Into the Wild

I told you in my last couple posts that I took a lot of photos at camp on Saturday.  Don't worry, I won't show them all to you.  I don't want to bore you.  This will be my last camp-related post for the time being, promise. 

Let me tell you something though, as someone who lives in Brooklyn and works in Manhattan, I don't often get out into the wild (and yes, you can consider this part of New Jersey where Trail Blazers camp is located as "the wild." I practically didn't even have cell phone reception.).  But I love being outside, far away from the city, where the air is fresher and the world a whole lot quieter.   Even though it was cold and wet (meaning I got very muddy while we were hiking and mountain biking), it was a perfect day at camp.  I returned to the city refreshed and reinvigorated.

(Trail Blazers Camp, photographed April 2010)

The Great Outdoors

CAMP!

I felt the need to yell that. 

As I mentioned in my last post, I had the good fortune of going to Trail Blazers camp on Saturday.  I never went to a sleepover outdoor camp when I was a kid, and then the camp I went to in high school and served as a counselor at in college was a leadership camp.  Ya, I'm a nerd but proud of it.  But I always wanted to go to "real" camp, like Trail Blazers camp, where you get to sleep outdoors and hang outdoors and try to sneak into the boys' side of camp late at night (at least that's what they did in The Baby-sitters Club books I read while growing up).

I had just a day at camp on Saturday and the weather left a bit to be desired, but we went roasted s'mores, went hiking and biking, had a nice time in a boat and just enjoyed nature.  And let me tell you, I loved it.  Absolutely loved it.  I'm definitely planning a camping trip, complete with tents and sleeping bags and campfired-cooked meals, in the very near future. 

P.S. For those of you in NYC, the Trail Blazers organization is having a cocktail fundraiser on Thursday night at Butterfield 8 from 6:30 to 9 pm.  You should join me there and help send some kids to summer camp this year.

(Trail Blazers Camp, photographed April 2010)

Crafty

My friend Anne is involved with a great organization called Trail Blazers, which runs a summer camp to get the kiddies out of gritty, sweltering, stinky New York City and other urban areas and bring them to the part rural New Jersey that really is the "Garden State."  In honor of Earth Day, Trail Blazers sponsored an open house -- and lucky grown-ups like me were invited to go play.  There was hiking, canoeing, biking, s'mores, and arts&crafts, among other fun camp activities.

I took lots of photos (so expect more camp-related posts!) but wanted first to share these photos from arts&craft time.  I've previously posted photos of outdoors and nature, and these ones are a little different from the other ones you've seen on my blog.  Gotta keep showing you different types of photos to keep you interested, right?

Anyway, in arts&crafts at camp, we made dreamcatchers.  The short story behind dreamcatchers is that the Chippewa tribe would hang them by their sleeping children to protect them at night.  Bad dreams would get caught in the webs, and only good dreams would be able to slip through into the children's heads. 

Our attempt at making dreamcatchers was a little less than pretty, but we had fun nonetheless.

(this last one was my attempt at a dreamcatcher)

(Trail Blazers Camp, photographed April 2010)