Jan 10, 2012

It was a good choice for me to work at Camp Morrison in McCall Idaho in 1993, 94, and 95

Reasons to agree:
  1. I learned how to row. 
  2. I got good at canoeing, small boat sailing, and snorkeling.
  3. I met some cool people.
  4. I learned how to Eskimo roll in a kayak.
  5. I learned how to live on my own, and take care of myself. 
  6. You get a sense of who you are living alone and in a new place. 
  7. You get to know people pretty well living with them. I met a lot of cool people (Gomer, Lumpy, Bryan, Brad, Nathan, Emily, 
  1. I made less than minimum wage. I worked more than 8 hours, but got paid minimum wage for an 8 hour day.
  2. I met some cool people, but I didn't spend time with the most important people in my life, my family and the people I was going to school with. 
  3. Rowing, canoeing, small boat sailing, and snorkeling are not marketable, or used very often. 


I worked for 3 summers in McCall on the aquatic staff of Camp Morrison. While in McCall I:
    A drawing Bryan Rich did of me
  • mounted a potato gun to our sail boat
    • A potato gun is made with PVC. A small section with a large adapter. You spray hair spray, or other combustible material (not sure if hair spray is as combustible any more) into the large section. Using a lighter ignite (we used a kerosene lantern igniter) shoots the potato that is crammed into the small end. Mount this to a sail bloat and you are a fricken pirate. 
  • broke helmets while wearing them,
    • Above Fall Creek McCall are some very steep trails. Going off jumps on these mountains causes you to go up in the air, at the same time that the mountain falls out beneath you. Go to the peak, and you'll go past the jump that I broke my helmet on. 
  • worked as a life-guard.  Taught: Canoeing, Row-Boating, Small Boat Sailing, Swimming, Life-Saving, snorkeling
  • played a lot of hackey-sack, 700
  • rode my bike 2 or 3 miles to every meal, 
  • used an outhouse and took a shower in the outdoors, 
  • chased deer, 
  • listened to a lot of Nirvana, Primus, 
  • had my first room-mates,
  • recorded my first sleep-talker
  • and constantly feared running into bears when ridding back to my tent at night on dirt roads
Below are some photos.
On the way to Kayaking down the Middle fork of the Salmon. 0 for 3 combat eskimo rolls. This truck had an 8-track, that played Nirvana nonstop. The year Kurt took his life. 
The row boats tied to the dock. The lake is very smooth, as it typically was this time of night. A troup could borrow the canoes and go to Cougar Island. They could take their tents and backpacks, or just go for the evening. We would help them get into the canoes, and shove off.  
Chris Gonzales trying to look tough. He was the aquatics director after Gomer Williams
Me trying to look tough
Me with cosmetic glasses made from spiral notebook and the
shirt that Megan and I picked out from Sadie Hawkins
Me watching a snorkeling outing on North Beach
There was a hill on the beach with a log and a table to sit and draw, and
write. It was a great place to think about stuff.. 
The entry to the water front. The buddy system/swimmer board, flag pole,
look out tower / storage cabinet.
I'm the 2nd from the right. Adam ?, Nathan Fisher, Brad Bishop, me, Bryan Rich
The Canoes looking @ cougar island. Lake is usually calm like
this in the morning. 
A couple of family of geese on the calm lake
Bryan, behind the life-guard tent