Some faces will be blurred for privacy.
From horseback-riding to banana boating, the YMCA Camp Whittle has it all. The counselors are amazing, the activities are worthwhile, and the cabins are................ pretty good.☹
When the campers first arrived at Camp Whittle, they encounter their cabins or lodges. The cabins looked like living rooms with five bunk-beds, a vacuum, and a heater. My back is still sore from the hard mattress in my bunk. The nights in the cabin were warm, so we never needed the heater, but we had many other problems to deal with. Many campers get homesick or just cannot go to sleep, so there is much talking in the cabins at night. Also, the cabins were next to the bathrooms, so the bathroom light was always shining through our windows at night. I personally would much rather have a lodge. The lodges were bigger and cleaner with built in bathrooms and showers.
The YMCA is a Christian organization, so it is natural to have chapel in the mornings at camp whittle. The chapel was not exactly a chapel;it was a semi-pointed rock with a plaque on it. The ceremony was not very traditional either: we sang an upbeat song, listened to poetry, and listened campers talk about citizenship. My favorite song was "Rise and Shine (Rise and Shine and sing out your glory glory, Rise and Shine and sing out your glory glory, Rise and Shine and *clap* sing out your glory glory, children of Y camp).
The meals were great in terms of camp food. Breakfast usually consisted of a carbohydrate (pancakes, french toast, muffins), a protein (bacon, sausage), and eggs. In addition to the main breakfast, the chefs also set up a cereal and fruit bar. The Dinners and lunches were a little more diverse. Some of the lunches included macaroni and cheese, tomato soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, minestrone, and sloppy Jo's. Some dinners included chicken Parmesan, hamburgers, pizza, pasta, meatloaf, and salad.
Before each meal, every cabin sent one or two KP('s). The KP's job was basically to set the table. They would grab a pitcher of water, a pitcher of juice or lemonade, a napkin dispenser, glasses, forks, knives, spoons, and whatever else was needed for a meal.
An enjoyable activity at Camp Whittle was going to Big Bear Lake for two and a half hours. The most popular thing to do at the lake was by far banana boating. The banana boat took five campers and one counselor out to the deep end of the lake. There, the banana boat was attached to a motorboat and whipped through the water at high speeds. The lifeguards also allowed us to kayak and canoe. My cabin played a game called red vs. yellow on the kayaks. In this game, we were separated into the yellow and red team. Each team competed to capture a pine cone that a counselor threw in the water.
Another group of activities was at the stables. There was a variety of animals at the stables: pigs, goats, cows, horses, llamas, chickens, and donkeys. The horses, in my opinion, were the most interesting animals. Each was different in both looks and personality. The fatest horse there happened to be one of the nicest, and the beautiful black and brown stallion happened to be the most stubborn. The staff at the stables also provided a hay ride. Well, it was not really a hay ride. There was no hay in the ride because of allergies. Two cream-colored ponies pulled the hay ride through the entire camp.
Team ropes also had an excellent array of activities. My favorites were high and low ropes. In high hopes, each camper had the chance to walk across a high-wire (harnessed of course), then a narrow log about 50 feet in the air. During low ropes one of the Team Ropes members helped the campers play a series of games with platforms an rope-vines. Some of the games included Pirate Ship, Lava, and Volcano. Other team ropes activities included rock-climbing and zip-lining.
However, the stables, Team Ropes, and the lake were not the only activities. Here are some more activities: mountain biking, survival-first aid, outdoor cooking, arts and crafts, pool, circus, building our future, camp-opoly, nature, radio, and newspaper.
Every night, a director named Micki hosted campfire. The campers signed up to sing, dance, act or perform at campfire. On the first night my cabin signed up to sing "The Campfire Song Song." It went pretty well because the whole camp started singing along. My favorite act at campfire was a band called Bikos. Micki, Jaren, and Gabe were all in the band. The sang two songs: "Waldo and Carmen SanDiego" and "Dollface Plus Robot Body." Look them up on facebook.
After campfire, we had camp news, my favorite part of the day. The news was not written like a newspaper; it was written on little slips of paper. There were two types of news. The first tupe was what the campers called regular. It was made up of things like "Cabin blank had a farting contest" or "So-and-so burps in their sleep. We preferred the second type which was a little bit more like "Cabin blank is boy-crazy," "So-and-so likes so-and-so," or "I like boys." The news was read by Donovan (Jaren) on the firt two nights. Then, Jaren sprained his ankle, so the news was read by "Russell Brand" (Larry).
The last thing we did before bed was quiet time. During quiet tim, we were not alowed to speak, yell, or clap. The directors told heartfelt stories, and then all the campers, counselors, and directors sang the camp song, the perfect end to each day.
