Camp Mendocino!

Background: This is a camp for the Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco, which brings underprivileged kids out of urban life and into nature every summer.

Day 1: Wednesday, we left Sacramento at about 8:30 am, and I was the driver for the first 2 hours. It was the most beautiful drive ever. We went through rolling grassy hills, mountain lakes, and redwood forests. We arrive 4 hours later and have a tour of the camp; it’s a typical summer camp smack dab in the middle of a redwood forest in the mountains. Thus, no internet, no cell phone, and very chilly! (But still beautiful.)

We watched a video called “Fish”, about the business philosophy of the successful Pike Place Market Fish Company in Seattle. The four principles of their philosophy were: play, make their day, be there, and choose your attitude (remember this for later).

Then, later that night we had free time and sat around a campfire and sang songs. Now, I’m not really into summer camp. I went in sixth grade and never went again. So, you can imagine, this isn’t really my scene. Also, we had just formed into new teams the night before, and didn’t really know anyone very well. Therefore, being freezing (it was in the low 40’s that night and we were sleeping in open-air cabins), alone, with no support and no cell phone to call people we’re close to, and doing camp things, was not my idea of a good time. I was thinking of quitting AmeriCorps that evening. In order to not freeze, I wore to bed: wool socks, thermal pants and shirt, sweatpants, t-shirt, sweatshirt, winter hat, hood, and I had a fleece blanket I put inside my sleeping bag. I still woke up several times chilled. It was rough.

Day 2: 5:15 am, wake up for PT. Yes, we had to do PT at 5:30 in the morning in the cold, dark, wet grass. This was pleasant. Luckily, we had a hot pancake and oatmeal breakfast. The food saved the day. In the first half of the day, my team did a service project for the camp. It consisted of sanding the stain off a cabin on the river. Although we used power sanders, we didn’t get very far. The stain was almost impossible to sand off. I maybe sanded a two-foot square area in 3 hours. But at least I felt I was helping out a little!

Then, in the afternoon, we had to fill out these Individual Learning Plans, which was pretty much a questionnaire about what you’re planning to do after AmeriCorps and how AmeriCorps is going to help fulfill those goals. Well, to make it more exciting, my Team Leader, Bryant, had us walk down the railroad tracks that ran through the camp (don’t worry, trains came maybe twice a day) to this little hiking trail on the side of a mountain and we all spread out and did our worksheets. It was quite lovely and peaceful. I was beginning to like AmeriCorps again.

Later that night, I had to meet with Bryant to do a one-on-one discussion of my goals. Although I thought filling out this goal sheet was not very exciting, writing everything out made me realize I’m doing AmeriCorps mainly for personal growth, rather than changing career goals. I want to be challenged, I want to work on my mental flexibility, and I want to have smoother transitions, such as moving around every 6 weeks and not freaking out about it.

Day 3: This was by far the best day. I showered after PT for the first time since Wednesday morning. It was glorious. In the morning, we did the usual team-building exercises. One particularly fun activity was, half our team was on one platform 6 inches off the ground, and the other half was on a smaller platform of the same height. There was a swinging rope in the middle, and about 25 plastic balls on the ground. We had to pick up all the balls and have everyone switch platforms with no one touching the ground. I must say, it was pretty enjoyable.

The second half of the day, we did the high ropes course. We climbed a big ladder up into the redwoods and walked tightropes and swinging logs to get from tree to tree. It was AWESOME. Don’t worry mom, we wore helmets and harnesses and were attached to the cables by ropes! Then, to get down, we ziplined down the hill. So much fun!!

That evening, as a final hurrah to Camp Mendocino, we were having a big bonfire and every team had to do a skit on stage. I, not being into camp things, was obviously not thrilled. Team Blue 6 (my team for the rest of the year), came up with a skit an hour before go time. We did a parody of the “Fish” movie, and called it “Boot”. Our four philosophies were: Be on time, Choose your boot size, Fantastic, and Make them safe. We were a steel-toed boot store and we had people on stage throwing boots and catching them in newspapers, just like the fish place. I was the narrator and held up signs and introduced everything. By the time we had done our skit, I have to admit, I was pretty into it. Then we all listened to music by the fire. It was a pretty great day. And, luckily, it warmed up a little, so the last two nights were about 49 degrees. Much more comfortable than say, 42!!

Day 4: This was the final day, and before we left, we had AmeriOlympics. I competed in the PPE race. I had to run across the field, put on a pair of coveralls, a hard hat and safety glasses, and run all the way back. I came in fourth place (out of 7), so hey, it’s better than last!

Then, on the drive home, not 4 miles from camp, on a winding, dirt road, we came across the green unit leader stuck on the side of the road. The green unit was arriving to camp this day. We tried jumping her car, but that didn’t help, so she was just going to wait for the green unit vans to arrive in about 15 minutes.

Then, about 5 minutes later after driving down the road, we hear this awful metal scraping sound coming from the right rear tire. So we pull over and jack the car up and take off the tire to find a rock lodged between the brake and the wheel and it was getting scraped down. So, we popped out the rock and put the tire back on and headed back to Sacramento. We arrived back at about 5:15 pm.

All in all, it was sort of fun, and would have been more enjoyable if it was warmer. Blue 6 is pretty awesome. We all get along, so far. We all really bonded at Camp Mendocino. I think it’s going to be a great year!!

Love you all.

anne