One variation of the Brush Ranch logo (we didn’t exactly have “brand standards” so there are several versions)
I can’t believe that yesterday while I was brushing my teeth before getting into bed (not sleeping, thank you, babies), I realized for the first time that this summer will mark 10 years since our last summer of Brush Ranch! I’m sure you’re wondering how I came to this realization:
Last week I took the babies to Santa Fe and we spent the night, then went to lunch and did a bit of shopping after lunch. One of the highlights of my summer (when I was a camper it was a highlight, nightmare as a supervising adult) was “day on the town” where we’d load up the campers and take go to Santa Fe for the afternoon. Everybody would get $20 (yippie!), and be split into groups of 5 or 10 campers and a counselor or two and we’d spend the afternoon cruising around downtown Santa Fe. My favorite haunts where Doodlets, to buy stickers of course, the rubber stamp shop, Gloriana’s bead shop (even though they HATED us in there), and Marcy Street Card Shop. Man, I must have been crafty back then!
So…I was thinking about our “day on the town” and about how we used to also take the entire camp to the rodeo and to the opera in the summer and how crazy that seems now! It was always a bit of a logistical nightmare to coordinate these trips but the campers seemed to love it and there were usually very minimal problems. From what I can remember, the biggest problems seemed to arise when our campers from Santa Fe would try to meet up with non-camper friends when they got into town (that and trying to keep people from making out on the bus). Camp can be a bit isolating and I’m sure they just wanted to hang out with their old pals and have camp folks meet real life folks. But…it was difficult to manage, especially with the older campers and the general shenanigans that accompany teenagers. Then I thought OMG, what if everyone had cell phones then like they do now?! It really would have been a NIGHTMARE! And, that’s when I realized that it’s been 10 years since our last summer of Brush Ranch.
Isn’t it crazy that even just 10 years ago many people, including most of our camp staff, did not have cell phones? Just for a little perspective, the first iPhone was introduced in 2007, a full 3 years after we closed camp. Now, of course, everyone has a phone, including lots and lots of children, not just teenagers.
It never ceases to amaze me how big the Brush Ranch family is and even after 10 years it’s awesome how many people I’m still in touch with and how large the Brush Ranch community is. And again, I return to technology, so many of the connections that I’ve been able to keep with people from Brush Ranch are because of social media (especially Facebook, launched in 2004) and I am so thankful that there is a way to easily share my stories and hear the stories of others. Ten years feels like the blink of an eye, but I can’t help but wonder how the last 10 years (and the rest of my life) might be different now if we’d kept on trucking and kept camp open. There’s no point in looking back, so I’ll move forward and continue to do my best to make sure that the stories and memories from Brush Ranch are shared and continue to live on!
This was at the bottom of the Brush Ranch letterhead…I love this image, especially the flying lady in the middle…is she swimming?
Alden, thanks for this. I am always a little sad that my kids will never get to know the joy of Brush Ranch summers. Since Amy and I met while counselors, BR holds a special place in our hearts.
I remember day in town. I kid you not at work yesterday as I was waiting tables, I thought “I wonder if I was still at camp this would be day in town day?”
Wow 10 years?! This post cracks me up because it reminds me of how thankful I am to have directed the Mountaineers and not had to deal with the “shenanigans” of the trad campers on those days ;-). Awesome times, thanks for sharing!!
Can’t believe it was 10 years ago! Talk about a logistical nightmare today. Maybe that’s why we are so good with logistics…
Wow–just this afternoon in the Catskills I was with my daughter picking up groceries and on the candy rack they had the gummy raspberries that I waited all year for at Señor Murphy’s on town day. I told Hannah about how much I loved that candy and about Señor Murphy’s. We moms spend a fair amount of time talking about our camp experiences up here and I always feel that pang of regret when I realize she won’t have those wonderful experiences–opera, rodeo, vespers, 6th period, Sunday whites and of course the Hootenanny!
Oh man! I forgot about Senor Murphy’s!!
Calling home on a rotary pay phone, cheap silver rings sold by Indian women on the square and the candy store! Great fun! …Rain at the Opera…not so much!
Ahhh! I forgot this was the day that everyone was allowed to call home! (I never did because I was home!) I guess that’s one thing that would have been MUCH easier with cell phones!
Wow!!! What memories just flooded my head. Awesome memories. Not sure what store it was, but I remember that one of the places we always hit in the late 60’s/ early 70’s was a place that sold something called Rock Candy. YUMMINESS. And that if we snuck any back with us to camp, the ants ALWAYS found our stash. Loved the Opera Night, even when it rained. Who would have thought that a kid in 2nd grade would become addicted to music with words that were in a language not understood. A lifelong addiction happened. Even under those blankets to keep warm and the ponchos to keep dry!!! Thanks for the flood of memories Alden. 10 years… sadness for the kids who never get to build those memories… but happiness for those of us who SHARE in those memories.
I remember the rock candy! I also remember Candyman Strings & Things being a bit more than a music store, and Morningbird sold bags full of leather scraps. Seems we made bracelets and other fun stuff with those scraps. Swenson’s was THE place for ice cream, especially sundaes and banana splits. String cheese was fun to eat, and we’d buy cool colors of sealing wax and stamps to decorate letters home. I was always grateful for a comedy on opera night, but grew to appreciate the tragedies in adulthood.
Thank you for your wonderful blog, Alden.
Wow! I’ve been looking for info about BRC. I think I was there in the mid-90s.
My parents live in Taos now, by way of Houston, and we still go to Santa Fe for Doodlet’s, Haagen-Daz, and of course Señor Murphy’s.
And the Opera! It’s been 2 decades at least!