Camp Chelan

1: Flowers & Cookies | Aly

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, never having worked at a summer camp before. Sure, I've worked at day camps and afterschool programs, but summer camp is different. This was five straight weeks of living at a camp. Two weeks with campers, a week for the counselors to have a break, and then another two weeks with a new batch of kids. According to the email I received from Lynda, the camp administrator, I was going to be living in a cabin named 'Lady Shade' with fourteen girls ages 11-13 with another counselor named Cat.

    I'd never met Cat before, but from what I could tell from the Facebook stalking I did she was the artsy type, which was fitting since she was now in charge of the Arts and Crafts department of the camp. I thought it was interesting them putting an Arts counselor in the same cabin as a counselor from the Athletics department, but I'm sure they wanted to give the girls in the cabin variety.

    "Your destination will be on your right."

    I glanced down at my phone, Google Maps telling me that apparently, I should be arriving soon. I looked back up at the road to see a large wooden sign, the words 'CAMP CHELAN: EST 1927' etched in and painted a bright yellow color. The road I turned down was long, none of the buildings for the camp were visible just yet.

    "God, this place must be in the middle of nowhere," I mumbled to myself. Roughly five minutes later I finally ended up at the administrative office. The building looked old, not built in 1927 old, but definitely not built in the last five decades. I got out of my car and shut the door behind me, looking around there wasn't anything extraordinary about this place. Everything I had read and heard it was supposed to be breathtaking, magnificent. In other words, there was a reason the camp had been running for 90 years now.

    As I walked up the steps to the front door, it swung open, a short, plump, enthusiastic woman standing in the doorway.

    "You must be Aly!" she said exuberantly. I gave a flat smile.

    "Yes, that's me," I told her, attempting to make my smile as joyful as hers.

    "I'm the Lynda you've been emailing with! It's so good to finally meet you," she said, holding her hand out to shake.

    "Nice to meet you, Lynda," I told her. We stood awkwardly for a moment before Lynda graciously stepped in.

    "Well, come in! Come in! There are a few things for us to go over and a few things for you to sign," she said, ushering me in after her. I entered the building, the screen door snapping shut behind me on its own. Lynda led me from the front receptionist area, back through a hallway and into a small room, what I assumed to be her office. She went over and sat down in behind a large dark stained wooden desk in a large black leather chair.

    Lynda logged onto her computer as I sat down in an overstuffed purple armchair, sinking in much lower than I thought I would.

    "So, how was your drive over?" Lynda asked, not looking away from her computer screen.

    "Oh, it was good. It's just a straight shot over from Spokane, and the three and a half hours seemed to pass by kind of fast honestly-"

    "Oh good, good. That's wonderful," she interjected, again not looking away from her computer screen. I could tell she wasn't actually listening, so I sighed, deciding to not give any more elongated answers.

    "Alright, so I have two waivers for you to fill out and sign. The first is a list of all medications you take, allergies and an emergency contact. The second is an explanation of your time here at camp, your salary and when you'll be paid," she said, finally looking away from the computer screen to me, giving me a smile. She rolled over to the printer in the corner of the room to grab papers that were currently printing.