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I trust this finds you all still riding high from the Thanksgiving holiday. As much as I love the tradition of this celebration, not to mention the hours upon hours spent in the kitchen trying hopelessly to replicate the feast that my mother pulled off with little to no effort, the thought of firing up the crockpot, making some spicy chili and going on a hike in the woods, sounds very enticing…perhaps next year. However you spent your holiday, I hope that it included family, friends and lots of pie.
As many of you know, we have been working on a book called The Oral History Project. An outside company helped us gather over 300 alumni stories and create a book that will be published this spring. The love of camp and the outdoors, and lifelong friendships are constant themes. Below are two excerpts I especially enjoyed reading.
Allan Bulley, Jr. “I was a camper for three years and a counselor for four years. I spent my summers in college as a trip director at Kooch-i-ching. I couldn't believe they actually paid me to do something I loved so much. Being a trip director taught me that life is just one continuous canoe trip. Sometimes you paddle with the wind, have a sail, and everything is sunny. The next day it's raining, you have a headwind, and the waves are 2 to 3 feet high, but the next day, it's sunny. It taught me that I should look at disasters as nothing more than temporary, keep moving, and enjoy the trip. That's what life is all about, and it's great.” Grace Gardner “When I started at Ogichi Daa Kwe, the camp was still so new that most of the campers there had some family connection to Camp Kooch-i-ching, but I didn't. I went to camp that summer for three weeks with my sister and two other girls from my hometown, and it opened my eyes to so many possibilities. This was when we still had the old Rainy Lake Lodge. We lived in the resort cabins and stored our shoes in the old refrigerators and stoves. I love that I got to be there in the early days and that I've stuck around to see how camp has transformed.” In other news… We talk a lot about how the camp family can stay connected. After trying K&O Connect for a few years, we’ve decided to shut down that effort—it seems the last thing any of us need is another social media platform to manage. We invite you to follow us on Instagram @koochiching and @strongspirited and Facebook @campkoochiching and @campogichidaakwe.
We are currently gathering submissions for our 2022 Alumni Newsletter. If you have news to share, a move, job relocation or possibly a wedding or a newborn on the way, please let us know so we can pass on the news to the camp family. There is a lot of cool stuff for sale at the Kooch-i-ching and Ogichi Daa Kwe online stores. If you will be in the Cincinnati area on Friday, December 9, please plan on joining us between 4pm and 9pm for some holiday cheer. Details are found here.
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