Our camp schedule is fine-tuned to pack as much into every day as possible – project periods, G-Swim, evening activity – but one day a week, we take that whole schedule and throw it out the window. Cruiser Day, as it’s called, is our weekly departure from the norm. Campers spend the day participating in activities either by village or as a whole camp; this week, each village picked a theme, planned some activities, and enjoyed a day with their cabinmates. And each village’s Cruiser Day took a different approach to designing a spectacularly fun day for their campers.
In the Swamper Village, it was all about high-production-value programming. A few counselors donned yellow blazers and microphones from the costume room to host Game Show Day, replete with the classics. At the Masterchef station, campers decorated cookies for a surly but well-meaning judge. The Jeopardy! board was lit up (well, it was covered in some pretty colorful post-it notes) with surprisingly advanced geography, social studies, and pop culture questions. The campers aced what I would argue is a pretty obscure final Jeopardy question for a bunch of kids who haven’t spent too much time at camp: Answer: “This building in camp was once the cabin of Axemen Five.” Question: What is the Waterfront Shack? This afternoon, they played a ton of WipeOut in the swim area, running through obstacles in the water, and ended with some sort of mystery search game show I’d never even seen before, and I’m not sure they had either… but boy did they enjoy it!
Our Loggers went with a different approach – their counselors planned what Noah and I would call a personality-driven Cruiser Day. That’s to say, they latched onto a goofy joke and turned it into an endless stream of activities and laughs in the same vein. The Logger Village Directors, two pretty goofy guys themselves, realized that their village was lacking an auxiliary bell (ok, so, this needs a little explaining: the Axemen and Lumberjacks have a dedicated triangle and bell in their respective villages to serve as a secondary, loud echo of the main camp bell, which is stationed much closer to the younger villages). The Axemen have their triangle, the LJ’s have their miniature bell, so of course, the Logger Village needed a…. GONG! It was Gong Day. The counselors made a gong, and the kids spent all day doing gong-themed activities. They wrote poetry about the gong, they played G-O-N-G (pretty similar to H-O-R-S-E), and of course, each camper had many opportunities to ring the gong. I can’t say I totally got the joke, but I am sure that the Loggers all did, and that’s what counts.
Skipping to the Lumberjacks, their approach to Cruiser Day was focused on getting older kids to buy into a theme that could frankly be considered a little bit younger than we’d expect of 8th and 9th graders: Holiday Day. This consisted of all sorts of celebrations (including the birthday of one of their Village Directors!), singing songs, and participating in some marquee holiday-themed activities, like a Super Bowl Sunday touch football game, and a Thanksgiving feast for lunch. On Cruiser Day, everyone eats outside at a burger BBQ, so to get it on theme, the LJ counselors brought turkey legs and cranberry sauce to accompany the burgers… the campers scarfed it all down, grinning ear to ear. In the afternoon, the campers even donned costumes and trick-or-treated through their village to celebrate Halloween. This kind of theme day is a reliable play with younger campers and can be a bit of a risk with older boys. I give all the credit to their counselors for producing endless buy-in with our oldest village.
And in the Axemen village, it was time to put the cruise back in Cruiser Day. When we were announcing the Cruiser Day themes this morning, the Axemen gave the mightiest applause for theirs: Golf Day. This afternoon, we loaded all the Axemen into trip vans and took a short drive to a local golf course for a rousing nine holes. Campers split into foursomes and played best ball, enjoying an afternoon of trying something new and getting out of camp. Now, some campers had some golf experience, which was helpful as they gave tips to their friends who had never stepped foot on a golf course. Noah and I both play a little golf in the offseason, so we were delighted to stand on the first tee box and give campers pointers as they addressed the ball for the very first time. (That’s not to say either of us are good golfers… it’s more of a love-of-the-game situation.) Campers and counselors alike took swings, slicing and cutting the ball all over the place. One particularly funny counselor had to reassure his campers that he was genuinely trying to hit the ball, and not doing an extended bit, when he whiffed the first tee about a dozen times in a row. And plenty of campers made solid contact sending the ball long and straight down the fairway.
All four villages had time to walk into town this afternoon to enjoy a sweet treat at our local ice cream shop, Dairy & Bean, the perfect complement to a summer afternoon. And tonight, we’re delighted to show some live World Cup matches after dinner for all who are interested – we’ve been reading the previous day’s scores each breakfast (alongside the baseball scores) and interest has soared.
So, it was a jam packed day of fun across camp… which was making a few campers feel a little bummed out. One cabin of Swampers was slated to leave on their cabin trip this morning, and I was slated to drive them. I don’t often drive trips, but I’ve heard from so many former trip drivers that it’s the best job in camp, and I like to spend some time with the boys on their way into the woods every once in a while. As we loaded up the van, some of the campers remarked that they were disappointed to be on trail for today’s Cruiser Day. It seemed to them like it would be tons of fun (truth be told, they were right – it was a ton of fun). The counselors, trip staff, and I assured them that what awaited them in the woods was better than anything they could do in camp. We started our short drive toward the Eau Claire Lakes, and I asked the boys if they’d like to take the scenic route, with a stop at the world’s largest ball of twine. “The… what?” Guess these boys had never seen a twine ball before.
About ten minutes from camp in the miniscule town of Highland, Wisconsim sits under a gazebo the world’s largest ball of twine. (Ok ok, it’s one of four balls in the country to lay claim to that title… but who’s gonna ruin the romance for the kids?). The boys stared in awe. One precocious camper broke the silence: “It’s bigger than Victor Wembanyama.” Yep, the ball is 10’ tall and weighs over 24,000 pounds – it’s much bigger than Wemby. Another went to touch the ball, waiting for me to stop him, as if it were the Liberty Bell or something. Go ahead, I motioned, and the boys started giggling and poking the giant ball of twine. Soon, they realized that while their friends were back in camp enjoying Game Show Day, they were going to have a unique experience as a cabin out on their trip, starting with this incredible Northern Wisconsin cultural exchange. From then on, the mood significantly cheered up. We signed the guest book and got on our way.
Back in the van, the chatter turned to excitement about canoeing and setting up tents, building campfires and cooking dinner for themselves, and sharing a few nights in the woods. I am sure these boys are in for a treat – when I was unloading their gear at the boat launch, I uncovered the trip leader’s secret stash of goodies. What was the giant rubber frog for? Of course, a game he invented called Hide The Frog. And why three beach balls? Right, another game he was excited to play with the boys. And how many bags of marshmallows could they possibly go through in just two nights of camping? Well, the trip leader of course wanted to ensure these boys’ first Nebagamon wilderness trip was a success, and he came prepared.
I sent the campers on their way and headed back to camp, confident that they’ll have a blast on their trip and come back with stories and memories that will stand out in the story of their summer. The same is true of every trip we send out. It’s a win-win. Our in-camp programming is phenomenal and you don’t need to look further than today’s Cruiser Day for proof. There isn’t a three-day stretch in our calendar where a camper would say to themselves, that seems boring and I’d rather be on trail. And at the same time, the trips are so special, so unique, and so unparalleled, that nearly every one of our campers opts into a trip at some point in the summer. So wherever our campers find themselves, in camp or on trail, it’s sure to be another spectacular day at Camp Nebagamon.
All is well in the Northwoods!