Tag: best overnight camps

Spotlight on: Amy!

Posted on by PineForest

Meet Amy Klimkowski, Head Counselor of Girls’ Camp!

color days

Hometown: Chicago, IL

When I’m not at camp, I’m: A Teacher and Sales Associate for Burton Snowboards

Years at camp: This will be my 10th summer!!! Can’t believe I’ll be going on the tree this year!

Favorite camp meal: Tacos. I can’t get enough. My record is 5 in one lunch! Burp.

Favorite camp tradition: Anything to do with 4th of July. It used to be the only day I would get homesick at camp. Now, 10 years later, I couldn’t imagine spending it anywhere else. The talent show is a highlight of my summer every year. You all rock for getting up there!

Favorite camp song: “I’ve got a pair of combination underwear…”

Favorite evening activity: Capture the Flag or Beach Ball Bonanza

Best part about being a camper: I was never a camper at PFC but I did go to camp when I was a kid. My favorite part of camp was the lake! I couldn’t get enough of it. I spent all day, every day there. Is that a big surprise to you? :)

Favorite part of current role: This is my first year in this role at camp but so far I have been loving it! Having the opportunity to work on projects and continually plan for camp all year long is a dream come true. This summer is going to be AMAZING! Andy and I have some exciting things up our sleeves… Also, a key to the ice cream barn will be a GREAT perk! Shhhh… I’ll share!

Favorite Camp Memory: There have been so many …but hitting a home run over the fence in the Boys’ Camp Home Run Derby contest is an absolute highlight. #hitlikeagirl

What I’m looking most forward to in 2015: Every year, the best part of my summer is spending it with you and making the most of every moment at camp. Also, my sneaker game is going to be on point this summer. I’ve got some funky new kicks I can’t wait to break in! Describe PFC in 3 words: Bliss, Happiness, Home.

Fun fact about myself: I am fluent in American Sign Language and all of the students I teach are Deaf.

PFC’S 85TH!

Posted on by PineForest

It’s been a long time coming but Pine Forest Camp has reached a milestone year, 85 years of happy campers. Who says you can’t go home again?! You can. Come back to PFC. Come back on your own, with your family or with your bunkmates.

SCHEDULE:

Saturday
12-2pm Welcome lunch
2-5pm Activities open. Basketball, lake, arts and crafts, tennis, yoga, nature. (Who knows, there might even be a Color War breakout!)
6:00pm The Banquet
8:00pm All camp “Decades” Campfire
Late night games, wine and cheese (for Hi-Seniors only)

Sunday
All morning: Activities open
10am-12pm: Farewell brunch

Bunks may be reserved for family and friends for overnight accommodations or you can choose to stay at one of the inns or resorts in the area. http://www.discoverpikepa.com/

For more information or to reserve your cabin, contact us at .


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Crickets

Posted on by PineForest

There are three signs that nature sends us every summer to let us know that camp is fleeting; going too fast. First we see the Canadian geese overhead, in tight V formation flying low over Mitchell Field heading south in advance of the cold. You can hear the squawking as they approach, zeroing in on their flight path.

Next is the sight of the first red leaves. Usually, you can find them down by the lake. There they are, on the tips of the tallest trees, red, yellow and gold waving in the breeze coming off Lake Greeley. It’s always the first week in August, just before Color Days, color!

And finally there are the crickets. They start at dusk, just as the sun goes down over the tree tops above the girls pool. You can hear just a few, here and there, during the month of July. The sound gets louder each week. Louder and louder, a crescendo, until the final days of camp, when they sound like a symphony. Sometimes you have to raise your voice to be heard over the cacophony of sound.

The smell of pines, the sight of a Milky Way of stars above, the feel of brisk mountain air and the happy crazy sound of crickets.

Set your ringtone to crickets as a reminder of those glorious, magical nights at camp._8245941_orig

The Importance of Socks: And a few other things…

Posted on by PineForest

In somewhat of a list format. In no particular order of importance. An ongoing list…

– Clean socks and maintaining pairs. Mesh sock bag, clothes pins, endless bags of cheap socks. Whatever you gotta do. Socks matter! To me, at least.

– Try something new. Not easy, but worth it. An activity, a food, a friend. It doesn’t matter. Try it. It’s safe to try at camp.

– GaGa is a sport…

– Battery Ball.

– You can be ‘camp good’ at something. You know what I’m talking about.

– To this day, when traveling with a friend, I always assume I can just use someone else’s toothpaste. Not true. If you’re traveling with a friend from camp, you’re likely out of luck…And toothpaste.

– Music.  Summer songs for me included: Too Sexy, Under The Bridge, I’ll Be Missing You (Puff Daddy Version), Can’t Touch This, Informer, Summer Girls, Waterfalls, Two Princes, This Is How We Do it, American Pie  —— I’m not saying these songs represent my taste in music. I’m just saying that, when I hear them…I know the lyrics. Like, ALL the lyrics.

– If someone has a guitar at a campfire, you can’t NOT sing The Weight.

– Finding the perfect s’mores stick is a talent unto itself. Not to mention the actual s’more.

– No matter how old you get, no matter where life takes you, when you’re with your camp friends it’s as if no time has passed. Those same silly jokes are just as funny. If not, funnier.

1990 bunk photos_Page_12

I’m seated on the ground, in the navy shirt, holding the sign. Likely in between scratching bugbites. One of my many summers in Bunk Banana over my tenure as a camper at PFC.