Letter From Summer Camp
(following 8th grade)
Dear Mom,
It is freezing up here almost every day, it is now raining. The day before yesterday it hailed so much that it piled up like snow. My tent was one of 4 tents to stay standing up! Lori’s fell down.
The new boots I have are all scratched up and I’ve got nothing to wear because everything is wet and/or dirty. We have 5 days left, I think. I spend all of my time at the lake or at the crafts shop making things. The most popular sports up here are volleyball and boating.
This is really roughing it. There are outhouses called “biffies” that don’t have running water, or any water actually. And you have to take a shower by spilling a bucket of freezing water over you. I'm not taking a lot of showers.
Lots of people got sick during the storm. There was a lot of lightning and one bolt hit a tree about 200 yards away from my tent. I was sharing my tent with Keith Menace but I kicked him out because he is a slob and I caught him eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches which he smeared all over the place. I also found a pair of his dirty, stinky underwear hidden in a corner of my tent, so I threw them into the bushes across from me (I should have thrown them down the biffy!).
I have a girlfriend named Lisa up here. She is in 7th grade [ … ] all the old counselor guys are trying to make out with her. She’s afraid to sleep in her tent alone…
I’ve been in two fights since I’ve been up here — one on the bus and one on a hiking trip. When we were hiking the kid behind me kept kicking my heel. I stopped in my tracks and when he ran into me I grabbed his arm and flipped him over my shoulder on to the ground like they showed us in Judo.
We went on a four day hiking trip and a three day hiking trip. At night we saw meteor showers and during the day we stopped to swim in a couple lakes. I slipped on a narrow trail and was hanging on the side of a rock face. It was a long drop down to some boulders. I got really angry because the camp counselor told everyone not to help me. He said that I would pull them over with me. I had to pull myself up and almost didn’t make it.
I have a girlfriend named Lisa up here. She is in 7th grade and she’s from Pleasant Hill near where we used to live. All the old counselor guys are trying to make out with her. She’s afraid to sleep in her tent alone so she stays with me now.
I’m sitting in my tent watching some deer and a couple chipmunks, wondering what to do today. It’s almost lunch time and I guess I’ll go eat. I wrote two more letters, one for Grandpa and Grandma Kinyon and one for Grandma Kidder and I’m sending them along with your letter. I hope they don’t get ruined in all of the rain and mud.
See you when I get back!
Love,
Jon
P.S. I’M BROKE!
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My four children went to Camp Unalayee n the eighties and then on as CITs (Counselors in Training). Now my grandchildren are going. It sounds like Camp hasn’t changed much - still complaints about the “bifees” and cold showers, though I haven’t heard about storms like yours! Definitely not hail!