Oswegatchie
Over the weekend, I dipped out of Ithaca to go to Oswegatchie, which is this camp up in the Adirondacks, with about half of Eco. It took about 3 hours to get there.
It kind of reminded me of Arlington Echo, because it's technically an outdoor education center....but it was WAY old and kind of neglected. We stayed in this "lodge" which was basically a large cabin with a common area, full kitchen, and a basement full of bedrooms and bunkbeds with really hard mattresses. With sort of a funky mildew smell.
My group was the first to get there on Friday, around 5:30 or so, and we had to wait for the other groups. So the four of us went on a hike. We sort of got lost.....but found our way back when it started getting dark. Following our hiking escapades, we swam with some of the other Eco Housers in the swimming area (the pond!). We kind of just goofed around on Friday night, played Scattergories, that kind of thing. I was in a room with two guys, Gavin and Peter, who are really cool, but they abandoned me that first night to go canoe to a peninsula and sleep in the lean-tos there. So I was all alone in this weird smelling room, with nothing but a mattress (literally, no mattress cover), a blanket, and a pillow. I had a hard time falling asleep (while trying not to touch the mattress for the sake of my health)..and I woke up really early. I migrated upstairs to the common area, and the dilapidated old squishy couch. That couch was WAY more comfy than that stupid mattress, so I fell asleep there. ....Oh, and I forgot to mention that this place had about 5 employees (all around college age + 1 adult cook lady), and basically NO RULES. It was pretty much a free for all.
Saturday morning I went canoeing with Jen, Andrea, and Michelle, which was nice. I hadn't canoed in years, and it felt good. After that, we didn't really want to do the low ropes course with some of the others...so we went back to the lodge and fell asleep on the couch again. Went to lunch, and then got most everybody together to go and do the high ropes course. Right when we got to the high ropes course (and literally, they're like 30 feet off the ground) the sky rips open and it pours down rain. But we continued on anyway, since there was no lightning. Everyone got harnessed up, and then took cover under the pavilion. I did do one thing...you have to climb this tall ladder, and then there are pegs stuck into the tree, which you have to use for hand holds. Between these two trees are cables strung up. You use the one cable to put your feet on, and the other for your hands. You're supposed to cross the 25 or so feet between the trees using only this cable. Then you climb up the tree with some more pegs, and use the top cable as the new bottom cable, with several ropes for handhelds. I only did the first part, since I was really scared of heights, soaking wet, and the cable was really slippery. I wanted to do the zip line too....but my desire to put on dry underwear and get out of the rain outweighed my desire to wait in line for a ride on the zip line. So Jen, Michelle, Andrea and I went back to the cabin, changed, and just chilled out for a while.
The BEST part came around 9, when we played the Secret Eco House Game. Technically, I'm not allowed to tell anybody this, but nobody in Eco knows I have an LJ, and I know Lauren, Danielle, and Lex won't tell.
So the game is called KissWink. It's the most amazing game ever played. It involves us taking over the kitchen building, scrounging up 30 old mattresses, and creating a padded room, of sorts. Everybody gets with a partner, and sits with them in a circle in the mattress area (literally, we had mattresses on the walls, floor, etc.). Pretzal style, one person in front of the other, facing in to the circle. One person doesn't have a partner. They are "single". The single person calls the names of two people from the inside circle, and the first person to kiss the single on the cheek, wins and becomes the partner of the single. However, it is the job of the outer circle partner to do whatever they can to restrain their inner circle partner, and prevent them from leaving. So, it's basically wrestling on mattresses, but WAY FUNNIER! The single can't call people sitting next to them, and the contenders have to kiss the single on the cheek. There is no sex discrimination. Seriously, we played for FOUR AND A HALF HOURS!!! When both pairs of people are deadlocked, the single can call another pair, up to four pairs of people can be duking it out within a circle of people sitting on old blue mattresses. It is the funniest thing ever, and so much fun! There are plenty of injuries though. People came back yesterday with bruises and mattress burn everywhere. I personally have mattress burnt ankles, and a nice bruise on the left side of my clavicle. There's talk of playing it when it snows really hard.
Around 3, we just crashed where we lay. So we slept on a bunch of old mattresses (which we way more comfy that those other ones) in what was basically the dining hall.
It kind of reminded me of Arlington Echo, because it's technically an outdoor education center....but it was WAY old and kind of neglected. We stayed in this "lodge" which was basically a large cabin with a common area, full kitchen, and a basement full of bedrooms and bunkbeds with really hard mattresses. With sort of a funky mildew smell.
My group was the first to get there on Friday, around 5:30 or so, and we had to wait for the other groups. So the four of us went on a hike. We sort of got lost.....but found our way back when it started getting dark. Following our hiking escapades, we swam with some of the other Eco Housers in the swimming area (the pond!). We kind of just goofed around on Friday night, played Scattergories, that kind of thing. I was in a room with two guys, Gavin and Peter, who are really cool, but they abandoned me that first night to go canoe to a peninsula and sleep in the lean-tos there. So I was all alone in this weird smelling room, with nothing but a mattress (literally, no mattress cover), a blanket, and a pillow. I had a hard time falling asleep (while trying not to touch the mattress for the sake of my health)..and I woke up really early. I migrated upstairs to the common area, and the dilapidated old squishy couch. That couch was WAY more comfy than that stupid mattress, so I fell asleep there. ....Oh, and I forgot to mention that this place had about 5 employees (all around college age + 1 adult cook lady), and basically NO RULES. It was pretty much a free for all.
Saturday morning I went canoeing with Jen, Andrea, and Michelle, which was nice. I hadn't canoed in years, and it felt good. After that, we didn't really want to do the low ropes course with some of the others...so we went back to the lodge and fell asleep on the couch again. Went to lunch, and then got most everybody together to go and do the high ropes course. Right when we got to the high ropes course (and literally, they're like 30 feet off the ground) the sky rips open and it pours down rain. But we continued on anyway, since there was no lightning. Everyone got harnessed up, and then took cover under the pavilion. I did do one thing...you have to climb this tall ladder, and then there are pegs stuck into the tree, which you have to use for hand holds. Between these two trees are cables strung up. You use the one cable to put your feet on, and the other for your hands. You're supposed to cross the 25 or so feet between the trees using only this cable. Then you climb up the tree with some more pegs, and use the top cable as the new bottom cable, with several ropes for handhelds. I only did the first part, since I was really scared of heights, soaking wet, and the cable was really slippery. I wanted to do the zip line too....but my desire to put on dry underwear and get out of the rain outweighed my desire to wait in line for a ride on the zip line. So Jen, Michelle, Andrea and I went back to the cabin, changed, and just chilled out for a while.
The BEST part came around 9, when we played the Secret Eco House Game. Technically, I'm not allowed to tell anybody this, but nobody in Eco knows I have an LJ, and I know Lauren, Danielle, and Lex won't tell.
So the game is called KissWink. It's the most amazing game ever played. It involves us taking over the kitchen building, scrounging up 30 old mattresses, and creating a padded room, of sorts. Everybody gets with a partner, and sits with them in a circle in the mattress area (literally, we had mattresses on the walls, floor, etc.). Pretzal style, one person in front of the other, facing in to the circle. One person doesn't have a partner. They are "single". The single person calls the names of two people from the inside circle, and the first person to kiss the single on the cheek, wins and becomes the partner of the single. However, it is the job of the outer circle partner to do whatever they can to restrain their inner circle partner, and prevent them from leaving. So, it's basically wrestling on mattresses, but WAY FUNNIER! The single can't call people sitting next to them, and the contenders have to kiss the single on the cheek. There is no sex discrimination. Seriously, we played for FOUR AND A HALF HOURS!!! When both pairs of people are deadlocked, the single can call another pair, up to four pairs of people can be duking it out within a circle of people sitting on old blue mattresses. It is the funniest thing ever, and so much fun! There are plenty of injuries though. People came back yesterday with bruises and mattress burn everywhere. I personally have mattress burnt ankles, and a nice bruise on the left side of my clavicle. There's talk of playing it when it snows really hard.
Around 3, we just crashed where we lay. So we slept on a bunch of old mattresses (which we way more comfy that those other ones) in what was basically the dining hall.