Cannon Report – Week 2 – 2010
Ka-Boom! “GOOD MORNING LEELANAU!” The boys of Leelanau are up and moving after another full week of Camp! There were trips galore and a parade we adore, before we all regrouped and celebrated our success during Council Fire.
We had four trips go out this week. Pictured Rocks and North Manitou Island left Monday morning and were sign-up trips. Pictured Rocks had four rugged campers endure the bugs, long days and heavy packs to bask in the beauty that is Pictured Rocks. The North Manitou Island guys made their way across the lake and explored the island; the highlight was finding the potholes. We also had two cabin overnights and a trip to The Cradle with Argosy and Tortuga. The Cradle is a camp classic: throw in hiking around Pyramid Point, s’mores, and a trail breakfast in the morning and you’re guaranteed a successful trip! Our newest trip, the Huck Finn Fluvial Experiment, tasked Iroquois and Shoshonis with building a raft, then floating it down five miles of the Betsie River. Unbelievably the rafts stayed together and, of course, the campers had a fantastic trip. Between these four trips, and the CT’s gone for Training Week, all but six campers spent a night sleeping in the woods this week!
Once everyone was back in camp, the North and South Teams put their funny bones to work Friday night for our annual Comedic War of Attrition. The two teams spent all of Friday afternoon writing their skits and finding the songs they would lip sync. Then Friday night all of camp gathered together in our Leelanau Lodge to put on a great show. The South Team demonstrated their superb talents, while the North Team wooed the judges with their Star Wars skit. It was a close contest, but South squeaked by with the win.
Happy 4th of July! On Sunday both camps celebrated our Independence Day by marching in the Glen Arbor parade and playing traditional games on the Great House Lawn and down on the beach. Both camps started the day with a combined Flag Raising, where the canon made an appearance with “bombs bursting in air.” When church ended, everyone was off to Glen Arbor to eat lunch (Abe Lincolnaid and Patriot Punch included), paint our faces and decorate the Big Blue Bus. The Seniors walked in front of the bus while the Juniors stayed in the bus, and all were singing songs and throwing candy to the screaming masses on the sidewalks. After the parade we came back to camp and played patriotic games like Betsy Ross chalk flag drawing and blank. The beach was the main attraction, though, because we had 4th of July heat too! The day ended with cookout, Council Fire, and a concert by our minstrels at the Great House. It was a memorable day!
The wheels of camp continue to roll, as week 2 closes and brings with it the final week of our first session at camp. Changeover is coming, a confusing time when we are saddened by the farewell of the three weekers, but are in jubilation at welcoming our four week campers and the start of the new session!
