Two Wonderful Worlds

This week is Disney Week.  When I think of Disney, I think of a world of fun, magic, and adventure.  I grew up watching the Wonderful World of Disney.  My favorite movies were Disney movies.  When I was a kid, there was only one theme park, Disneyland in California.  My family visited Disneyland when I was eight years old.  I still remember that trip!

Disney has earned a world-wide reputation.  Doublecreek doesn’t have a world-wide reputation, but we have an impressive local one.  Now, I’m not being presumptuous enough to say Doublecreek is equal to Disney, but there are comparisons to be made!  Disney has Maximus and Sven;  Doublecreek has Magnolia and Noreen!  Disney has Magic Mountain; Doublecreek has a playscape (we’ll name it someday).  Disney has Cinderella’s Castle; Doublecreek has a gazebo!  Disney World has a roller coaster; but Doublecreek has a nine-person slide.  The Magic Kingdom has a jungle cruise; 

Doublecreek has a jungle gym!  Disney has thousands of greeters and performers in elaborate costumes that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars; Doublecreek has several performers who perform in costumes which cost dozens of dollars.  When Disney produces a movie or video, the production values are second to none; but, if you love production values, check out a Doublecreek Pop-Mashup!

Make-believe is a component of Disney, but make-believe is alive and well at Doublecreek!  Doublecreek has male counselors pretending to be Disney princesses during Sing Song, with female counselors pretending to be warriors!  Over the years I’ve seen campers pretending to be on a pink dinosaur hunt.  I’ve also seen campers digging the sand pit convinced that King Tut’s treasures are only a scoop of sand away!

Friday’s Sing Song was the climax of Disney Week!  All the groups performed a song or a scene from a Disney movie!  I couldn’t tell who enjoyed it more, the audience or the performers!  It doesn’t matter.  What matters is everyone enjoyed it.  Never mind if the costumes are mismatched, or if the dancers were not totally in sync.  Campers and counselors were working together and having a good time, which means it has been a fun, magical, and adventurous experience!  Doublecreek is not Disney, but we still generate our own special magic!

n  Joe Ray

Here's the link to Disney Week's Video:  https://vimeo.com/171091253

Western Week (Then and Now)

This week was Western Week at Camp Doublecreek. In 1971, Western Week felt more authentic.  For one thing, in 1971 we were called Doublecreek Farm, not Camp Doublecreek.  To get to Doublecreek “Farm,” you went down Gattis School Road.  Louis Henna Blvd.  didn’t exist.  You passed maybe five houses, then turned on a dirt road which led to the farm.  Honestly, Doublecreek Farm was more suited to covered wagons than buses.

Actually, there wasn’t much difference between Western Week and any other week.  Many counselors wore hats and boots as part of their attire.  Today, the only cowboy hats you’ll find on our campus are in the skit closet, and half our cowboy hats are over-sized foam cowboy novelty hats.

Activities such as fishing and long trail rides were in our weekly schedule.  Yes, we had fishing.  If you caught a fish, you could take it home.  You were lucky to get four bites out of it, but you could still take it home.

Trail rides were a true adventure.  In 1971, Doublecreek Farm had approximately 125 acres and most of it was horseback-friendly.

About once a month, we had a horned-toad race.  Horned-toads were all over the place.  Campers would catch their horned-toad and put a number on its stomach.  Then we would put the horned-toads under a bucket. (That could be the most entertaining part of the race process.)  Uncle Carter would make a circle about 25 feet in diameter, lift up the bucket and off they’d go.  The first toad to cross the line was the winner.

Sometimes when we talk about the good old days, they sound better than they actually were.  We had fun in 1971, but we had maybe two trees, almost no grass and a pool without a sidewalk or diving board.  We traded in the old fishing hole for a playscape, rockwall, water slide (which will be repaired soon), shuffleboard, lasertag, mini-golf, low ropes course, and grass – lots of grass and trees!

No, Western Week isn’t the same as it used to be.  But, we will still have some kind of horse show.  And contrary to history, it’s Sam Bass, not A.W. Grimes, who gets shot.

 -- Joe Ray

Welcome Aboard Season 46!!

Camp Doublecreek Season 46 is fast approaching!  The volume of details to be taken care of to get Doublecreek ready for campers seems to grow, not shrink as the years pass.  Right now you’ll see mowing, painting, filing, and getting everything from buses to water fountains ready for the first day of camp.

This time of year, Saturdays at Doublecreek mean Open House in the morning and counselor interviews in the afternoon.  Becoming a counselor for Season 46 is more complicated than becoming a counselor was for Season 1.  Basically, my interview consisted of Aunt Trudy asking if I wanted a job.  After considering the offer for a nanosecond, I said, “Yes.”

Today the process of hiring a counselor involves a screening process, a telephone interview, then the final step, the board review.  Future counselors answer questions from the Leadership Team.  For many applicants, this is their first job interview.  We try to put them at ease, but for some the room feels like a courthouse and they are on trial.  The applicants are usually nervous and it shows.  However, despite nerves, these applicants show that they care about the campers.  They may say it in different ways, but the common thread among the vast majority of the candidates is a love for children.

Several candidates are past campers, many are or preparing to be school teachers, and quite a few have gone through our Counselor-in-Training (CIT) program.  With these resources to draw from, it is no surprise that year in and year out we are able to put together an exemplary staff.

Our counselors share a common trait.  They’re eager and ready to make a difference by helping campers have the best summer ever!

I’m beginning to view Doublecreek as a constantly growing and expanding tapestry that’s not been woven by one hand, but many.  Everyone involved contributes to the fabric of Doublecreek whether they are campers, parents, counselors, or CITs.

For me, one of the best phrases I get to say at the end of an interview when the candidate breathes a deep sigh of relief.  I really enjoy saying, “Welcome aboard.”

The curtain will soon rise on Season 46 of Camp Doublecreek, and all the staff can’t wait to experience another great season!

--Joe Ray


Here's what some of our counselors say about working at Camp Doublecreek!

https://vimeo.com/161974810

April 2016 is Counselor Appreciation Month at Camp Doublecreek!

We love our counselors, they embody the core values that Uncle Carter put into action many many moons ago. This month we celebrate them and set aside the month of April as Counselor Appreciation Month. You guys ROCK!

Here's what some of our counselors say about working at Camp Doublecreek:  https://vimeo.com/161974810

Spring is Here!

I really like Spring!  Watching flowers bloom and grass grow never gets old.  I have to mow it, but then I get the mowed grass smell. Spring is a time for new beginnings.  The world looks brighter and more vibrant -- the grass is greener and the sky is bluer.

Today is the first day of Spring Break Camp at Doublecreek.  While the calendar may say it is still Winter, today’s weather tells me Spring is here.  This is the best weather we’ve ever had!  (Weather during Spring Break can be dicey.)  Today, everyone is in shorts and t-shirts.  I remember some years where it was cold, rainy, windy or all three.  We’ve held camp during freezing weather, triple digit temperatures, and monsoons. What’s fascinating is that at camp the weather really doesn’t matter – we have fun anyway.

This is the 20th Spring Break Camp at Doublecreek.  When Scott Kirtley announced that we would be having a Spring Break Camp, we really didn’t know how it would work.  As it turned out, it worked very well.

When Uncle Carter and Aunt Trudy announced they were opening what was then known as Doublecreek Farm, no one knew how that would work out either.  As it turned out, it worked out very well!

This Spring Break Camp is unique.  This is the first week of camp since Aunt Trudy passed.  For all the staff, this has been quite an adjustment.  It’s an adjustment we’ve made before.  We made it after Scott passed and after Uncle Carter passed.

It is a true reflection of the leadership and vision of Uncle Carter, Aunt Trudy, Scott, and Dan that Camp Doublecreek not only continues to be in operation, but that it continues to thrive.  The word I often hear used to describe Doublecreek is the word “special.”  Doublecreek is a special place because special people have left their footprints all over this camp.

Doublecreek is more than a swimming pool, horseback riding facility, rockwall, paintball and soccer fields.  The heart of Doublecreek can be traced to Uncle Carter, Aunt Trudy, Scott, Dan, Judy and Jane as well as the thousands of counselors and campers who have been here at camp.

So as the grass grows and flowers bloom, Doublecreek gets ready for another season.  Yes, we’ll remember those who are no longer with us and will smile because the heart they left behind will always be with us.

 -- Joe Ray

Here's the link to our video from Spring Break Camp!  Enjoy!!!

https://vimeo.com/159506108

Be My Valentine

February 14th is coming.  It's time for parents and kids to get ready for Valentine’s Day parties at home and/at school.  Valentine’s Day would not be complete without Valentine’s Day cards.  Some of the cards I have seen show a princess saying (and I’m quoting Belle), “Valentine, You are True of Heart”; or Elsa telling you to “Have a Magical Valentine’s Day.”  A Valentine’s Day message from Spiderman said, “Happy Valentine’s Day, Hero!”  Even Star Wars Storm Troopers have Valentine’s Day messages.  One read, “The First Order, My Valentine.”  I’m not sure what that means, but Darth Vader even sends a Valentine’s Day message: “Crush the Resistance, My Valentine!”  Now those are words for the true romantic in all of us.

All this caused me to think, “What if Camp Doublecreek had Valentine’s Day cards; what would they look like?”  Check out the Valentine's Day cards from Doublecreek below. If you understand the meaning behind these cards, you’ve been to Camp Doublecreek.  If you don’t have a clue, then you need to find out.  Register your camper(s) so that we can say to them, “You’re the Greatest, Valentine!”

Transitions

I’m sure you have heard the phrase, “the more things change -- the more things stay the same.”  This phrase has always seemed to be on the cryptic side to me.  But when I apply it to Camp Doublecreek, it makes sense.  If there’s a place that’s changed over the years, it’s Camp Doublecreek.

Physically, the camp has gone through dramatic changes.  When Doublecreek opened in 1971, it consisted of the Red Building, which was half the size it is now, a pool which didn’t have a fence or sidewalk, and a tennis court without a fence (that feature encouraged long rallies). We had one water fountain, one bus, one tree (maybe), a van and a camp pickup truck that was built during the Eisenhower Administration.

From those austere and barren beginnings, Doublecreek has morphed into the camp that features waterslides, a laser tag area, and a forty-foot tall rockwall, a playscape, a miniature golf course, shades, and buildings which functions range from storing sports equipment to a place to make arts and crafts.  Did I mention that we now have grass and trees – lots of trees?

Doublecreek has been special from the first day Uncle Carter drove the blue van to the front door of the red building where Aunt Trudy was waiting on the front porch to greet the campers.  I wish I could describe the vibrant atmosphere with makes Doublecreek so unique.  You can’t describe it – you just have to experience it.  The Doublecreek experience was fueled, developed and nurtured by Uncle Carter and Aunt Trudy for over forty years.  It is a grand testament to both of them that they created this wonderful camp and that their spirit continues after their passing.

The ownership of Doublecreek has passed from Uncle Carter and Aunt Trudy to their daughters, Judy Kirtley and Jane Neal.  Both of these women have a deep investment in Doublecreek.  Judy is in charge of the camp nurses and often serves as the camp nurse.  Her husband, Bruce, has on countless occasions been the reason our swimming pool and buses continue to run.  Judy’s daughter, Tracy Jane Johnson, worked as a counselor and riding instructor.  Her son, Scott, was a counselor and also served as Camp Director from 2002 until his passing in 2007.  Scott’s wife, Deana, served as our mini-camper counselors for many years.

Jane Neal set up Doublecreek’s horseback riding program.  Despite the fact that Jane and her husband, Pancho, live in Burleson, TX, they often make their way down to Round Rock to check in on camp.  All of Jane’s sons, Dan, Drew, Tim and Paul have been counselors at Doublecreek.  Her oldest son, Dan Neal, is the current Director of Camp Doublecreek.

There is a logical symmetry to having Judy and Jane step into the void left by Uncle Carter’s and Aunt Trudy’s passing.  The physical look of Doublecreek may change, the programming may change, but the heartbeat remains the same.  Campers still smile and laugh as they run from one activity to the next knowing that they will be cared for and loved.  Yes, the owners may have changed, but the love remains the same.

 Joe Ray