Pine Cove Diaries

The cool breeze dashed on my face, and I shut the door behind me. I took a good, last glance at my cabin.   Holding a duffel bag and a sleeping bag, it was hard to clamber the steps of the bus. I set my luggage where my chaperone pointed. After settling down on my seat next to my friend, I gazed on the window. Grey skies started forming and the rain pattered against the dirty window. A board that said 'Pine Cove' flashed across the bus. We exited the camp and rolled towards home.

My eye lids closed slowly and memories of camp flashed back. The day before camp, I was jumping up and down with excitement. I checked if I packed everything I needed. On Wednesday (the day I set off to camp), mixed emotions were running in my mind. Leaving my sisters and family would be sad, but I was exhilarated to get exposed to new things. During the bus ride, the movie Monsters INC, made every one quiet and calm. The two and a half hour drive seemed to go by quickly because of the movie. As soon as the bus slowed down to a stop, Pine Cove staffs greeted us kindly. We were all assigned to our cabin groups and chaperone.

The cabins were filled with air conditioning. As soon as we unrolled our sleeping bags, we all got ready to gobble down our lunch. The clock struck twelve and all of us filed into the dining hall. The aroma of hot mac and cheese filled the air. The cheese oozed down the pasta that was soft. Salad and fruit salad bars were located in all four corners. There was even a huge bowl of mouth-watering chocolate pudding for dessert. Ice tea or water always filled our Styrofoam cups till the brim. After thirty minutes, our tummy was full of goodness. A staff called Shrimp, announced activity groups. Our new chaperones greeted us and we strolled to our first activity, Aquatics. A staff, called Ravi, led my group to our activity area. That space was calm and relaxing. Big pine trees swayed in harmony with the wind. The pond glistened under the blazing, Texas sun. Ravi passed out field journals to take notes. I guess that Pine cove isn't all about having fun. After going over answers and discussing about food chains in a pond, we started the activity part. We formed groups of four and each group got a net. We headed to the clear pond. Our task was to 'fish' out some pond animals. I let down the net and pulled it out. Icky, brown goo was all that was seen. I stared at the gross net, holding it on top. Quickly I popped the net back into the muddy water. At the end, all of us managed to get two frogs, three minnows, and two beetles. 

After this, all of us started squealing with excitement. We made our way to the zip-lines! This was a new experience for me, so I was a little anxious. We were all partnered up and given a number. I was the fourteenth. Everyone kept saying that the height was scary. Illusions of me falling down from the zip line ran in my head. Finally, after number thirteen zipped down, we clambered the steep stairs with our harnesses tightened. Glancing down from the height, my partner got scared and descended the stairs. I was hooked up and ready. I squatted down and leaned forward. My eyes glanced to where all my friends were. All of them all looked as tiny as caterpillars. I flew down the zip line as fast as a blink of an eye. A guy stood at the end to hook us off the zip line. His intention was to stop me from dangling on the zip line. But instead, he pulled my shoe down! At last, I got down and joined the rest of my group. I realized that if I had not done this, I would have regretted it a lot.

After every one finished, we strolled to the dining hall. At 6:00 sharp, the doors opened and we made ourselves comfortable. Hot, cheesy pizza was served. I stuffed myself till the brim. In addition to that, pretzels and hummus ended up in my filled up tummy. 

As soon as dinner ended, we headed to our cabins. We took everything we needed for night activities. Since there were two schools at Pine Cove, my school went to something called, ‘Sky Wars’. All the girls made their way into gym, Wind Cave. We played a game of aiming and shooting. There were four groups. Each group had to score goals in their own goal. The goal was high, so we had to reach or jump up. At the end, the number of balls in each goal was counted and the one with the most balls wins. After this, we switched with the boys. Now, with an I-pad, we discussed some questions with our cabin groups. The app on the I-pad showed different stars and constellations. 

As soon we finished this, we headed back to our cabins and got ready to go to bed. Two people at a time went to bathe, while the others brushed their teeth. We got our clothes for the next day and spend some time chatting with our group. At 10:15 our chaperone turned off the lights. In no time, we were fast asleep. 

A dim light shone through the window and two kids were up. Just as I rubbed my blurred eyes, I noticed that my bunker, Gauri, was also forcing herself up. At that moment, our chaperone’s phone alarm rang. I clambered down from the top bunk. Two by two, we scrubbed our teeth and changed out of our night dresses. At around 7:50, cabin Glacier (my cabin), jaunted toward the dining hall. The smell of syrup floated in the air. Ice filled jars of orange juice stood in the middle of every table. Hot French toast was served. A red basket was filled with syrup packets. I poured the syrup on top of my French toast, and watched it drool down on my plate. Every one bit into the soft bread. This time, there was milk, yogurt, and granola was set on tables around the whole room. We nibbled down breakfast quickly and went to our first activities. I had Nature’s Niche as my first activity of the day. In this activity, we learned about habitats and adaptations. Then we played Simone Says till the end.

After this activity, we had something called Forest Class. In forest class, we studied about the forest layers. First comes the Emergent layer. Then, it is the canopy and shrub layer. At the end is the forest floor. We noted these down in our journals as quick as we could. For our game, we had a scavenger hunt. We were put into groups. The first group to get everything on the scavenger hunt wins. Surprisingly, my group won! All of us came back together and looked at our schedule. 

The next activity was Airborne. In airborne, the Pine Cove staff showed us a Great Grey Owl, the biggest owl ever. They also showed us a hawk. We even got to pet the hawk! They told us about how owls have silent flight too. There was even a video!  

After Airborne, all of us walked to the dining hall for lunch. There was soup, fries, and a burrito was on the menu. After all the tiring activities we did that morning, all of us ate our lunch so quickly. The chattering minimized as we stuffed ourselves. I glanced at my schedule to check what was next. I had orienteering after lunch. In my journal there was a picture of a compass on that page. Were we going to use a compass? Well, my guess was right. After lunch, we went near the woods for our lesson. A guy called Appa-Cheese-In, taught us all of the parts in a compass and how to use it. 

  

We noted down all this information down in our journals and went on a hike using a compass. Pine needles crunched underneath our feet. After hiking for 45 minutes, we returned back to the place we started at. We grabbed our water bottles and journals. We crossed the road to where the lake was.

The sun glistened over it and the canoes lay still over the body of water. We all got buckled up with our life jackets. We went got on the canoes with the help from a few chaperones. The oars were overly heavy, and it was hard for two people to row the boat. We were given boundaries. The zip line was also located there, so we weren’t allowed to go that far. It took my friend and me some time to understand how to turn the canoe around. At last we got the hang of it. We had a few up and downs, but when the chaperones called us to come on shore, we flowed smoothly there. 

Then, we headed to the camp store. Luckily, my mom had given me some money for the camp store. The store had ice cream, soda, Pine Cove labelled shirts and jewellery with a pine cone on it. There were also water bottles with Pine Cove printed on it. After counting the amount of money had, I bought an ice cream, M-and –Ms and a bottle. They gave all of us about 10 minutes to eat our ice creams because all most everyone got it. As soon as we saw some groups heading toward the diner, we made our way there. It felt weird having dessert before dinner. 

For the last meal of the day, we had tortillas and nachos (with cheese). There was lettuce and chicken rice to stuff inside our tortillas. Since I am a vegetarian, I had to stuff my tortilla lettuce and sour cream. On the other hand, nachos, cheese, and salsa are all vegetarian. So, I dug into it. The nachos were crispy and the salsa was perfectly salted and seasoned. The cheese had the right consistency was just as tasty.  We crunched the nachos down and gobbled the tortilla.

At 7:15, we ambled tiredly back to our cabins. We sat down on our bunks and lay flat. We chatted about our favorite activities from the day. A fire sparked in the middle of that space. It crackled and shone brightly. It warmed us against the cold night air. We all sang songs about the California Fire. Two staff members guided us through the song. Then, we were all given a marshmallow to roast. Some people were given gelatin free ones since they were a vegetarian. As soon we roasted our s'mores, teachers shut it with graham crackers and a chocolate bar, like a sandwich. We all bit into the melted chocolate and crunchy crackers. As soon as everyone in my group got their s’mores, we headed back to our cabin. I guessed that I was the first one to sleep because I heard faint whispers a few minutes after I shut my eyes.

Morning dawned and my chaperone’s I-Phone alarm rang. All of my cabin mates stood up groggily. Today was the last day of camp. We rolled up our sleeping bags and stuffed it into the bags. Everyone grabbed all of their items and packed it up. As we went outside to spray bug spray, we noticed that the rain was drizzling down. We put our ponchos on and made sure we had everything. After checking for one last time, we carried our mounted luggage over to a hall near the camp store. Then, all of us headed to the diner for breakfast. Just as the clock rang 8:45, we all got dismissed to our last activity. My last activity was horse riding. Luckily, the rain cleared off. I got a horse called Pillsbury, who was tall and brown. I trotted on him, over and around obstacles on a sand area outside. This was a new experience too for me. Pillsbury’s mane was smooth and soft. We galloped over hurdles and turned swiftly around barrels. We finished a full circle and led the horses back to the stables. Once we got down from our horses, we headed back to the dining hall. 

We got our sack lunches and headed to our buses. My cabin partner and I strolled up to one of the back seats. We opened our lunches and started munching our cheese sandwiches. The movie Lion King turned on. Since we were in the back, we got a view from all the mini televisions. I had watched this movie many times when I was younger. 

And here I was at the beginning. Sitting on the bus, thinking of everything I mentioned about Pine Cove. Though the bus is moving at 70 mph, my memories are stand still at Pine cove. I opened my eyes and glimpsed at the screen. Simba was born and the praise of all the animals was heard. My sore feet urged me to doze. I quietly watched the screen. In no time I was asleep. “Twenty minutes till we reach Borchardt!” my teacher hollered. I woke up suddenly with shock. I quickly understood that we were in Frisco again. As soon as we reached school, I saw my mom and my sisters waving. My mom gave me a warm and friendly hug.  We got on our car and drove to home.  Here I am.. home.. sweet home !