There were some major
differences between our camp & all the rest.
To start with, we were on the bus twice as
long & our ears popped a lot. If this was
your 1st time to camp you really felt like
you were very very far from home. I think
that's why we didn't have too many attempts
to run away, it just wasn't worth the trouble.
We all know that Oh-Neh-Tah was owned by the
GVF while the other camps were leased & that
we were the biggest camp both acreage wise
as well as our number capacity. We had mountains
while you had hills. You had poison ivy &
rattlesnakes & we didn't. Your lakes were
clear & you could see the bottom while our
lake was brown & slimy - try getting kids
to swim in that. We had glass windows on the
cabins, you didn't. You had 3 blankets on
your beds while we had 4 & I can bet that
most mornings you didn't have to wear mittens
& a winter coat to flag rising! Your latrines
also didn't smell as bad - you had some sort
of liquid chemical that ours didn't have.
I think we were majorly deprived of BOYS -
the chances of us running into a male were
slight if not nonexistent. If you had a summer
romance in the valley then all you had to
do was make a local call while we had to spend
massive amounts on a long distance call. Yes
we had the Police Anchor Camp down the road
but their counselors were about 14. years
old. Imagine our version of going to a social:
get in a car after taps for at least 90 minutes,
arrive at said destination of Orenda, Kiwago,
Sebago or Lanowa at 10:30 (that's if we didn't
get lost finding Sebago or Lanowa), stay for
a few hours & be home around 2:00. Then we'd
have to get up at 7:40 (5 minutes before flag
raising) & work a full day. We did have a
few more watering holes than just your Murray's.
We had Point Lookout, Windham Mountain Inn
and The Klondike. We also had Hunter Mountain
who hosted the Polka & German Fests. I remember
1 summer when some counselors went to the
German fest & since one of the foreign counselors
was German, was able to strike up a conversation
with one of the bands who spoke no English.
It was a rainy day at camp & this German band
came to play in the dining hall for the afternoon's
activity & entertained us all. Then there
was All Day Program. We could only send about
20 people so it was quite an honor to be picked
to go. I know the Valley camps had the brunt
of the day's organization for the event but
Oh-Neh-Tah's contribution was to silkscreen
all those scarves! I just remember Connie
& I being holed up in the Lodge's Loft for
at least a week, cutting the material, drawing
the design, making the stencil, putting it
on the screen then add the paint, squeegee,
hang to dry & clean up the mess. Those scarves
were everywhere. Working conditions weren't
all that great because by the afternoon the
loft was stifling hot with no ventilation
& we were working with toxic adhering fluid
so I'm sure more than a few brain cells were
sacrificed for our efforts. In any event,
we didn't have many distractions so we truly
were able to just enjoy the total camp experience.
