July 3 - First Trip to Camp Brosius

Sunday, July 3 

This was our first weeklong extended family trip - us, kids and grandkids.   Maggie had done all of the legwork to find a week when everyone was available (getting harder and harder to do) and reserve cabins for us.  We had originally planned to go in 2020, but COVID got in the way (the camp was closed for the two summers).  But they were back in business this year.

 The parents (Maggie, Will, Timra and Ian) were really looking forward to the camp activities where they kept the kids busy all day, so the adults could do what they whatever they desired.  That, along with provided meals, made a pretty ideal vacation for parents with kids - much less work....

Camp Brosius is on Elkhart Lake in east central Wisconsin.  It is not too bad of a drive up - about 6 hours, but you have to decide how close to Chicago you want to go.  Luckily, the camp opened on Sunday, so driving through Chicago on Sunday morning was not too bad.  There was still a lot of construction (especially on the Borman Expressway and in downtown Chicago).

We took the Tesla on this trip since Maggie, Will and Ollie took the van.  So, we were directed to Supercharger Stations along the way.  For this leg, we got to stop at Lafayette, Highland Park and Sheboygan (to top off).

We had trouble finding the camp.  We (I) thought there would be signs leading us there, but it was so low profile that there were no signs along the road and you had to look down the correct lane (next to the public boat launch ramp) to see the Camp Brosius sign.  But we did eventually find it.

The Camp Experience:

Opening Night included dinner, Opening Introduction to Camp and a Campfire.

First, everyone got settled into their cabins.  

Ian, Timra, Desmond and Cedric were in the Cabent, a large octagon structure with a canvas roof.  It had enough room for 6, so there was plenty of room for them.  The only downside was that it was right next to the basketball/tennis/pickleball court and there were a couple of guys who liked to play basketball early in the morning and late at night.

Maggie, Will and Oliver were in a standard cabin with two bunk beds.  Everyone used the bathhouse down the path, shared with the other 10 cabins.  

As we were checking out our cabin (actually half of a very large cabin), the campers in the other half of the cabin (a family with 3 kids) asked us if we would be interested in switching with one of their friends.  They had one of the "Cabins on the Hill" - a small stand alone cabin with two bunk beds and a sink (unusual feature for the cabins).  We agreed, figuring that it would be quieter than being next to 3 kids...

It was pretty nice, other than the short bunk beds, where I bumped my head at least 50 times.  We shared a smaller bathhouse with the other 4 cabins on the hill.

Dinner was a buffet (tacos) and we all sat outside on picnic tables near the lake.

The introduction included the basic information about the camp, the upcoming activities (listed in the book in each cabin) and an introduction of the staff.  Their introduction included a skit where each of the staff members was afflicted with some sort of malady and came to Dr. Tommy, the camp director, where he patiently explained that he was not that kind of doctor - he has a doctorate in recreation - Ollie loved the skit and it kind of set the tone for the camp....

The bad news is that the camp was at half staff.  They had been closed for two years due to Covid, and had trouble finding people to work at the camp.  It is administered by IU (IU School of Public Health and Recreation at IUPUI) and they used to be able to recruit from the program, but people have gone on to other things (at least for this summer).  And I guess it doesn't help that the camp is only open to families for 8 weeks (instead of 12) because all of the kids are starting back to school in early August these days...

So, there were not as many organized activities.  The kids were in activities for either morning or afternoon each day (used to be both) and there were very few activities for adults.  The food service was also an issue, so all meals were buffets and were pretty basic (think cafeteria food).  The good news was that the weather was so nice we ate almost all meals outside near the lake.

The first night after supper they went around and introduced all of the campers.  There were about 100 campers, about half kids.  It turned out that there were a couple of large extended families (one with over 30 members) who had been coming to the camp for years.  Most of the people were connected to IU or someone from IU, but they had lately opened up the camp to anyone interested.  But I think it is still hard to get in, since the previous campers get first choice the next year, and it seemed that many came back.

Next we had the opening campfire.  The grandkids loved it (what's better than a big fire for a little boy).  Susie and Maggie also enjoyed it because it was a traditional campfire - lots of songs (they even passed out songbooks but Susie and Maggie knew all of the songs) and skits.

Oh yes - the Road America race course is just outside of the town of Elkhart Lake and we could hear the NASCAR cars as they raced in the late afternoon.  Evidently, Elkhart Lake has quite a history of auto racing.

Link to next post - Monday, July 4