I enjoyed a whirlwind of activities this past weekend at Island Lake Camp in Starrucca, PA, with LivingSocial folks. I was a little bit unsure about the camp at first, and upset that I had to bring my own bedding and towel, but was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the experience. And happy to get some LivingSocial swag, such as an orange tin water bottle, a big blue towel, lip balm, sunglasses, etc.
I met so many new friends, both male and female, and found it incredibly easy to start conversations and loved the college-like friendly & wild feeling that permeated the whole weekend…
There were shirtless men; stripping; raucous games of Jenga (& late night Jenga on the tennis courts) and Apples to Apples; self defense class; hiking in the beautiful wilderness; arts and crafts (where I made a pink Strawberry Shortcake inspired oven mitt); bonfire and delicious s’mores; crazy dance parties; pool and water slide; slip ‘n’ slide on the grassy quad between our cabins; movie night of Dodgeball and much more.
The food was mediocre, but bearable, with lunches being probably the best meal out of all of them. French toast, eggs, bacon, chocolate pancakes were served at breakfasts. For lunches, we had grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken tenders, mac and cheese, more pasta. Dinner time, we had chicken fajita, chicken parmigiana, pastas, and outdoor grill on the last night of hamburgers, hot dogs and sausages. I did enjoy desserts though: Oreo cheesecake, soft chocolate chip cookies and cannolis.
And the Sunday night fireworks show was the most amazing display I have ever seen. We all sprawled out on the lawn in front of the swimming pool and one second we’re all gabbing away, and the next second a frighteningly loud booming sound interrupts us… The fireworks were so, so close, bursts of bright color and explosions of light, dissolving into glitter in the night sky. It was truly beautiful. We kept thinking it was over, then more would come, to end in a spectacular finale.
After the fireworks, we proceeded into the dining hall to enjoy the best karaoke concert/dance extravaganza ever! I started off singing “Summer Nights” with one of the very cute LivingSocial staff, which was great fun and such a sweet song to sing. Others continued with awesome performances of songs like “Wannabe,” “Bye Bye Bye,” “No Scrubs” and so much more. My group of friends and I did “What’s Love Got to Do With It” – We called ourselves Kathy and the Dreamers… Pretty awesome to have my own band!
And my favorite boy band of the night, showing massive amounts of bro-love…
After karaoke, we spent the next few hours on the dance floor where I danced it up like crazy with a bunch of different guys, including one of the hot strippers from earlier on.
Leaving on Monday morning was such sweet sorrow, but at least I got to see almost everyone I wanted to at breakfast. My friends and I picked a bus that wasn’t completely full, so that we could all have window seats and I stayed up to watch “Parent Trap” (the version with Lindsay Lohan, when she was actually good), which is a great camp movie — and it made me cry at the end.
So maybe there weren’t as many activities or as much great food (compared to Club Getaway), but the people, fun and craziness (so crazy that I lost my voice!) made it well worth it. These memories and friendships (well, hopefully) will last a lifetime!
Dress, Dine & Sparkle 