By fortunate coincidence, the Trailmates (Geneva's "Princess" group) and Acacia's Princess Nation shared a trip to "Camp Surf", in Imperial Beach, south of San Diego. It's right on the beach, with cabins full of bunk-beds, and a big mess hall with darn good food. Which is a good thing, 'cuz they have surfboards and body-boards available, with lessons, and that surfing is hard, hungry, work.
Geneva tried to surf for a while, but decided that body boarding was more her speed, but that's in a separate part of the beach. So I spent most of the time with Acacia. She did pretty well, and had one fabulous ride, standing up all the way almost until the dry land. It was tough on me, though, 'cuz she'd ride in (standing or not), and I'd *walk* in, and help her walk the board back out, over the waves, to deep enough water to ride another one. So I was walking twice as much as her, and walking though waist-high water is some real exercise.
They also have archery and a climbing tower, and a cool little craft where you get to decorate a little wooden surfboard (really a woodworker's "biscuit"). I took a stab at putting a Hula Girl on mine, and it's not half bad, for an inch-tall painting. Check that, and lots more pictures here.
The campfire on Saturday night was an all-skits affair, but I stuck myself in the schedule 'cuz I knew that if the night went by without "Waltzing With Bears", there'd be trouble. I didn't want to hog up too much of the time, but was persuaded to do "Lollipop Tree" too, by audience chant/demand. Afterwards, the guy who runs the camp gave me an inadvertent compliment by assuming that I was a "professional musician that they'd brought in".
All-in-all, a great weekend -- best "campout" in a long time. *And*, a great way to spend my birthday.
