that big brown lake

 Big Brown Lake On my way to the camp, I felt that anxious and tickly feeling I always get in my tummy before I arrive. The fact that I know I will have endless memories when I leave just makes me smile. I was on my way to Camp Ernst, the assignment is to say when I was first drawn to the place, when actually I went to this place by accident, and I was supposed to go to a different camp but actually went to Ernst instead. So ultimately I ended up falling in love, with the camp. But there are small things that I know and picture as my view of Camp. For instance as I drove up Camp Ernst road, I feel that intense, anxious excitement as usual. I smell the barn that we always pass before we drive up the hill. On both sides there are evergreen trees that align the road, following it all the way up that hill. As we near the precipice of what feels like an endless cliff, we drive over the top, the trees clear away, and the first thing I see is the sun, the golden sun reflecting off of that big brown lake; with the one hundred foot slide leading into it, and the ripples extending across the water from the banana boat.
      The big brown lake sits at the bottom of a hill where at the top sits the Camp’s welcome center, and adjacent to it is the classic Lakeview Lodge where campers sleep.  This picture is the heavenly Camp Ernst. Where people are not judged, where we express who they really are, and if one had a way of measuring spirit, the source would come from Camp Ernst.  Honestly, if it was not for Camp Ernst and Shakespeare I would still be the shy introverted person I was in grade school. The first time I walked into Camp Ernst you could just feel the bright, uplifting atmosphere as you’re driving through the woods to your cabin. People walk down the road and wave at you when you drive by as they are singing classic camp songs. I was greeted right when I walked in by all the people who did not know me, just by the fact that people came up to me first and initiated the conversation shows how loving the people can be here. My first week I spent there was a complete disaster, I got my arm stuck in a rope bridge, got stung by bees, fell off my bunk bed and as I was falling my shirt got caught and I hung there until it finally ripped, that event happened in the middle of night and the rest all happened within two days. This camp was the biggest mistake of my life I was thinking to myself, by Tuesday I wanted nothing more than to go home. I was hating every moment I spent at this place.