I have learned that everyone has very distinct memories of their time at Rock Creek. We each remember different things, or the same things in different ways. But there are always pieces of our experiences that overlap. Here’s a list of some things that rattle around in my memory:
making mud pies in the sandbox
sliding on waxed paper down the red slide
making paper dolls in Hansi’s trailer
kittens at the lower corral
Foss Neilsen making cricket noises in my ear
having cocktails at Cabin 14 with Vic & Lydia Coppard & their cat Mai Tai
visiting Wally & Edie Hunsicker at Cabin 4
learning to fish with Grandpa Rouse
going to Tom’s Place to make a phone call (before service extended up the canyon)
the sound & smell of the generators (pre-electricity)
Delaware Punch
having to carefully choose 1 candy bar or ice cream per day
Daisy the horse (“my” horse)
special horseback rides with Marge London
rainy, cold horseback rides with Annie Christie
melting plastic Army men on the pot-belly stove in the lobby
rock-hopping up and down the creek
building forts
“camping out” in the big green tent
games, cards, and conversation in the lobby
Cameron Aanerud’s slideshows (and Wally Hunsicker snoring through one of them)
going to see the fireworks in Bishop, riding on a mattress in the back of the truck
Michener, the sporting goods salesman
Banta, the Chevron gas deliveryman
hand-pumping gasoline
playing Frisbee golf
swimming at Big Tire and Serene
the clank of someone playing horseshoes
my dad’s constant whistling
snow in July
watching lightning & hailstorms from the lobby porch
kerosene lanterns
the “chug” of pot-belly stoves
chopping wood
pulling down trees with the winch on the old blue truck
bonfires & s’mores
the signatures and drawings on the walls & ceiling of the room above the showers
the raft at the pond
the yellow mini-bike
the yellow mountain bike (we seemed to like yellow)
mail runs to Tom’s Place with kids piled in the back of the truck
hanging out in front of the store
the bubbling drinking fountain
Bill Beckett teaching me to drive on the road to Tom’s Place
after-dinner walks to the lake
The Big Tree
the fish truck & running buckets
the sound of the wringer washer
cleaning cabins & trash runs to the sounds of Reggae, The Police, etc.
the double bunk bed in Cabin 5 (wonder if it’s still there?)
Sani-Pine-drenched toilet buildings
Servel refrigerators
the buzz phones (1 for the store, 2 for the kitchen, 3 for the Roby cabin)
the hand-crank siren on the kitchen porch
4th of July barbecues (especially when Leonard Hunsicker slapped me for playing with the keg)
going to movies in Bishop
campfires at Cabin 1
the awesomely quiet chill of the morning when I was the first one up
stars, stars, stars, and more stars in a black, black sky...
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