A Pirate's LIfe for Me!

A Pirate's Life for Me

This week was Pirates’ Week.   Pirates are possibly the most romanticized and misunderstood genres in history.    We often view pirates as a band of scalawags operating outside the law under the command of an iron-fisted dictator with the title of captain.  Actually, pirates usually operated only halfway outside the law.  They had the blessing of one of two countries who happened to be at war and pirate ships operated under a fairly democratic process.

But, since perception is reality, I’m not going to take up your time with the History Channel version of pirates.  The pop culture version is more fun.  What could be better than guys and some girls sailing in warships wearing eye patches, scarves, black hats, and sporting skull and cross bones with an occasional parrot on the shoulder.

What do Doublecreek and pirates have in common?  Both are synonymous with adventure and fun.  Now at Doublecreek we don’t engage in boarding ships and hunting for buried treasure, but we do play “Capture the Flag” and go on scavenger hunts.  Now you can play “Capture the Flag” two ways.  One way is to play in a confined area, the second way is to play in an area which requires orientation skills.  Guess which one we use at Doublecreek?  If you guessed the confined area, then try again.  We call it “Camp Capture the Flag.” When we say, “Camp Capture the Flag,” we mean that only the riding arena, pool, archery and gun safety are off limits.  The flag could be anywhere.  You have campers running and hiding everywhere, employing tactics of stealth and deception which would make Long John Silver proud.  We have all kinds of tag and hide-and-go-seek games like Dynamite and Lava Lake which require stealth and speed.  Dynamite is a game I’ve watched but still haven’t figured out. Lava Lake is a game where campers try to negotiate a field strewn with hula hoops with crazed counselors balancing bean bags on top of swimming noodles. Sounds confusing?  It is.  But campers understand it.

You don’t have to be a pirate on the high seas to find fun and adventure. You just have to be at Doublecreek.

-- Joe Ray

Here's the link to the Pirate Week Video:  https://vimeo.com/173119827