Since we have been talking a lot about college spirit recently with the addition of pennants to our dining hall, I figured it would be cool to post this photo of Merri-Mac camper (and proud Choctaw) Aubrey Best.  Here she is mixing both school spirit and tribal spirit at the same time!  Nice work Aubrey.  And a huge Hotty toddy to you all the way from up here in Black Mountain.

Go Choctaw and Go Rebels!

Things are moving and shaking up here at camp to get this dining hall finished.  Here are some shots of the project that we took this morning.  Pretty cool!

The school spirit is abundant here at camp this Spring!  So far we have received 14 college pennants from  current and past staff and campers.  If you don’t see your favorite school listed in the above picture then feel free to send us one and we will hang it along with the rest.  Hotty Toddy!

Dan

The dining hall is already taking shape and it is pretty big!  Roughly double the size of our old one with a lot of really cool bells and whistles.   Here are some pictures that we took over the past few days.

As everyone knows, we are building a brand new dining hall and the construction is progressing along quickly! Within a week the area went from a gravel lot to a building structure with walls and flooring. The construction workers have been working relentlessly to get this wonderful building done. They have worked through nice sunny days but have also been faced with cold rain and snow!

The framing for the rooftop came in yesterday! Shhhh… don’t tell Bobby, a few bushes may have taken a hit to get those frames onto property. We can’t wait to see how the building will change within another week our so. We warned the builders that loud stomping, yelling, and singing would be going on in Tucker Inn during the summertime. The floors are fully reinforced under a large concrete foundation ready to take on each and every pounding it receives from all of yall! We hope yall are as excited as we are about this great new building! Check out the pictures to see how we are progressing!

Happy Camping Everyone!

Dining hall singing is a priority for us here at Camp Merri-Mac.  So we don’t take our product testing lightly!  This bench is a prototype for the new furniture that we will have in Tucker Inn.

We would like to say a warm congratulations to the newest camp marriage! Anne Archer and Daniel Yestko became Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Yetsko on February 9th 2013. The wedding day was beyond perfect! The weather was beautiful.  The lighting for photographs was incredible. We would love to give a shout out to Sunday Grant Photography for capturing these to love birds on camera. Anne was an absolutely gorgeous bride! Daniel didn’t look half bad himself. Okay, okay he look handsome as well!Joining the bride and groom as part of the wedding party was a large crew of camp folk! Haley Fulford, Sarah Hord, Dave Roddy, Katy Robb, and Marilyn Zapf were all bridesmaids.  Alex Deckard was the Best Man.

The reception was held at the Monte Vista in downtown Black Mountain. All of the guests danced the night away celebrating this great marriage. Anne’s father, John Archer, was even spotted on the dance floor learning sweet moves. Anne and Daniel are honeymooning in St. Lucia. They are lying on the warm sunny beach as the rest of us here in Black Mountain prepare for a chilly weekend.

To Anne and Daniel: We are so proud of you two. You two will love and serve each other well. We are blessed to have people like yall around camp. Good luck in life and enjoy every bit of marriage.

We Wish Yall the Best,

The Camp Family

Tucker Inn is getting a facelift – well maybe a little more than a facelift – and to quote Jerry Reed, “we’ve got a long way to go and a short time to get there.”  So it’s a real question: will we make it?

Three is certain lore, and a special feel about great camp dining halls; someone should make a coffee table book about them.  If they did Tucker Inn would be on the front cover.   Three times a day we sit together as a cabin, and sing together as a camp. It’s where every girl cheers the Tweedle song and waits to hear Rainbow’s newest add on.  It’s where campers learn the traditions that make them feel like camp insiders.  It’s where we honor our princess and “break it down” for the evening activity.  So we decided a place this important needed a little more room.  We’ll keep you posted on progress, because one way or another, on June 9 we’re going to have a lot of girls eating  our Sunday Fried Chicken in Tucker Inn!

Camp has a really cool new addition to offer our campers this summer…NEW TRAILS!    And this is about a two and a half mile long addition!  We hired an awesome company called Long Cane Trails from South Carolina to design and dig them out using a mini-dozer (and a bunch of chain saws).  Campers will be able to use them for just about all of our activities but specifically mountainbiking, horseback riding, running, and backpacking (These will lead climbers up to the really great climb site we found on property).  They are amazing and run from just below Moonmist all the way up past the counsel ring (literally right by it) and up around to the shelter and back by the Mark and end next to Spencer’s Green.   I can’t wait for our campers to get to experience them.  We are hoping to start a Merri-Mac trail running club for our campers in the summer!

Check out the mini-dozer. It is just so cool!

Tweedle Dum camper, Janie H., wanted to help us with our Merri-Mac clothing design choices so she sent us a few pictures with some of her ideas.  This reminded me of how blessed we are to have such thoughtful and caring people involved in Merri-Mac!  It is so great that we get to spend our summers with you guys and want you to feel free to give us your thoughts on whatever aspects of camp you care about.