Buildings, Landscaping and Animals, Oh My!

CEO Sam examines a Bald Cypress destined for the Drop Off Circle.

Hanging out near the Health and Aquatics Center.

Lynn and Sam check out the Aquatics Center. JR heads to the outdoor pool showers (the two blue poles in the center). The Aquatics Center is going to be a very colorful and fun space.

Lynn and I are amazed at the amount of light streaming through the Solatube in the ceiling of the Aquatics Center!

These will allow us to cut WAY down on electricity consumption!

Program shelter, cabin and new dormers on the main house at the Fishing Village. Once the decking is built the Fishing Village will feel like the Ewok Village!

Two different kinds of tracks follow the same path through the Arts Village. Can you name the animals?

Cabin (far left), program shelter (left) and Activity building (right) in the Arts Village.

Coming along fast! :D

Hey everyone(:

It has been a while, but like Sam said, things are moving SO fast at camp!

The pool is almost finished. They are putting the final coating on the pool this week so they can fill it up with water. Hopefully it will be filled by Earth Day(:

Speaking of Earth Day, have you signed up?(:

We've chosen what the colors will be inside the pool; it will be white with blue specs. The bathroom floors, toilets, and sinks for all of the sites went in on Thursday and Friday.

WE HAVE POWER !!! :D The light poles for the walking trails are going in this week. Also we are using a recycled asphalt product made up of different materials on all of the main roads going through camp.

Like Samantha and I have said a lottttt lately, things are moving SOSOSO fast at camp. Soon it will be open for you guys to make your own memories(:

More coming soon,
Kaylee (:

Well I hope to see you at Earth Day(:

Milestone: Phase I Construction 50% Complete!

We've all got reason to celebrate! Construction of Phase I at North Fork reached the halfway point this past week. Here are some updated pics of the areas currently under construction at your new camp!

Rain, Rain Go Away.....

Hi, Amanda, Jessica & Mariah here with another pool update. We should probably change that to a weather update. "Rain, rain go away come again another day" is the song the crew at North Fork has been singing for the last week or so. At our last update the concrete had been poured and it needed to cure or harden for about a week. Then they would be able to hang the gutter system and do some plumbing. After that the actual pool work would stop and they would start the above ground building of the Health & Aquatic Center. Well, with all of the rain that we have had the crews have not been able to procede. To quote Mr. Pete Margretta, Construction Manager with Dana B. Kenyon, "this is what is known as unforeseen delays". They need about two weeks of good weather so they can dry out enough to start putting up buildings. Apparently it is a real mess out there!

So, while we are waiting, we thought we would tell you about a couple of your new pool features. We told you about the zero entry in our first blog and how this will benefit our campers in wheelchairs; great for SMILE Camp. It will also have competition lanes and a recreational play area.

One of the features that will be really good for lane swimming is the perimeter gutter system. The gutter is a stainless steel system hung around the edge of the pool (see pictures). When water is pushed towards the edge of the pool it will go in through a grate (blue plastic on top, left) and into a main channel (big tunnel, left) where it will go to the pool filter system. Once it is filtered it will come back through a smaller channel (small tunnel, left) and back out into the pool through little jets (white plastic hole, right) that are spaced out around the pool wall. We know, HUH? What all that really means is you won't get a big wave of water pushed back at you when you come up on to the wall of the pool. NO WAKE ZONE!

The other really cool thing about your pool is that it is a green pool. NOT the yucky algae kind of green pool (eeeww), but an eco-friendly green pool. The pool will have a salt generation filtration system. Which means it will use salt to filter the water instead of a ton of chlorine. So, it will use a lot less chemicals which is so much better for our environment. It will also require less maintenance. You will really notice the difference when you jump in; no more yucky chlorine smell, no more bleached out swimsuits, no more going in with blonde hair and coming out with green hair (yes, it happens). But most of all, no more stingy, burning eyes. YEAH!

So remember when you are swimming in the pool that there is more than just the nice cool water that makes it a cool pool. More next time...

Ninja Scouts out.

The Concrete Is Here!

If you were anywhere near Long Bay Rd & Blanding Blvd Friday you would have seen the convoy of concrete trucks heading in and out of North Fork. The trucks were on site bright and early Friday morning to begin pumping concrete into the pool - and we were there!

The concrete truck hooks up to this huge crane type truck that pumps the concrete through a hose into the pool.

Each truck holds 10 yards of concrete and it took about 11 trucks just to pour the floor!

As the concrete is pumped into the pool, workers spread it to get out air bubbles and make sure it is evenly spread.

Everyone has to work quick; from the time the truck is filled they only have 90 minutes to get to the camp and get it pumped and spread before the concrete starts to harden. It is a long day and a lot of hard work!

When a truck is empty it has to go to the concrete washout area to clean out any unused concrete.

If they don't the concrete will harden in the holding tank and it would to be chipped out by hand - UGH! The unused concrete is washed out into a bin and is later recycled and reused in roadway projects.

This is the biggest transformation the pool has taken and it is really fascinating watching and learning about what it takes to get from dirt to water. More to come next time.

The Pool is Taking Shape!

Here's the pool just a few days after the last pic - and WOW - you can see how fast it is coming together! Tomorrow they will start pouring the base. You can see the zero-entry area at the top right - that will allow wheelchair access - That feature is sure to get rave reviews when we start hosting SMILE Camp here!

GSGC Director of Property Lynn Watson promises to be on the job super-early tomorrow so he can capture some great pics as they pour - and we'll share as soon as they are ready!

Make A Splash!

Hey this is Amanda O., Jessica O., & Mariah S. from Troop 1350 - and we are here to keep you posted on the Health & Aquatics Center and the pool construction going on at North Fork.

Pool construction officially began Monday, July 13th! We were at camp Tuesday to watch as they began digging the hole that will become our new pool.

It is hard to imagine from looking at this picture that by the Spring this will be a beautiful pool with 145,000 gallons of sparkling water, 6 competition lanes and a really cool "zero entry" entrance. Zero entry means that you will be able to walk into the pool just like you were walking from the beach into the ocean. This will be great for SMILE Camp when we have campers in wheelchairs; it will make access much easier for everyone.

Parry-Paddock Pools is doing the pool construction. They also did the pools at the Cecil Field Equestrian Center and the Barco-Newton YMCA; those are a couple you may have seen or even swam in. Not only will our pool look great, but it will also be incredibly efficient to operate. It will have a perimeter gutter system and a salt generation filtration system (why is that written in green.... hint hint) - more on those features and the answer to the green writing next blog. In the meantime, we will be making regular trips to North Fork to watch the progress and we will update you along the way. More next time!

Meet The Bloggers!

Meet Girl Scout Cadette Troop 1350 and their leader Lisa O'Kelley - they are going to document the building of the new Health and Aquatics Center at North Fork! They are pictured here with contractors from the Dana B. Kenyon Company.

They just visited the site and have lots to share with you - so follow this blog and watch as your new camp takes shape!