Hi! I'm Erin and I'm 11. This summer I went to sleepaway camp for the FIRST TIME EVER! It was church camp, up north in Wisconsin on a lake, from Sunday July 11 to Saturday July 17. My best friend Alexandra went too and we were in the same cabin, which was the most important thing.

I took two throwaway cameras (24 pictures each) and my mom got them developed at the drugstore. Some of them came out really dark and some have my thumb in them. These are the GOOD ones. My Aunt Sheri let me use her scanner. Click on a picture to make it big!

My mom says no last names on the Internet so it's just Erin.

SUNDAY ~ The Bus & Cabin 6
We rode up on a big bus from our church. It took 5 hours and Alexandra and I played MASH the whole way. Cabin 6 has 4 bunk beds, 8 girls, and our counselor Jodie, who is 19 and goes to college and plays the guitar. I got a top bunk!!! (The one with the red plaid sleeping bag is mine. Alexandra's is the blue one under me.) The flashlight is mine too. The cabin smells like wood and bug spray and there are names scratched in the walls from like 1970.

MONDAY ~ The Swim Test
No picture because you can't take a camera in the lake! You have to swim from the dock to a buoy and back and then tread water. The lake was SO COLD. I passed and got to go in the deep part. Alexandra had to take it again on Tuesday, but she passed too, so it's fine and I'm not allowed to talk about it.

TUESDAY ~ Canoes!!!
This was the BEST DAY. These are the canoes on the dock in the morning before anybody got there. You have to wear the orange life jackets the whole time. Alexandra and I were partners and at first we went in circles because we were both paddling on the same side. Then in the afternoon in the swimming area they let us tip the canoe over ON PURPOSE to learn what to do if it tips over. It was the most fun thing I have ever done in my life.

WEDNESDAY ~ Crafts
We made lanyards out of that plastic lacing stuff. Mine is blue and white and Alexandra's is neon green and black. It took us three crafts periods because Alexandra's kept coming undone. Jodie took this picture of us. We're wearing our camp T-shirts. Mine is a little big. Alexandra is squinting because she says the sun was in her eyes but there was no sun. Mine is on my backpack now.

THURSDAY ~ Lunch & Skit Night
This is the dining hall. Everybody eats at long tables by cabin and you have to sing before you eat. The red stuff in the pitchers is "bug juice" which is just Kool-Aid. The food was OK except for the mystery casserole on Wednesday. That night was SKIT NIGHT and Cabin 6 did a skit about the mystery casserole! I was the casserole. Everybody laughed. I took a picture but it came out all black.

FRIDAY ~ The Last Campfire
The last night we had a big campfire down by the lake and made s'mores, and Jodie played guitar and we sang. That's Alexandra with her marshmallow ON FIRE. She likes them burnt. I like them golden brown, which takes forever. Some of the older girls cried because it was their last year. I almost cried because it was my first year and it was already over.

SATURDAY ~ Home
We packed up and rode the bus back. I slept the whole way. My mom said I smelled like a campfire and made me take a shower before I could even sit on the couch. I slept for 12 hours.

What to Bring Next Year
(I made a list so I don't forget)

• MORE SOCKS. Everything gets wet.
• A better flashlight (mine ran out of batteries Thursday)
• Bug spray, the strong kind
• A laundry bag so wet stuff doesn't get on dry stuff
• A sweatshirt for the campfire, it gets cold at night up north
• Stamps, so I can write my mom (I forgot and she was mad)
• More film!!! I want THREE cameras next time

2000!!!
Alexandra and I are both going back next summer and we already asked to be in the same cabin again. Heather and Brittany and Rochelle and Robyn from Cabin 6 said they're going too. Jodie says she's going to be a counselor again. It's only like 10 months away.

You are camper number

to see my camp pictures!

Did you go to camp this summer? Write me!
[email protected]

Thank you Aunt Sheri for the scanner!!!
Last updated Sunday, August 22, 1999