Happy 2020 everyone!
In just 10 days the Great Escape Committee will head for a secret location (ok, a Girl Scout camp not in MA!) to start planning for Great Escape 2020. If you have suggestions, the comment field below is a great place to start! Watch this space for - book club plans - final date confirmation - and more!
YIGGGS, the Great Escape Committee.
Registration!
September 25 - 27, 2020. Registration will open in spring!
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Monday, October 21, 2019
Quests
For the last two years, our friends Steph and Lynne have been devising Quests for Great Escape that take participants around camp. They cleverly incorporate fun, mindfulness and self care. In 2018, the theme was Wonder Quest, where participants were enabled to celebrate their wonderful qualities.
In 2019, we celebrated our inner hero qualities.
They want the full quests to be available to you to use with troops or other groups. So, we've added a page to the Great Escape Website! CLICK HERE.
I can imagine these being used at an encampment - once an ED, always an ED I guess!
As a bonus, we added the selfie camping scavenger hunt, also adaptable for use with girls or other groups! Happy Camping.
Tuesday, October 8, 2019
Good Food Always at Great Escape
We surely had yummy food at GE this year, as always! Beginning with warm chocolate chip cookies on Friday night (which lasted well into Saturday on the coffee bar) and ending with a very full breakfast on Sunday, there was no excuse for a hungry moment - especially since the cooks, helmed by Sarah/Fluke, provide vegan and gluten free versions whenever possible!
Saturday breakfast included pancakes (again, there were gluten free cakes!) and lots of bacon. So much bacon! And oatmeal with mix-ins like raisins, chocolate chips, brown sugar. Hand fruit may have appeared too - I just head for the oatmeal every time!
Lunch - baked potato bar (with bacon!) salad bar and two kinds of homemade soup - minestrone and Kaye's corn chowder!
After afternoon workshops and during the book club discussion, we recruited our strength with appetizers, including cheese and crackers, hot kielbasa and butternut squash bites!
Dinner was the full Thanksgiving - trash can turkey, stuffing, gravy, roasted veggies, several kinds of rolls. After the auction - dessert! Sunday breakfast included french toast, sausage, oatmeal, hard boiled eggs, and I even saw a few sausage biscuits left out for the late sleepers.
Saturday breakfast included pancakes (again, there were gluten free cakes!) and lots of bacon. So much bacon! And oatmeal with mix-ins like raisins, chocolate chips, brown sugar. Hand fruit may have appeared too - I just head for the oatmeal every time!
Lunch - baked potato bar (with bacon!) salad bar and two kinds of homemade soup - minestrone and Kaye's corn chowder!
After afternoon workshops and during the book club discussion, we recruited our strength with appetizers, including cheese and crackers, hot kielbasa and butternut squash bites!
Dinner was the full Thanksgiving - trash can turkey, stuffing, gravy, roasted veggies, several kinds of rolls. After the auction - dessert! Sunday breakfast included french toast, sausage, oatmeal, hard boiled eggs, and I even saw a few sausage biscuits left out for the late sleepers.
No wonder we demanded a cooks' parade! These ladies do us proud every year! I don't understand how they do it - leaving their families and spending a whole weekend working hard to feed us. When you see them during the year, remember to thank them!
Thursday, October 3, 2019
Best Great Escape Yet?
The 2019 Great Escape was wonderful - I had a great time! Interesting people, great workshops, fabulous food, and the weather was so great - two people complained to me that it was too warm to sleep on Saturday night! (My take on that was - how nice to sleep without my fleece socks and with my arms outside my sleeping bag!)
Here are a few pictures from the weekend, thanks to our dear friend Michelle Kramer.
More in a day or two, so check back!
Here are a few pictures from the weekend, thanks to our dear friend Michelle Kramer.
More in a day or two, so check back!
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
We're Almost There!
Racing towards the finish!
I'm frantically working on my workshop crafts and auction items today, but I just want to take a moment to reflect on how lucky we are - it appears that the weather is going to be wonderful this weekend! All our outdoor activities will take place in not too hot not too cold fall weather!
Layers, ladies, and sun hats! Yeah! And perfect for photography and our new selfie scavenger hunt!
I'm frantically working on my workshop crafts and auction items today, but I just want to take a moment to reflect on how lucky we are - it appears that the weather is going to be wonderful this weekend! All our outdoor activities will take place in not too hot not too cold fall weather!
Layers, ladies, and sun hats! Yeah! And perfect for photography and our new selfie scavenger hunt!
Take a selfie:
o
Eating
dessert
o
Inside
a tent or a cabin
o
With
the Great Escape banner at the Dining Hall
o
Behind
a tree
o
With
a new friend
o
Holding
a pine cone
o
Pointing
to something orange
o
Helping
someone
o
With
the auction baskets
o
With
a committee member
o
Of
You Wearing a Great Escape shirt/vest/jacket
o
With
someone wearing a GE patch
o
With
water in the background
o
Using
something from nature as a moustache
o On a hike
o
With
a flashlight shining under your face
o
With
your reflection
o
Doing
your kaper
o
Singing
or playing an instrument
o
In
a canoe
o
Outside
Christa’s House
o
At
the swimming beach
o
At
the turkey cook site
o
With
the sign for your tent/lodge site
o
Drinking
from your Great Escape cup
o
In
your cosy cot
o
With
an archery bow or target or with a
hatchet
Upload/ post
your selfies to Instagram or Facebook with #gsgreatescape
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Venmo Now Available For the Auction!
The Great Escape Auction can now accept VENMO payments for your auction purchases, in addition to cash or checks. We hope that this will make the process of paying for auction winnings quicker for all, so you can get to your after dinner activities on Saturday night more quickly.
If you are not a VENMO user, here's a quick explanation. Venmo is an app(lication) for both Apple and Android phones which allows people to transfer money directly to other people's bank accounts. So you can now transfer money from your bank to ours directly from your phone. Note that it is similar to SQUARE, which many of you may have used for cookie sales.
__________________________________________________
For a more detailed explanation, here's what NerdWallet has to say about VENMO.
What is Venmo? Venmo is a peer-to-peer (P2P) money transfer mobile app, similar to Square Cash, that has a social media twist: You can send or request money via emoji-studded text messages, which show up in a Facebook-style feed. Don’t worry, though — dollar amounts always remain private.
Mobile only. Venmo payments are made on its highly rated Android and iOS smartphone apps as well as via iMessage or with Siri voice command. You can sign in at Venmo’s website on a desktop or mobile device to view transactions, but not to pay or request money.
U.S. customers only. Venmo, which is operated by PayPal, requires both sender and recipient to be in the United States.
If you are not a VENMO user, here's a quick explanation. Venmo is an app(lication) for both Apple and Android phones which allows people to transfer money directly to other people's bank accounts. So you can now transfer money from your bank to ours directly from your phone. Note that it is similar to SQUARE, which many of you may have used for cookie sales.
__________________________________________________
For a more detailed explanation, here's what NerdWallet has to say about VENMO.
What is Venmo? Venmo is a peer-to-peer (P2P) money transfer mobile app, similar to Square Cash, that has a social media twist: You can send or request money via emoji-studded text messages, which show up in a Facebook-style feed. Don’t worry, though — dollar amounts always remain private.
How Venmo works
Transfers and purchases. Venmo lets you send and request money to and from anyone who has a Venmo account. The app can help with the awkward chore of reimbursing family or friends for dinner or other outings, but it’s not made for buying or selling goods with strangers. Venmo can also be used for web purchases with certain merchants, usually on websites with a payment button similar to PayPal’s.Mobile only. Venmo payments are made on its highly rated Android and iOS smartphone apps as well as via iMessage or with Siri voice command. You can sign in at Venmo’s website on a desktop or mobile device to view transactions, but not to pay or request money.
U.S. customers only. Venmo, which is operated by PayPal, requires both sender and recipient to be in the United States.
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Thnking about the Auction.
As we look forward to Great Escape, I’m sure some of you are
remembering the excitement and glee of last year’s live auction. For those who are new to the Great Escape
community, each year we hold a live auction to benefit Camp Wabasso and our
other camps. Our phenomenal auctioneer
Kaye/Cookie auctions baskets of goodies donated by G.E. participants.
We hope you will consider bringing a basket. To help kickstart your creative process, we’ve come up with a few general themes for you to make your own.
We hope you will consider bringing a basket. To help kickstart your creative process, we’ve come up with a few general themes for you to make your own.
When we say basket… we don’t literally mean basket. Useful tote bags, bowls, a laundry basket, or other clever
containers can help make your basket one to bid on. Recently I saw a fire pit filled with ‘smores
ingredients win the ‘most desired’ auction item at a convention I attended.
When in doubt… wine and chocolate. The Great Escape is home to many enthusiastic
“winers,” so these items are always in demand.
Make a mother’s or grandmother’s fun day kit… we have moms
and grandmas who are always looking for gifts and activities for kids.
Crafts are a big part of Great Escape, and hand crafted
treasures are wildly popular. Baskets
with crafting goodies are also highly appreciated. How about a ‘starter kit’ for a craft or art
you are whiz at? Get started knitting,
crocheting, wood burning, painting in oils, acrylics, watercolors, who knows
what will appeal? You do!
Pick something you would want to bid on. Your favorite books, (Harry Potter - just be sure not to read the spells out loud!) hobbies, colors, movies,
animals, and music are all great starting places. Odds are your fellow Great Escapers will like
them too!
Good luck!
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