Camp Woodland Blog

One of my favorite kid’s books is the “True Story of the 3 Little Pigs” by Jon Scieszka. The cool part about this version is that it is told from the perspective of the big, bad wolf because according to him, he was “framed” in the original story. Instead of the wolf huffing and puffing to blow down the houses of the three pigs, he was really just after a cup of sugar for his granny’s birthday cake while suffering a terrible cold. The unfortunate timing of his sneezes is what really knocked down the houses belonging to each pig.

You may recall a few blogs ago, the “True Story of the Lake Gnomes” that was written by Peggy Forester in 1973. Her story gives the history of how Sand Lake really got its brownish color (the coffee factory behind Hilltop was actually moved to the bottom of the lake). So, just over 50 years later, campers had the chance to come up with their own version of how they think Sand Lake got its unique color for a “Dewey Day” activity. As always, Woodland girls do not disappoint with putting their creative heads together to come up with a new ending to a classic tale!

Silver Birch had one of the winning entries, and this is how they told their version of the story (using a French accent):

One day a very talented artist named Lizzy heard about a beautiful lake (Sand Lake) in the Northwoods of Wisconsin and came all the way from France to paint it. She was amazed by how clear and wonderful it was, so she got to work. She used red (Amelia), orange (Lu), yellow (Luci), green (Eleanor) and lots and lots of blue (Audrey). From all the painting, Lizzy got tired so she went to get a coffee. The wind came in (Liza) and all the paint fell into the water. The colors started mixing and the lake turned brown. When the talented painter Lizzy returned, she was shocked by the change of color but loved it even more. She got back to work painting and finished her masterpiece. When she brought it home to France, she won many, many awards. The painting became even more famous than the Mona Lisa!

Sunrise also tied for their rendition of Sand Lake’s color augmentation:

The Woodland counselors were so sleepy and needed a lot of coffee, especially the Sunrise counselors. When they would drink their coffee while teaching swimming lessons, sometimes it would fall into Sand Lake making it turn brown. This also explains why the Sunrise campers have so much energy – they swim in Sand Lake that has been filled with the counselors’ coffee! I’m not sure that is the REAL reason Sunrise has so much energy (just saying!).

A few more creative takes on how Sand Lake wound up with its brown color:

Sunnyside: tourists mistakenly sprayed tanning oil instead of sunscreen and turned the lake brown (short & sweet!)

Aquarius: a giant named Aquarius took on a project to paint Camp Woodland and while trying to fix all of the imperfections (slanted floors, bathroom door that wouldn’t close, shower missing it’s top, etc.), the lake turned brown from the mixing of the colors. The giant was very upset and was afraid the campers wouldn’t want to swim in Sand Lake because of its ugly color. It was decided that the new color of the lake was perfect just way it is, and as a result, campers enjoy the lake and leave after a swim with a little of the giant’s paint on them.

Tamarack: a long time ago before Camp Woodland was even around, hikers stumbled onto a lake that was separated into the various colors of the rainbow. When trying out each color, the red water ended up being too hot, the orange was way too deep, the yellow was too sandy, the green was much too shallow, the blue much too cold, and the purple was extremely rocky. The hikers then came up with a plan and the girls each got in a boat and started rowing around the lake. Slowly, the colors started to mix into a beautiful brown lake that was “just right” (symbolic of how our differences can combine into something that is much more than the individuals at the start).

*For a chance to rewrite a tiny piece of Camp Woodland’s history, send your explanation/version of how Sand Lake got its brownish color to kimdaycock@gmail.com.