DuNord 2014

We undertook our 12th annual summer pilgrimage to Camp DuNord this past season.  If you were to add all of the Fall, Winter, Spring trips in to the tally, we'd be topping 20 visits, for sure.  Hard to believe that at one point we had never heard of this magical little place and now it's such a big part of our life.  This past summer's trip was with our biggest group.  We camped in the main part of camp this time, with Amy and Jessica's families in the cabin tents nearby.  The Dutch went for a cabin just down the road, and then Wally and Jen came mid-week and pitched a tent nearby.  All in all I think we had 24 people, 13 of them kids and 12 of those kids being boys.  Hats off to Kyra for her ability to tolerate such a testosterone overload.

Highlights this year included the novelty of being in the main part of camp.  This eliminated the need to keep our eyes on watches in order to catch shuttles.  It also severely cut down on the number of times we visited the DuGa pit, but we did get over there once in a while.  I became a fan of the 'real' sauna and wondered how we survived with the imitation barrel sauna for so long.  I think the saunas start a bit late and had real trouble staying up til midnight, but in the end, it was always worth it.  This year the Dutch brought along a Chinese version of hackysack that involved a brightly feathered shuttle cock.  We were captivated for hours, even playing through rain, and one time a bit of hail.

It was fun to see some of the kids we have come to know through homestays as staff members.  Allan from Scotland and Lukas from Germany both gave us shout outs when we'd happen by.  We continually giggled over Allan calling out the name of his group with his thick accent...the teen group became something altogether different when Allan yelled for the 'Sexteens to Eighteens over here!".  One would think that would get old, but nope, it didn't.  Lukas presented us with a german card game that became a favorite pasttime.  But it too had a lewd name....not in German, but in an American accent it became awkward when someone asked where I had been and I responded, "I've been up playing Sex Nymph with a bunch of the kids in the Trading Post."  For the record, it's "6 Nimmit" but that's not how it sounds.  And then there was the lovely LDP Tim, our very own Dutch boy.  He played it cool and never gave his parents the gushing welcomes they were looking for, but he looked to be having a great time and doing his job well.

Overall, it was a joy to be outside for an entire week.  Sure, we ventured in for dinner, and maybe for a shower on the odd day, but really, we lived outside for the entire week.  The bugs, which were dreaded and sure to be beyond tolerance, were surprisingly limited- it could have been that we kept a fire going all week long, but I think the bug gods smiled upon this summer.  Dunord 2014 is going to be a hard one to top.