My friends are inside the laundromat and I rush past them, dropping my bag of dirty laundry, eager to wash my eyes out with cold water. Kasey begins to choke and suddenly the entire laundromat is depleted of fresh air and replaced with a thick smog. Everyone in the building runs outside except for Scott, who sits patiently in his seat, staring straight ahead. We know there is a problem when he stands up and calmly walks outside.
"Uhmmm... Jeremy? I dropped my bear spray and the laundromat had to evacuate. What should we do?"
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It's quiet on base and most of the teams are asleep or off base. Sophie has a plan; it's time for a chubs-attack. We load the bunny into the back of Sophie's Subaru and away we drive to Whiskey Basin. Caroline sits in the passenger seat, Sophie is driving, Rachel and I squish in next to Chubster the Bunny. His stench fills the back seat. Hitting every bump in the road, we find our way to the horsepacking van and stuff Chubbs in the back. Hehehehe, we giggle.
From there, we drive out to visit Sophie's staff: Nani, Matt and Scott. We find them hiding from their campers in the van. "There's just something wonderful about seeing your friends in the woods," Rachel says. We give them hugs and drive back to base.
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It's 2:20PM when I walk into Kathy's Koffee. I remember the waitress telling me that they usually close around 3PM, but if it's slow, they close up earlier. Nani is having a rough day, so I order her a drink as well but ask them not to make it until right before closing up so it doesn't melt. After paying for the drinks, I walk upstairs and get lost in my blog, writing about the bear. Soon I realize it is really quiet. Looking at the clock, I realize it is almost 3PM. I shut down my laptop and walk downstairs to find... a dark, empty room. What should I do? Do I walk out the front and leave it unlocked? Should I call Jeremy? As I decide to walk out the front, Kathy pulls up in her truck and sees me.
"Did she leave you up there," she asks. "Didn't you order another drink? I'm on my way to a meeting right now; this is how you make the drink. Go ahead and make it then lock up when you're done."
Only in a small town...
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The campers in our first session are amazing. Each one of them is so unique and inspiring. I enjoy making them put on skits or sing for their supper. One night toward the beginning of the session, I come out with a hatchet in my hand. I begin swinging it around like I know how to use it. "Alright, who came into my kitchen," I try to ask in an angry voice, but a smile is creeping onto my face. "Somebody is about to lose their fingers..." The kids look nervous.
That night, I make grilled cheese. Jeremy insists I throw the grilled cheese through the rafters in the ceiling so the campers can try to catch it. My first attempt ends with the spatula hitting Jeremy's arm and drawing blood. I'm incredibly hesitant to try again, but Granger and Will insist I continue. I'm having a great time watching the kids dive for sandwiches; sometimes the sandwiches land on their plates, sometimes they land on the floor. Either way, they get eaten. Granger and I spend over 5 minutes with one sandwich, practicing throwing and catching with each other. My last throw of the night goes through all three rafters and lands on Caroline's plate. Epic.
We have so much fun playing with our food that it causes me to laugh. This is the first time the campers have heard my laugh, though I find out their staff have told them about it. "Oh my gosh," they squeal. "She really does laugh like that!!! Make her laugh some more! Keep laughing, Ashlee!" Granger looks and me and says, "It sounds like someone's punching a chihuahua." Oh, the words of a thirteen-year-old.
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I have the afternoon off, so I decide to drive out to Brooks Lake and canoe with the academic groups. I drive up clad in my bright pink one piece, denim Daisy Duke's, Toms and Aviators, which causes Sophie to laugh. "You look like lifeguard Barbie," she exclaims. I look down and discover the entire left side of my leg is covered in mosquitoes. Awesome.
The campers arrive an hour later and Sophie informs them that while in the water, we are pirates and we must talk like pirates. "Let's practice while playing this fun game," she says. I run out to touch the canoe and yell out, "Oy vey!" Everyone starts laughing. "That's not pirate speech," they exclaim. It becomes a joke for the duration of our trip. The campers and staff pair up and I get to share a boat with Josh. We have an absolute blast! I even wrote a song about how great he is at paddling.
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Tucker and Mackenzi had an awesome group of boys. They all made me laugh so hard and I loved the fact that they were always singing and dancing. Each one of them had such a joy for life and having them help clean dishes was always a highlight because we would talk about music and sports. Elijah was the only person at camp who could imitate my laugh perfectly, sometimes people even thought I was the one laughing. Every time I hear the song "Good Morning" by Chamillionaire, I think of Ryan dancing and singing. Peter was the most adorable thing on the planet; he had a bear named Bobo that he took everywhere with him. Ian had a really genuine heart. Those boys were the only ones who made a point of coming up and hugging me goodbye. I swear Ryan hugged me goodbye 3 or 4 times. I already miss them!
Granger was the first camper to leave. He and Brandon were taking off at 4AM, so I made them breakfast the night before to take with them. Granger was bundled up in his sleeping bag outside when I dropped the bag of food off. As I walked away, I heard his little voice call through the fabric, "Bye, Ashlee!"
"Bye, Granger! I'm so glad I got to meet you! You're awesome!"
"No, you're awesome," he responded. "You make us all food!"
"Oh, that's nothing! You could do that easily!"
"Not for forty people," he insisted. "Plus you throw it at us!"
I think that grilled cheese flinging really captured his heart.
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The campers are gone, so we take Mackenzi out to celebrate her birthday. At the Rustic, a man with long, blonde hair is singing on stage with two mannequins. Sophie decides to ask him about his band mates and he tells her they are named Lola and Roxanne. He motions toward the drummer and says, "It's really hard to find them in a seated position." We have never laughed so hard.
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| The margarita shot I bought Mackenzi, which ended up in her eye. |
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| The crew with Roxanne and Lola |
By midnight, we are exhausted, so we drive up to Elle's place to stay the night. Nani, Kasey and I snuggle up in bed together. Instead of sleeping, we decide it's a better idea to talk about how tired we are. "This is what my tomagatchi felt like right before it died," Kasey informs us.
The next day, after coffee and breakfast, we go shopping in Jackson. I find a climbing harness I really want to purchase, but my dad is worried about my new passion for climbing. "Tell you what," he texts. "If you give up swimming with sharks, I guess I'd be okay with this new climbing hobby." I read Kaitlin the text as we look through racks of pretty dresses. Spotting an adorable blue and yellow striped dress, I pull it off the rack and begin walking toward the dressing room. My feet stop and pivot back toward the rack of dresses, returning the dress to it's original spot. "I'd rather have the harness," I tell Kaitlin. "I don't own cute clothes because I spend all of my money on gear," she informs me. Makes sense to me.
Kasey, Kaitlin, Nani, Sophie and I squish in the car and drive to Idaho for the day. As we drive, Kasey makes a comment about my abilities and talents. The girls insist I'm good at everything. "That is so not true," I object. "Name one thing you're not good at," Kasey challenges. Sophie answers for me, "Whistling." We all begin to laugh because it's so true. "One day," Kasey begins. "Your family is going to be hanging from a cliff and the evil villain is going to look at you and say, 'Whistle'."
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On our way back from Idaho, we stop at a gas station and the girls go in to get square ice cream. Yes, square ice cream. That's not normal, right? These two women walk out of the store holding their cones of richly flavored cream in sugar-waffle cones. The blonde looks at her friend and proclaims, "I haven't had square ice cream in so long." Wait, is square ice cream a regular treat in Idaho?
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| Waking up to the Tetons with lovely Sophie |
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| Our campsite |
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| Kasey having as many potatoes as possible in Idaho |
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| Square ice cream |
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The girls and I begin discussing the time Bartholemew the Bear tried to get into the kitchen.
"You're like Snow White," Kaitlin states. "Animals come and try to help you in the kitchen; it's probably while you're singing, too."
"It's the music," I tell her. "It draws them in."
"It changes their very nature," she laughs. "It makes them go from meat eaters to vegetarians who eat trail mix."
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| A day with two of my favorite people: Tucker and Nani |
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| Reeses cupcakes I made for Mackenzi's 21st |
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| Decided to paint |
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| LOOOOOOVE the Tetons |
16 days :)
ReplyDeletePlease try not to shoot bear mace at me though, I don't think I would react to well to that sort of thing... and throwing food are we, bring it on!
PS. I love all your pics and stories!!!