Campfire
Everyone loves a campfire and we have two each week at Camp Pendola! One on Sunday evening when you arrive and another on Friday night to cap off a great week. Sing the favorite camp songs and perform the funniest skits for each other. Watch out for the camp staff skits. Those guys can get pretty weird but they're funny! Enjoy a snack and watch the fire dancing beneath the night sky. It's one of the most memorable times at camp.
Campers Arrive
Welcome - Staff members greet each camper and introduce you to your counselors. Before heading to your cabin you check in with the Health Services Supervisor. Counselors help you with your gear and introduce you to your cabin mates. You will visit your cabin and pick out a bunk bed. Do you want a top or bottom bunk?
Meet Cabin Mates
As each new member of your cabin arrives you will meet them. Where did they come from? Is this their first year or have you been cabin mates before? Name games and ice breakers help everyone get acquainted
Meal Time
Meal time is important! On Sunday evening, campers enjoy a picnic style fare. Hot dogs, macaroni or potato salad, cookies and punch.
Each meal is balanced within the food pyramid. Typical dinners in camp include: Thanksgiving style turkey dinners with all the trimmings, or spaghetti & meatballs, or tacos, or pizza plus many other choices.
Breakfasts start the day and usually there is a hot and cold options. Could be scrambled eggs or hot & cold cereal. Don't forget juice and maybe some fresh fruit too. Don't forget the hot cocoa to warm the body after your Polar Bear Swim.
Then there's cooking over an open fire on your camp-out. Try foil packets or pita bread pizza's, macaroni & cheese
Health Center
Have you ever been stung by a bee? Do you sleepwalk? Do you know what poison oak looks like? These are things we need to know to help keep you healthy while you are at camp. We have trained staff who are in charge of the Health Center and make sure you get what you need.
Swim Time
Cool off in our mountain pond on the first day. Everyone jumps in and swims to the shore. Need a life jacket? No problem! We have got lots to choose from
Liturgy
No Sunday would be complete without celebrating liturgy. A visiting priest helps us celebrate Mass. Timberlodge, the oldest campers, help us celebrate by proclaiming the scripture of the day. All campers join in singing the songs for our celebration
Skit Prep
Let your creative side run free! Each cabin plans their own introductory cheer and skit for the evening campfire. On Sunday night you also officially join in the camp community at the Pendola Rock "ritual". Friday's campfire celebrates an entire week of fun, games, new friends and campouts. The presentation of the C.O.W. (Cabin of the Week) award takes place during the Friday campfire. Will it be your cabin? Each campfire includes camper and staff skits, sing-along songs, plus quiet time, evening prayer and the famous Camp Pendola Song
Polar Bear Swim
The sound of the camp bell is ringing through the trees. It's 7:15 am Monday morning and you have decided to brave the chilling pond. Your heart is racing! You're not sure if it's a good idea or not! Miss Lori says, "Next!", and you jump off the dock and are instantly woken up by the cold mountain waters. Survival instincts take over and you swim like you have never swum before. Within seconds you have reached the shore and you search quickly for your towel. Wrapping it around your body you revel in your triumph. Hey! That wasn't so bad! Now you are an official member of the Pendola Polar Bear Pack. On average, 25 to 50% of the campers join this group each week. Will you dare to join in the fun? Even if you choose not to jump in, everyone in camp there to help cheer the Polar Bear Pack on!!!
Morning Prayer
The morning sun warms your face. It is hard to believe that the same sun you seek in the morning you will want to avoid in the afternoon. All of camp gathers on the main lawn. A group of campers sets themselves aside to proclaim a scripture reading or their favorite poem to the community. We are now opening the day in praise to God. We give thanks to God for our friends or for just being able to go to Camp. The day begins.
Archery
Ready, Set, Release! Arrows fly through the air. Visions of Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest? No, this could be you at Camp Pendola! Archery instructors teach you the basics of archery. You use secure bows and target arrows. Will you get a bull's eye? Each cabin gets a chance to practice their skills at the Archery Range. Ready, Set, Release, Bull's Eye! You are a sharp shooter!
Arts and Crafts
Sandblast a baby food jar and make it into a votive candle or maybe try your hand at leather stamping. Ever made a God's Eye, lanyard or Bottle-rocket? Now is your chance. Everyone gets an opportunity to use their creative side during Arts & Crafts. Everything you make you can take home. Bring your own T-shirt for Tie-dyeing or two plastic soda bottles to make your own bottle rockets . We'll let them fly on Friday
Packing for Campouts
Pack light - leave no trace camping. Ever slept under the stars? The Milky Way, the Big & Little Dipper, plus millions more can be seen from the night sky. Each week, campers go on hikes out of camp to cook over an open camp fire, swim in nearby creeks, rivers, and lakes, plus sing songs and tell stories around a glowing campfire. You pack the essentials into your Pendola Pack or sleeping bag. A plate, fork, cup, clothes for the day - just what you need to have fun.
Leave for Campouts
The Tahoe National Forest is a beautiful place. Smell the Jeffrey Pine, it smells like vanilla. You can make tea out of Douglas Fir needles. Hiking is no more than putting one foot in front of the other. It is exploring! Lewis & Clark, Ponce DeLeon, Magellan, Leif Erikson, Stanley Livingston, all explored the world. Here is your chance. What will you see? A Bald Eagle, Red Tail Fox, or deer perhaps? Enjoy the hike! It could be a quarter of a mile long if you are seven years old or up to five miles if you are a teen.
Return to Camp
Every good explorer returns home! It is time for a shower, a home cooked meal and clean clothes. You have returned to Camp Pendola singing camp songs and hiking with friends and a smile, your home away from home!
Nature Activities
How many different types of trees are there at Camp Pendola? Have you ever made ice cream in a coke can? What is a predator? Who is a prey? You can do all of these things during your time learning about our natural world.
Free Time
How can you possibly have free time with all of these other activities? Well, you do! How about a game of ping-pong or take on your counselor at Frisbee golf. Do you like basketball? What about soccer, volleyball, or tetherball . You never knew free time could be so much fun.
Kamp Kapers
Yes, everybody has chores to do. Kamp Kapers includes clean up from your campout. helping set tables before meals, or just cleaning up around camp. It's quick, it's easy, and it’s all about learning to live together in community!
B.O.B.
Whew! I'm exhausted! Don't worry - each day after lunch is B.O.B. Time (Bottoms on Bunks). You get to take a little siesta, write a letter to your friend, or just read a book. Store up some energy for your afternoon activities!
Pond Time
Hey, what about that pond? In addition to your swim test and the optional Polar Bear Swim you can go swimming, kayaking and try out a paddle-boat during your stay at Camp Pendola. This is no chlorine soaked swimming pool! The pond is a 1/4 acre, natural, free flowing, swimming hole complete with two docks, rope swing, boat dock, kayaks, paddle boats, and inner tubes. It all translates into a really fun place!
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