OK, this is actually your Fearless Leader hugging a lion cub on vacation. But at Camp GetAway, we also keep a sharp eye out for Mother Nature's creatures. We've seen deer, coyote, raccoons, squirrels, chipmonks, owls, blue jays (plus Dakota, the camp boxer dog) and have heard on-site director Janet's stories of bear sightings. WOW, wilderness! What a concept!
Showing posts with label Magic of Camp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Magic of Camp. Show all posts
Are There Really Critters at Camp?
Why I Love Camp GetAway
No, it isn't because it makes money (put a pencil to it and you will realize, this is a labor of LOVE, girlfriend). I love Camp GetAway. And many of our alums sure love it, too. Here are some reasons why:
1. It is quiet. Peacefully, blissfully quiet. No TV. No traffic noise. No kids.
2. It is healthy. The air is delicious. The food is hearty. The water is divine.
3. The company is great. Women, lots of happy women. Without men to interrupt or need our attention. Or pets that need walking. Or other family members who always seem to NEED something.
4. Simple pleasures and basic fun. Crafts, if you want. Hikes, even if you aren't an athlete. Yoga just to stretch the ol' bod a bit.
5. Talking. With friends and with strangers. Talking about things that will NEVER get back to anyone. Talking for hours. Girl talk. Women talk. Ahhh, talking.
6. No talking. Just sitting. Reading. Walking. Thinking. Breathing.
7. It is youthful. Yes, we sleep on bunks. Yes, we play some light games. Yes, we SING and DANCE. And it is absolutely wonderful.
8. Good food cooked by someone else. And no dishes to clean afterwards.
9. Delicious coffee made from delicious mountain spring water. Deeeelicious.
10. Chocolate.
Send an Enlisted Serviceman's Wife to Camp -- 2009!
See these happy campers? They are married to American servicemen. They live on the Camp Pendleton base. They feed, clothe and keep their families running on a military salary (if you think teachers are underpaid, hooo boy, you cannot imagine). In 2008, we hosted close to two dozen wives of servicemen for free, and it made all of US feel WONDERFUL. Such incredible women, we wish everyone had a chance to meet and play with them. October Camp, we want to send more for FREE again. But our own budget is tight as usual (OK, whose isn't??), so we are asking our readers if they would like to pitch in just a tad. $15. is our request. That's it. More is obviously great. Less is fine, too. For every 10 campers that respond, we will make up the rest so another military wife can attend. We are sorry to report that Camp GetAway is not a "charitable organization," so there is no tax writeoff for your gift, but we hope you will gain the benefit of just knowing how much your contribution means to the Enlisted Wives Club.
Contribute via this link and or use this printer-friendly form. You will feel like an angel when you push that button. Here is one April camper's testimonial about what her weekend meant to her:
I know Donine and I have been placed at the absolute bottom of the list because of our participation in April, but I know that there will be women that need that time more than us…I met women on that weekend that I would have never met living on the same base in the same housing because of my crazy work/school schedule….and I just wanted to once again say “thank you”…I have never made female friends that easily…and for once I was able to come out of my shell and have fun and just kick back and relax…if it weren’t for you and your volunteers…I would not know what it was like to have adult female, just plain ole fun J thank you again…
Until we meet again….
~steph
Until we meet again….
~steph
Why We Absolutely LOVE Camp Coffee
Besides the fact that our Camp Coffee is brewed with cold, delicious mountain water, the real reason we love a steaming cup o' Joe here is the fact that someone else has made it before we get up, the fireplace is roaring, the pile of magazines is gigantic and absolutely NOBODY needs anything from us. Is this heaven, or what?
How to Find Your Bliss
Bliss, bliss, bliss. It can be an overworked and confusing word, what exactly does it mean? "A state of extreme happiness." Pretty simple to say, and most times, pretty hard to achieve. Anderson Cooper of CNN tells the story that when he was a teenager getting ready to interview for a restaurant job, he asked his mother (the famed Gloria Vanderbilt) for advice. She said, "Follow your bliss." Well, Coop thought that was a little over the head of a 17-year-old waiter and it took some time before he could appreciate it, but today Coop says, he follows his mother's advice in his high-profile journalism job. Extreme happiness can be a life situation or simply a weekend away from the stresses of home and work. In either case, bliss is what you make of it. What do we sell at Camp GetAway? Massive amounts of bliss.
Fun Seekers vs. Fun Suckers
Listening to a Satellite Sisters podcast the other day, the subject of "fun seekers versus fun suckers" was covered, which is a fairly appropriate topic for our campers. Camp is a place where you literally see attitudes adjust in front of your own eyes. Picture Friday check-in... a steady stream of burned-out gals who've had a hectic week and usually a tough commute to get here. Winding down isn't easy for full-speed-ahead women, and hesitancy about "what have I gotten myself into??" also contributes to the afternoon's buzz. But a hearty dose of gourmet chow blended with fresh girltalk launches the relaxation process. By our first official activity -- the Mixer & Mingler -- fun-SEEKING has begun. What happens after that... stays at camp!
Camp Offers Getaway for Marine Wives
GUEST POST
By Brigid Brett for the North County Times, San Diego, CA, 10-7-08
Me-Time Ahead. No stress. No makeup. No men. The handpainted signs leading through the pine forest to the lodge in the San Bernardino Mountains make the mission of Camp Getaway clear to each of the 85 women arriving for the weekend. They’ve come from all over the state and as far away as Chicago. Some are there to celebrate decades of being Best Friends Forever, others have been given the weekend as a surprise gift from their husbands. Determined to savor every moment of me-time are six members of Camp Pendleton’s Enlisted Wives Club.
Veronica Duran grins as she reads the list of activities. Canoeing. Tie Dye Clinic. Cinematherapy Chick Flicks. Belly dance class. “I’m just looking forward to that facial, to closing my eyes and doing nothing,” she says.
Veronica isn’t used to doing nothing. An active volunteer and board member of the EWC, she has a five-year old daughter and works full time. “I work and I work and I work. That’s how I do it, that’s how I hold onto my sanity. When your husband is gone so much you have to keep busy or you’ll go crazy.”
She and her husband, Staff Sgt. Carlos Duran, were neighbors when they were kids in South Central LA. He teased her, she hated him and their parents joked that one day they’d fall in love and get married. They did. Twelve years later they’re still together, at least when he’s not deployed.
"People keep asking if it gets easier each time he has to go away. No. It gets harder. Each time it hurts more,” she says.
Veronica’s husband has been deployed five times since their daughter was born: once to Japan, once to Egypt and three times to Iraq, where he was injured by shrapnel when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb and then again when a rocket-propelled grenade hit his campsite.
“It’s been hard, very hard. But the good thing about living on base is that you can always find somebody who’s been through what you’re going through – whatever it is.”
When their daughter was a toddler Veronica bought a cardboard playhouse and plastered it with photos of her dad. “Whenever he came home I took millions of pictures so she’d have something to remember him by. But still she’d go up to strange men and say ‘Daddy!’ It was embarrassing.”
Veronica uses the word grateful a lot – she is grateful to be living on base, grateful for the support of the EWC. And she keeps repeating how grateful she is to have been given the gift of this weekend.
For the second time this year, Patti Londre, Camp Getaway’s “Fearless Leader” has made it possible for a group of Camp Pendleton spouses to attend the camp free of charge.
“They are the unsung heroes. They do so much for others and so little for themselves,” she says. “A weekend of fun and relaxation is almost unheard of for the wives of deployed soldiers.”
When the camp’s yoga teacher Jennifer Mumford saw Patti’s email requesting donations to bring another group of military wives to camp, she forwarded it to her mother, Florence Patrick.
“I know what they’re going through,” Florence said to her daughter. Her husband had served in Vietnam and the memories of worrying about him when he was away at war and having to take care of her home and family on her own are still fresh. She was glad she could do something to support this new generation of military wives.
Campers chat in front of the crackling fireplace, their feet up on a huge coffee table that spills over with magazines. Others sit around tables playing Monopoly and sipping Mad Housewife wine. “Oh baby baby it’s a wild world,” Cat Stevens croons in the background.
During dinner Ann Marie Brysiak calls home to check on her three kids. Her 15 year old son assures her all is well – that he’s even bathed his little brother. Ann’s jaw drops. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. He’s used to being the man of the house. I feel guilty because I count on him way more than I should.”
Ann Marie’s husband, Gunnery Sgt. Ed Brysiak, has been deployed to Iraq since January. He has four more months to go until he’s back home. In 2007 he was deployed to Mongolia for six months and to Djibouti Africa from July 2004 until February 2005.
There isn’t a day that her five year old doesn’t wake up and ask if his dad’s coming home, but it’s CJ, her 15 year old she worries about the most. She worries about all the teenage sons of deployed fathers.
“They are growing up without strong male role models. There’s so little for the teenagers on Camp Pendleton to do. I took CJ go-carting but of course it wasn’t the same.”
Like Veronica, Ann’s speech is peppered with the word “grateful” and she says she never takes any of the privileges of living on base for granted. Right before camp she flew to Washington DC where she was recognized by Marine Headquarters Group for her volunteer work with military families. Her next project, she says, is to create programs for the teenage boys of deployed fathers.
After dinner everyone belts out songs from their pink Super Duper Singalong books, followed by a funny-and-embarrassing- story-telling competition. Two of the Enlisted Wives, Jennifer Dipper and Ann Martinez, have the other campers shrieking with laughter.
“Woo, she’s good. She should think about doing stand-up,” one of the campers comments when Jennifer delivers her punch-line.
Jennifer's husband Sgt. Erik Dipper was an aircraft mechanic before going into Camp Pendleton’s Wounded Warrior Battalion where he is being treated for post traumatic stress disorder and possible traumatic brain injury. He served in Okinawa for 13 months and was then deployed twice to Iraq for seven months each time.
Jennifer says her husband takes great pride knowing that each Huey and Cobra he worked on was ‘Mission Capable.’ Now medically non-deployable, Sgt. Dipper wants to be an advocate and support other injured Marines.
“The service and sacrifice doesn’t end when a Marine comes home,” she says. “The whole family must readjust to the changes and affects that have occurred as a result of the last deployment. Support is key to our families surviving the physical, mental and emotional challenges.”
Jennifer is an artist and has brought two tiny t-shirts to camp so she can tie-dye them for their one year old daughter.
“You look so relaxed. Your skin is glowing,” Brandi Porter tells Elizabeth Sparks who has just come back from her facial. One of the campers donated a facial treatment to each of the Enlisted Wives.
“Really?” Liz blushes and touches her cheek.
They’re sitting at a table with other campers making beaded key chains. Liz’s keychain says SEMPER FIESTY and Brandi’s PROUD USMC WIFE.
Brandi, who has a smile as broad as her Texas accent, is the only Enlisted Wives Club member who doesn’t live at Camp Pendleton. Her husband is stationed at Miramar Airbase where she teaches ‘Marine Corps 101’ – to other Marines spouses.
Most people are aware that deployments are hard on a marriage, she says, but few realize that recruiting duty can be even harder. Brandi has survived both scenarios and doesn’t know what she would have done if she hadn’t been able to call her mother and wail into the phone for the three years that her husband was a recruiter and left for work at 5 a.m. and only got home after 10 pm – six days a week.
She has a plaque on her living room wall that reads, “Home is where your Marine is.”
Liz’s husband is home on base, watching their two young sons. Before his seven month deployment to Iraq – their older son was two at the time -- they were stationed in Japan for three years. He was deployed for one and a half years of that time while she remained in Japan.
Liz makes and sells clothes to the other Marine wives on base. “I have been sewing since I was about four years old. I used to watch my momma sew and then I would make a copy for my dolls,” she writes on her MySpace blog. “In Japan it was difficult for the other wives to find ball gowns in their size (for the Marine Corps Birthday Ball) so I started making them dresses…. and here I am with Littlebits Fashions.”
Late that night, flashlights in hand, the Marine wives crunch their way across a bed of pine needles to their cabin.
“It’s so quiet,” whispers Veronica as she crawls into her wooden bunk. “I hope I’ll be able to sleep.”
By the closing ceremony on Sunday the six women have canoed, belly-danced, re-connected with their inner smore-makers, soaked in the hot tub and giggled in their bunks until the early hours of the morning. They’ve won the TV Land Fun Dinner costume contest as Gilligan’s Island and tied for first place with another group in the Scavenger Hunt competition. When Brandi gets the Camp Cheerleader award, the other Marine wives yell “Oorah!”
Then, one by one they stand and fight back tears as they express their gratitude to Patti and the other staff and campers.
“I cannot thank you enough. This weekend has made me feel like a child again,” says Ann Martinez. Her husband, Lance Cpl. Martinez is returning from Iraq in a week.
“My husband called from Iraq this morning,” says Ann Brysiak. “He wants me to thank all of you for this weekend.” Tears roll down her cheeks. “He says that when he knows I’m being appreciated and taken care of it makes it so much easier to do his job. He wants you all to know how thankful he is.”
For more information on Camp Getaway go to www.campgetaway.com and for more information on Camp Pendleton’s Enlisted Wives Club go to www.enlistedwivesclub.com
Click here to read the online version of this article. Thank you, Brigid!
Just Sit Right Back and You'll Hear The Tale
The tale of how an inspiring group of Camp Pendleton Enlisted Wives Club members were treated to a weekend away from their busy, stressful lives. Thanks to our wonderful campers and their families, this boat-load of delightful women not only experienced a peaceful respite, they were treated to facials and special goodies to tie-dye as mementos. THANK YOU CAMPERS for your generosity. ("Gilligan's Island" was the theme of their group's costume for our Saturday night party.) PS -- during our weekend, TWO deployed husbands called FROM IRAQ to wish their wives a "great time" here. Imagine!!
YOU GLOW, GIRL
Sometimes we have to convince ourselves that a perceived "treat" like a facial is actually more health-enhancing than we believe. How often does a real pro take a really close look at your skin? We think we know our own faces, but AWESOME estheticians Candy and Inga get up close and personal when they transform you here at Camp. Camper Mary (in the photo getting her Camp Facial) GLOWED (she may have even snoozed a bit during treatment). We encourage campers to utilize our pamperers' services when they get home. BEE-YOO-TEE-FUL.
Photo Credit: (c) 2008 Rachelle Hacmac
Nap-Deprived? Several Varieties Available at Camp
NANO-NAP: 10-20 seconds. Sleep studies haven’t confirmed specific benefits to these brief intervals. However, if you aren't the driver, nod off on the way up the mountain and give us report when you arrive.
MICRO-NAP: 2-5 minutes. Surprisingly effective at shedding sleepiness. Excellent location: in front of our lodge fireplace.
MINI-NAP: 5-20 minutes. Increases alertness, stamina, motor learning, and motor performance. Camp deck benches, perfect!
ORIGINAL POWER NAP: 20 minutes delivers benefits of micro and mini; additionally improves muscle memory and clears the brain of useless built-up info, which helps with long-term memory (remembering facts, events, and names). Your bunk beckons.
REAL WOMAN'S NAP: a FULL HOUR for slow-wave plus REM sleep; good for improving perceptual processing; also when the system is flooded with human growth hormone, great for repairing bones and muscles. Tuck into that sleeping bag after lunch -- zzzzzzzzz, girlfriend.
April Camp Photos Now Posted
From our wonderful Photo Helen, CLICK HERE to her website, then go to the link: Camp GetAway 4.08. If you see photos you wish to purchase from Helen, go for it! Her phone is 951-272-8700, too. (Camp GetAway makes no profit from this; we appreciate Helen's tremendous contributions to Camp).
The Top 5 Luxuries of Camp, Per Our Campers
5. No dishwasher to empty
4. Wearing my ugliest clothes and it doesn't matter
3. I wore no makeup
2. Not having to rush a massage or manicure
1. Sitting with a cup o' coffee and magazine for as long as I wanted
How to REALLY Reduce Stress
We promote the magical powers of Camp as stress-reducing and rejuvenating, but to be honest, there are some requirements on the campers’ part to ensure this happens. Most of the time, campers arrive in a stressed state, having finished a full week of work or home/family duties to endure a gridlocked drive to the base of the mountains.
And being typically busy, some campers have a tough time unwinding once here, so we offer these tips in advance to help you throw aside anxiety and turn into a nice blob of joyful jello as quick as possible.
Leave expectations at the bottom of the mountain. Camp GetAway is neither a spa nor a hotel. It is “camp,” like when we were kids. There can be things that, at least at the beginning, can throw new campers for a loop. Those who see the spirit of adventure in what they encounter here shed stress more quickly. It all depends on attitude. We once had a camper who literally SCREAMED obscenities at a raccoon in the trashbin, instead of marveling at its beauty. She never unwound that weekend, nor did anyone want much to do with her. Which is pretty sad. Pledge to yourself to give "unwinding" a real try.
Breathe. And we mean that. Take time to sit alone on a deck, slow down your pace, listen to the wind whispering in the pines, and really HEAR those wonderful birds. Watch chipmunks scurry. Put the mental brakes on, in other words.
Do everything, or do nothing. But don’t succumb to the notion that if you aren’t provided an activity every minute, that “camp” isn’t fun. This weekend is about being out of your element from home, escaping the drone of busyness and discovering “me time.” Ask friends for a recommended book and bring it just for you.
Take a break from your cabinmates. Split up for a couple of hours. Do things independently. With friends comes discussions of home issues, work issues, kid issues, relationship issues. Take a breather from all of that.
Regarding sleep... don’t fret. One (or possibly two) nights, you won’t get the "same" type of sleep as at home. Just like when you travel on vacation, sleep definitely IS important but that’s not the only reason you’re here. You’re here to OPEN your eyes just as much as CLOSE them. Thus, naps are highly encouraged here, too.
Enjoy fellow campers from all walks of life, and of all ages. Join a card game, sit with someone new at lunch, tie-dye with someone you wouldn’t know back home. We are ALL magnificent, incredible creatures with special characteristics you will never see unless you meet.
Give the cell a vacation. Put your cell on vibrate and ask your family to disconnect with you for the weekend. "Give peace a chance," in other words. Most problems back home can work themselves out without you, and if it is an emergency, there are plenty of ways to get a hold of you.
Abandon the temptation to TM. That’s not “transcendental meditation,” which we encouragae... it’s text messaging. Give it up this one weekend. Not only is it a high contributor to your stress, but watching you do it is stressful to the rest of us – seriously! Be “present” at Camp, be HERE, not there.
Treat yourself. A facial to remove the impact of stress from your face. A massage to liquefy your muscles. A manicure to make you smile each time you look at your hands once home. Try yoga for the first time, it’s wonderful. Wake up early to appreciate nature at a sleepy moment. A delicious cup o' joe awaits you at the lodge. Take a nap later to catch up on missed zzzzzzzz’s.
Make an agreement with yourself... to leave expectations, concerns, anxieties and fears at the bottom of the mountain. If you miss them terribly while at Camp, in less than 48 hours, you can pick them back up again on the way home.
See you at Camp!
Pampering How-To
Camp GetAway is the PERFECT place for a “first” massage or facial. Experienced clients give our gals top scores, too. Our pamperers are pros who put you at ease, they will walk you thru the process. No snobs here! They want you to have a comfortable experience, so talk to them.You are greeted at the waiting area, shown to a place to undress in private; once you are snugly under a clean, fresh sheet, they enter.
If there's anything you want worked on specifically, now is the time to say. Tight shoulders? Sore back? A massage therapist can do wonders. Is your skin sensitive or do you prefer certain types of facial products? Tell your esthetician now.When finished, you redress in private.
Are Massages Naked? Only if you want, it’s perfectly fine to leave undergarments on.
What About Facials? Our pros use plenty of fresh towels and sheets to cover body parts, so keeping a bra on is not a problem. You’ll want to remove your shirt, however, for lotions on neck and shoulders. Registered campers receive a full packet in the mail, which includes the appointment booking form for pamperings. Don't delay booking your spa treatment, many sell out before the weekend.
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