Friday Five - Summer Camp

1. Did you go to sleep away camp, or day camp, as a child? Wish you could? Or sometimes wish you hadn't?
Yes. I went to summer camp - a couple of them. In middle school, I went to "nerdy camp" for two weeks: the Summer Enrichment Program up at UNC. We stayed in the dorms for two weeks and took cool classes. I remember taking drawing, photography and jazz choir.
I also went to a Christian Outdoors camp (Eagle Lake) for ... like 5 summers, staring in middle school. This camp couldn't have been more different than the other. It was two or three weeks long, and we slept in tents, went on 9-mile hikes, learned how to eat bugs, obstacle courses. oh. And lots of singing (Christian songs) around the campfire. I loved that place.

2. How about camping out? Dream vacation, nightmare, or somewhere in between?
Camping out now is somewhere in between for me. I like the idea of camping...and I love being out in the quiet, seeing the stars at night, etc. But seriously. The last few times I've gone camping, it has rained. Poured. I hate wet sleepingbags!!

3. Have you ever worked as a camp counselor, or been to a camp for your denomination for either work or pleasure?
Never was a counselor - though, I wanted to be one. Well...I *did* work at Lake Junaluska (as a singer) for a couple summers. It is a retreat center of sorts, and I think they hold camps there....not for my denomination though. But those were good times.

4. Most dramatic memory of camp, or camping out?
Camping out memory: a crazy weekend spent on a mountain near an abandoned ranger station in NC. This was a poorly planned, last-minute trip and we had no idea where to go, so we just started driving at dusk and ended up somewhere...nearish....to Pisgah Forest, NC about 10 pm on a Friday night. The next morning, we awoke to a glorious sunrise. But to this day, I couldn't tell ya where we were.
Camp story: I totally bit it one year at Camp, running back up the hillside to our tent...I think I had forgotten my jacket or something...can't recall. Well, I slipped and tore open my knee on the rocks. Man it hurt, but it produced the best scab I've ever had! (Gross - I know!) Needless to say, that one left its mark!

5. What is your favorite camp song or songs? Bonus points if you link to a recording or video.
Favorite Camp Song - from Eagle Lake - was to be sung at sunrise on top of a large mountain right above the main camp. This song was to be sung in order to wake up the rest of the campers:

Way up in the sky, the little birds fly!
While down in the nest, the little birds rest!
With a wing on the left, and a wing on the right,
the little birds sleep all through the night.
shhhhhhhhh THEY'RE SLEEEEEEPING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The BRIGHT sun comes up; the dew goes away!
"Good morning, good morning!" the little birds say!
The farmer comes out, with shotgun in hand.
BOOM BOOM, BOOM BOOM, "No birds on my land!"
"Ha ha! Ha Ha! You missed me that time!"
BOOM BOOM, BOOM BOOM, "I got you that time!"
The maggots crawl in, the maggots crawl out,
They twist and they turn and they EAT YOUR GUTS OUT!