THE BLOG: Insights, advice and news from our summer camp experts
While we are up in NH enjoying the last couple of weeks of snowboard season, Billy is still playing in the water in Florida. Weak winds have curtailed his kiteboarding and small surf has limited his traditional surfing so Stand Up Paddleboarding is where it's at!
More pics on our Facebook page!
Keep shredding, Billy!
We saw this an article online today (link below) which breaks down some ideas to think about when contemplating summer camp. They make some solid points and it is a quick read for those of you who are having trouble pulling the trigger and making a camp decision. How to Give Children Their Best Possible Summer Camp Experience
I would add that camps (especially ours):
Most of all, camps are just pure, 100% fun.
We stumbled across this Boston Globe article today: 10 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Summer Camp
I will not hold it against them but I think they got some inspiration from our blog posts last year about how to pick a summer camp:
Water Monkey Tips on Picking a Summer Camp part 1 - Feb 2012
Water Monkey Tips on Picking a Summer Camp part 2 - Feb 2012
Just seeing articles about summer camp in the paper is good enough for me. It is definitely important to take some time when choosing a camp. If you need help always feel free to give us a call...if wakeboarding/wakesurfing/waterskiing/wakeskating on an awesome boat with cool people is not your thing we will help you find another program!
617-855-WAKE (9253)
Last weekend we joined a handful of other "extreme" camps in NH for a camp fair at Rye Airfield. For those of you who have not heard of it, Rye Airfield is a massive indoor skate/bmx park in Rye, NH. Some heavy snow and wind kept most people at home but it was still a good time and I got to chat with the other programs and some prospective campers.
One of the programs in attendance was Highland Mountain (http://highlandmountain.com/) a downhill mountain bike park nearby in New Hampshire. We will be adding a day at Highland Mountain to our quiver of special trips for Water Monkey campers. Downhill mountain biking will be a great activity to switch it up during the week of being on the boat and it now joins indoor skydiving, paintball, rock climbing, surfing, cool hikes, water parks, IMAX movies, and whatever else we think of as possible special day trips. Awesome special trips are just another reason why our camp is amazing.
Living at the lake year round is something I have enjoyed for the past five or so years. Each season is fun in its own way and winter happens to be a great time to be up here. As the weather gets cooler each year I put away all the summer gear and board shorts and dust off my snowboard, crampons, snowshoes, and heavy clothing. This winter we have not had the huge amounts of snow that we received in previous years but there have been ample opportunities for fun in/on the frozen water (snow/ice).
The above picture was the ice a week and a half ago before a series of large snow storms. As you walk along the lake the ice is constantly "talking". Sometimes it sounds like a whale call as the water under the thick ice circulates and the ice mass shifts. Other times you hear explosions and shattering ice which, I am told, is the sound of the ice expanding and getting stronger, not the other, intuitive explanation that the entire surface you are walking on is about to implode and send you in to the freezing water.
As I continued to explore the ice that day I found countless areas with cool and complex designs frozen under the surface of the ice. I stopped at many of them to get down and inspect closely. The picture to the left shows thousands of mini air bubbles frozen in time until the ice thaws in a couple of months. Below, I found one large frozen anomaly in the ice with thousands of little offshoots. It could almost be a picture from outer space with the dark background the blackness of space and the little bubbles the passing stars.
Soon after my day on the ice we got some much needed snow. It blanketed every road, tree, house, and frozen lake in NH and I was all too willing to toss my snowboard in the car and hit the slopes.
As the fresh snow got packed down and skiied off at the mountain ski resorts in New England I searched for fresh, untracked snow in less trafficked spots. Luckily behind my house on the lake is Mt. Molly, a small peak with a number of trails over a few hundred acres. I trekked up to the peak where, at my favorite rock outcropping, I took the above picture of the snow and the mountains in the distance. Panning to the left reveals Merrymeeting Lake, still frozen but covered now in some deep, fluffy snow.
The winter is far from over and I am looking forward to lots more snowy fun. We at Water Monkey hope that everyone is out enjoying their winter months as much as we are.
