Last week on August 30th the Durham Academy 6th grade embarked on a two and a half hour drive to Camp Kirkwood. The bus ride was filled with laughter, plenty of snacks, bored kids with no entertainment whatsoever, perfectly content kids just reading their book, and kids belting out Taylor Swift songs at the top of their lungs. Ahhhhh, good times…

Hurricane Idalia was heading our way and we were already getting a little taste of what she felt like so once we got there raincoats were put on, heavy bags lugged around, and puddles splashed in.Then we got settled into our cabins.  After we got cleaned up a meal of grilled cheeses and ham sandwiches was passed around and well no comment on that… Then we got ready for activities, I had orienteering and v-swing . Orienteering was okay but it was so hot that I couldn’t even pay attention very well. But v-swing was awesome. What happened was you got harnessed onto a rope and your classmates pulled you up. There was another rope so you could pull a trigger and it would let go of one of the ropes and you’d be swinging by that one rope that was still on there and it was super fun.  After that it was dinner time, yummy pasta and delicious garlic bread that definitely made up for lunch. After dinner we got the option to watch the Lorax or you could go play dodgeball in the pavilion. It was kind of a 50/50 split. From being in the rain and mud everyone was desperate to take a shower, brush teeth and just generally get cleaned up. Then we went to bed.

9 hours later…

Bright lights flashed in our faces as a wake up call. Time to get up, the worst time in the morning. We brushed our teeth, got changed, and braided each others hair. Then for breakfast we had eggs and croissants. My group just got to stay in the dining hall because we had forest ecology where we learned about trees and the most common ways that we utilize them. Next we went to the POOL!!!!! But before we could get in we had to take swimming tests (dun-dun-duuun). All we had to do was jump in and swim freestyle to the other side, not too hard. We had so much fun splashing and jumping in the pool. Lunch was somewhere in the middle of all that. I don’t really remember what we had but it was pretty good. After lunch we made our way to the pavilion where one of the counselors led us to somewhere near the lake to do team building. Team building was actually pretty fun, we played a game with a hula hoop where you could only have one finger on the hula hoop but it had to be flat and once we rose it up in the air we had to bring it back down and it actually took a lot more work than you’d expect. We also had the Kanga jump which was a huge trampoline blob thing made out of plastic. 

Once we finished activities, those of us who were wet changed into dry clothes and headed to the dining hall for dinner. After dinner we all met at the flagpole and took a walk to this little tiny amphitheater and we had a campfire with s’mores and songs. Once we finished we walked back, got into our PJs, and headed to bed. 

Another 9 hours later…

 Bright lights flashed in our faces as a wakeup call yet again. Time to get up, the worst time in the morning. We brushed our teeth, got changed, and braided each others hair… again. Then we trudged through the wet grass over to the dining hall. We had slightly soggy waffles that were okay. Then we all met together with our groups and found out where we were going. My group went to the zipline first, gaga-ball and pig (an actual pig) second, and canoe third. The zipline was pretty awesome. We got all harnessed in and climbed up to a high platform. Then we jumped! It was kinda short but it was pretty cool to be able to fly over the lake and see all the canoes floating past. Gaga-ball and pig were also pretty cool. Bubbles(the pig) was so cute even though her skin felt really hard which was a weird sensation. Wow, who knew I would ever be saying “I met a pig named Bubbles and she had really hard skin”. Canoeing was okay but after all the excitement of camp the tranquility of it was a little too much calm. After all of the activities we had lunch which was some really delicious pizza. Once we all loaded onto the buses we set off for a 2 ½ hour drive back to Durham. This ride had even more Taylor Swift, books, screaming and snacks. Ahhhhh, good times…