It was a sunny and merry Wednesday at Merri Mac. Campers arose at 7am to clean their cabin and get dressed and ready for all the exciting activities they were attending that day. Breakfast featured what the campers like to call “Breakfast Pizza”, a flatbread topped with eggs, hash browns, sausage and cheese. Campers also had multiple options for sides like blueberry muffins, sausage links and oatmeal with choice of toppings. The oldest cabins, Sunnyside and Cloud Nine were away on a cabin-wide trip, where they went rafting and then had dinner in Asheville. Because these older cabins were away for breakfast, the second oldest cabins, Dreams End and Dreams Begin had the opportunity to lead fun songs in the morning like “Chanté” and “Camp Merri Mac is Rollin’ Along”. The girls then all headed to chapel to sing songs and hear a message from fencing instructor and Tweedle counselor, Annalaura Cranford. Annalaura told a tale about a difficult hiking trip she once took with her school and how she had to trust in God move past all of the worry she felt along the way. After chapel, girls headed back to their cabins to talk to their friends, play tetherball and get prepared for their first class.

It is the second to last day of real classes and the last day for Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes, so every activity is doing something special to celebrate. Guitar class brought their instruments around camp and played their beautiful tunes to different classes for what they called their “Musical Tour”. In Backpacking, girls learned how to filter water and also how to light and put a backpacking stove to use. With these two skills acquired, these girls were able to enjoy hot chocolate at the end of class. Girls in cooking today made delicious cornbread and chili, and girls in DIY crafts made flowers out of tissue paper. Climbing class was split between the traverse wall and the wall inside the mike today so that girls could easily choose the type of climbing wall they wanted to try. Campers in climbing also practiced and learned important knots such as the Figure 8, Double Fisherman’s and the Clove Hitch. In Horseback riding, some advanced girls worked on bars and practiced jumping, while others went on a trail ride around camp. After girls were finished with their first two classes, they headed down to the Tucker Inn for Lunch.

Our second meal of the day was a camp favorite. The meal was fronted with crispy mini corndogs and mac & cheese, and the health bar featured a deliciously creamy broccoli and cheese soup with Greek salad. Dessert was homemade rice crispy treats. Elizabeth Olvey, Merri Mac’s evening activity director, told the girls that Seminoles won last night’s evening activity, Sock War, and that Iroquois won points for spirit. After filling themselves up with lunch, girls walked back up to their cabins for “Rest Hour” to have some much needed quiet time for reading, letter-writing and sleeping. At the end of rest hour, the bugle for trading post went off, resulting in a stampede of children running down the hill. After their downhill sprint, girls waited in line to receive their favorite assortment of soda and candy from Merri Mac’s Counselors in Training. Campers use their free time after trading post to eat candy, talk with friends and counselors and play games like Spike Ball and Thunderball.

The last two classes of the day were filled with just as much fun and excitement as the first two were. In swimming, the blob was opened for girls that wanted to help their friends fly into the air. In kayaking, girls played an intense game of kayak-polo: a game involving kayaks, a ball, the lake, and a couple mini soccer nets. In drama, girls played fun games to improve their acting skills and girls in fitness did exercises led by campers attempting to earn their gold bar in the activity. After their third and fourth period classes, girls were eager to go once more to the Tucker Inn for a Chinese themed dinner. This meal featured teriyaki chicken, brown rice and fortune cookies with a dessert option of chocolate cake with white icing. The night ended with a fun evening activity of “Cabin Night”, meaning the campers do evening activity with just their cabin. The activities range from roasting s’mores to free swim at the lake to paintball, but all the cabin night activities were fun!

Mattie Yerxa

Moonmist Counselor

Go Seminoles!