Thanks for the Memories

April is Staff Appreciation Month at Camp Doublecreek, so we decided to have a “Battle of the Decades” on social media to recognize our present and former staff members.  If you want to start a competition, put a “best of” list out there – especially best movie, song, etc.  
There are only a handful of us senior citizen discount users who have been around since the beginning, and I can personally recall all five decades. To help out, here is my thumbnail account of each decade.

The 70’s were unique.  Doublecreek looked and felt very different from any other decade.  For one thing, we were the only thing out here.  The camp was situated on 125 acres.  There was a pond for fishing and we hauled hay.  When we went on trail rides, we needed a compass.  We had horny toad races and took field trips to the auction in Georgetown.  Ironically, as enrollment became larger, the physical size of camp became smaller. Round Rock grew up around us.

By the time we got to the 80’s, we routinely ran between 250-300 campers a week.  We needed a fleet of buses, not just one bus and a van, to haul in our campers. Today, we have a uniform fleet of buses.  All are white and numbered.  However, during the last half of the 70’s, through the 80’s and into the 90’s, we had multi-colored buses with creative names.  We had the Blue Bomb, the Red Baron, the Orange Bevo, the Aggie Bus, the Tan Can, and the Teal Bus.  But the granddaddy of them all, was the Green Monster.  The Green Monster was an old city bus, and it was Uncle Carter’s favorite!  That bus could carry half the camp, if needed.  Like all things mechanical, the Green Monster finally gave out, and watching it being towed away, was heartbreaking.

In the 90's, we were busting at the seams.  We had to have Sing-Song on the basketball court to accommodate everyone.  Mini-golf was added and the garden was a big hit. The advent of Terrific Thursdays introduced campers to innovative creative activities -- the girls loved to paint my fingernails all different colors.

When it comes to physical changes at Doublecreek, the 2000’s take the cake! Since the beginning of the 2000's, we have added paintball, rockwall, D2, low-ropes course, gaga ball, indoor/outdoor soccer field, four-square cages, and expanded the office space, just to name a few.

I realize I’ve spent an inordinate amount of space describing the physical changes at Doublecreek, without touching on the most important factors – campers and counselors.  Oddly, I don’t see significant changes in campers and counselors over the years.  The biggest change with campers over the past 46, soon to be 47, summers, is style.  They dress differently, but I still see shy campers clinging to their parents on Monday morning the first time they get on the bus to come to camp, while others jump out of their cars and get on the bus before their moms and dads get the car door open.

Counselors – same thing.  They dress differently, they are more technically savvy, but they bring the same attributes to the table.  They put campers first while giving the best part of themselves to ensure campers have a great experience at Camp Doublecreek.  So which decade is the best?  Since I have a personal and positive stake in all five decades, I’ll cop out and call it a five way tie!

-- Joe Ray

No Problem!!!

We had a visitor to Camp Doublecreek in the early morning of February 20, 2017.  It was a tornado and boy did he leave a calling card!  The roof of the riding arena was ripped off.  The water slide had its base ripped from the concrete and the canvas shredded.  The roof from the riding arena landed on the tennis court fence creating a mangled mess.  One Gaga Ball pit had the roof caved in and our big new pit traveled over 50 feet to the end of the tennis court.  Every day we find new damage.  Maybe we should stay in the office and we won’t have anymore damage!  That strategy works for ostriches; maybe it could work for us?

We were asked how the storm would impact Spring Break Camp. Well, I think we could have called this Spring Break Camp, throwback Spring Break.  No riding roof, no problem.  We didn’t have a roof over the riding arena until 1979, and we had no clue what we were missing!  Of course, we don’t swim during Spring Break Camp, but still, we managed for years without a water slide.  No Gaga Ball pits, no problem!  If you have four square, you can play four square anywhere.  No fence at the tennis court, [all together now] NO PROBLEM!  We didn’t have a fence around the tennis court that first summer, which only encouraged long rallies.

In fact, that first summer, we didn’t have a diving board at the pool, nor did we have a sidewalk around the pool.  We had one (yes, one) water fountain.  No mini-golf, gun safety or D2.  I think we had gymnastics under a tent.  We played football and soccer in an open area -- it would really be a stretch to call it a field.  There were multiple things we didn’t have that we have now.  But, we had campers and counselors. From the very beginning, Uncle Carter and Aunt Trudy instilled into everyone, that building relationships and having a memorable summer, was all you needed.  All to say, that It doesn’t matter if the roof is literally in left field. Camp Doublecreek has always been, and will continue to be, a safe, fun filled place for boys and girls, because that is our legacy!

PS - Director Dan wants everyone to know all will be fixed by summer, and will be better than ever!

-- Joe Ray