Bray's. I Love This Bar.

Is it Toby Keith who sings the great song "I Love This Bar?" I think it is. 

I know what he's talking about. I love this bar. There is no better better place to have a drink and hang out. I've spent many a night at Bray's over the past six summers. It's part of the reason I keep coming back to Maine for the summer.

Bray's is tucked away in the small Maine town of Naples. It's about 15 minutes away from camp and is a local joint. A lot of places around camp cater to the camp counselor crowd, but not Bray's. We come up here on any given night, sit out side and wind down. 

They make their own beer and The Canadian will tell you that there is no better porter beer made in the world. 

The regulars all have hand made ceramic mugs that line the shelves and hang from the ceiling.

The outside beer garden is full of picnic tables. It's our favorite place to sit.

Pete the bartender usually works the outside bar. He's the grumpiest bartender alive (I take that back, he just brought my nachos to me and is in a good mood) but we love him anyway. Don't get me wrong, we love Nate, Scotty and Woody too. They even come outside and hang out with us on slow nights. 

Live music plays inside every night and the place gets rowdy with all the locals dancing their hearts out.

When it gets a little chilly, as Maine nights do, someone always lights up the fire pit for a little warmth and ambiance. 

So, next time you're looking for me on a random summer night and I'm not answering my phone its because I'm sitting my happy butt at Bray's hanging out with Tiffany, The Canadian, or another camp friend and ignoring the real world.

Next time you're in Naples be sure to swing by and try the Porter. You can thank The Canadian for the recommendation.

Playing In the Mulch.

Just in case you're not up to date, I'm working at a camp in Maine for the summer. I've been doing this for 10 summers now and there is absolutely no better way to waste away the summer. Our counseling staff has not yet arrived and our campers are still a couple of weeks away also. Right now there is a small group of us working around camp to get the grounds ready and in tip-top shape. We're doing all sorts of fun things like vacuuming, weeding, raking, putting the docks in the lake, sorting the staff t-shirts, cleaning the rugs and carpet, painting, and plenty of other manual labor chores. A big task we (and by 'we', I mean the boys) do is spread brand new mulch around the cabins. The first load of mulch came in the other day.

It arrived in an 18 wheeler truck. This is only the first load. Have you ever seen so much mulch in your life?

Hobie thought maybe she could help. Maybe the mulch wanted to play with her. Maybe running through the mulch would make her feel young inside.

Ahhh! Crazy eyes!

To transfer the mulch to other parts of camp we use Gators. We have several on camp and they all have six wheels. Gators are tough machines and are worked hard everyday by our grounds crew.

But sometimes the mulch (and the work) gets the best of them. This one blew a tire in the morning. The solution? Amputation. 

By afternoon it had blown a second tire which was just too much for it's little frame. It's still sitting in its gravely grave awaiting repair.

It's a sad state of affairs.

What I've Been Doing.

I've been in Maine, working at camp, for almost two weeks now. It's my 7th summer at this camp and I still love it now as much as I did when I first started. My job at camp is to manage the water activities but we all wear many hats at camp and help out with whatever may be needed at any given time.

Next week 200 counselors will arrive and the week after that 400 campers will arrive. But before any of that can happen we have to get camp ready. All winter camp lays under a blanket of snow. During this time nature and it's animals have their way with the grounds. Camp spans almost 200 acres and contains over 60 buildings, including cabins, management housing, rec centers, the dining hall, the dance studio, and many, many others. There is a lot of work to be done in preparation for the summer.

To get this work done we bring in a pre-camp crew of about 25 counselors and staff for 2 weeks. It is our job to work our tails off and get camp looking good...and have a little fun while we're doing it.

Here are the Top 23 Pre-Camp Jobs:





1. Mowing. Mowing. And mowing some more. It's never ending.





2. Painting. And rubbing paint brushes. I'm not really sure what that is about, actually.





3. Moving wooden shelves (we call 'em cubbies) for the kids.





4. Rescuing wayward turtles that have put themselves in the golf cart's path.





5. Stripping and re-staining the decks.





6. Rebuilding the weed whacker motor.

7. Climbing into and cleaning the water tanks. Obviously a hot pink snorkel is required for this.





8. Jumping in the lake at 7am because you lost a bet.





9. Mowing some more. Have I mentioned that?





10. Hydrating. It's hot outside.





11. Going out for ice cream. We're wholesome like that.





12. Sorting, organizing and bagging all 2,000 staff t-shirts. Every staff member receives a bag of 8 t-shirts. It only took us 3 days to get it done. No big deal.





13. Picking up leaves.





14. Raking up renegade leaves and pinestraw.





15. Eating copious amounts of watermelon for dinner.





16. Cleaning out the showers.





17. Moving the outlaw leaves and pinestraw.





18. Building fires and eating s'mores. Duh. It is camp, afterall.





19. Building a new cabin. Okay, so we haven't been building the cabin, the builders have. But we've spent a lot of time watching them work.





20. Playing ridiculously intense games of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Don't ask...





21. Sweeping, vacuuming and de-cobwebbing the cabins.





22. Driving around in golf carts, acting like you're doing something important.

23. And finally, BBQ'ing. It's our bosses favorite thing to do.

It's a tough life. Try not to be jealous.