banged up knee (internal only with only bruising visible), a scrape on my hip with quite a bit of bruising, a couple cut toes and some minor scratches. The worst injury was the camper in front of me who's knee pad must have slid down. He ended up with a big hole in his knee. It was pretty gnarly. A few of us took an after photo and we all stopped by the nurses cabin to get fixed up.


A few days later, another counselor gave us each a bracelet for 'surviving the canoggan with Ronnie' (that was the counselor driving). It was definitely a bonding experience for us all.

Canogganing. Only at Camp Augusta!

Summer Camp photos

I've been feeding the goats a lot in Plant and Animal Farm (a clinic I teach to the campers).

this is Taco

I was put on kitchen duty for a few hours and literally washed dishes for my meal :)

I tried the throwing range and hope to teach it soon. It was a lot of fun, though I tend to stick 'em slanted instead of straight up and down.

Ah, the food. I didn't think to take this until I had already devoured most of it. Chicken, rice & shredded carrots, hummus, guac, and my new favorite thing (that I thought I didn't like at all) BEETS! yum!
French Toast with Bananas & Maple Syrup and veggie patties.

With one of the cabins (Manzi 2), I joined in on one of their cabin activities. We have a Giant Swing where you get hoisted up by the others in your group and when you want to stop you yell down to stop pulling. Then you squeeze the release and go flying through the air. The girls decided to bring up paint bottles and spray the others down below. Everyone took a turn. It was my first time on the swing and it was awesome! Next time I'm going all the way to the top!

(Gracie is the one swinging in the pic)

Thursday, I spent a little time at Hot Rocks (though we spent it in the shade).

We do skits to 'sell' certain activities and I was a cave-woman... go figure :). So I tied a stick into my hair and kept it for the rest of the afternoon cuz it looked cool.

Yesterday, Session 2 ended and I had to say goodbye to all the campers I've gotten to know over the last week and half. Manzi 2 adopted me into their cabin and oh how I'll miss them.

back row: Catherine and me

front row: Gracie, Claire, Maggie, Apple (Isabel), Izzy

I finally cleaned the Yurt (phase 1). Then I grabbed an inner tube and floated on the lake for about an hour. Hung out in the kitchen with other staff and then around 11 pm or so, a huge group of us did the 80ft Zip Line in the pitch black

As you can see, I was super excited. I had to restrain myself from jumping up and down on the platform. This is us up in the air, sitting over the edge.

It really was AMAZING and so special to share it with a great group of people.

A fun night off.

New Campers Arriving shortly!

Wild Wednesday - Camp Style

I woke up early today and figured I'd utilize my time by posting a few pics of camp. Typically I'm not thinking about my camera throughout the day, so there is soooo much more I could have captured. The camp has multiple camera's of it's own that everyone uses so there are lots more pictures 'out there', I just need to figure out how to share those with you. In the meantime, here are some of my own.

As a village activity last Friday, we created a carnival for the Manzanita girls. It's on my top 10 funnest times at camp list. My favorite part was apple bobbing.

Some girls really got into it!


I felt like a little kid again. I laughed so hard. I'm proud to say I got my apple in 5 secs (of course, after I watched everyone else's technique).

This is a typical day at camp. Oh, lets paint one of the counselors. Btw, that's tempera paint not face paint. Her face, arms, and even her shirt were painted. Crazy campers. :)


If that's not wild enough for you, we built a giant phoenix that we shot flaming arrows at during our 4th of July celebration.

the archers

Ah, Lazy Dog. I've been hearing lots about it and finally discovered why. It's so delicious! I chose a peanut butter drumstick (not your ordinary drumstick, this puppy was huge) dipped in dark chocolate.

This is the daily menu board and I just thought the Limerick was cute ... plus you can see a sampling of what we eat around here.

Off to check the schedule and see what I'm doing (and eating :) ) today.