The Mentone Chronicles

My Mentone Experience

by Alexa Henningsen Imagine this, you are at Nature’s Classroom in Mentone, AL. You have been in a comfy bus with your 5th grade classmates for what feels like 3 hours. Finally, you arrive, you step out of the bus and you feel a cool chill go down your body. Then, you figure out what cabin you are in. You grab your bag and find your bunk. After that, you find out your field group. Then, you will go on a hike with your field group. That was my experience arriving at Nature’s Classroom.

On my first hike, I could hear all the birds chirping and the crackling sound of our field group’s footsteps in the leaves. Then, we went down a steep, rocky hill and made a sharp left turn. As we were hiking, we all smelled something gross. It smelled like poop! Ewwwwwwwww! Then our field group leader finally told us what the smell was. The smell was only a plant that grows near the water.

This is a trip I will never forget. Blair, Avery, Ella, Paige, and I all playing keep away with a soccer ball against the boys and beating them so badly. Another one is going through Split Rock. Split Rock is a rock that you can go through and get pulled up by your field group leader. When you go through it, it is tighter than a pair of too small jeans. When you get through the tight part you’ve got to step on a rock and pull yourself into a little part in the rock that has space in it. Then you look for your field group leader’s foot and climb to it. Then, you turn on your back and your group leader will pull you up. When you are in there, the rocks are like sandpaper with pointy edges that stick out. It felt like a refrigerator; it is cool but not too cool. Also, I loved being with my friends and getting to know them even better. I also loved meeting new people and getting to know them better too. I was so happy to get to know new friends and old friends.

Here are some things that I learned at Mentone. I learned about ORT, which stands for “organic recyclable trash.” It is when you eat everything on your plate and drink everything in your cup. Also, if our whole grade was Ort-less, we would get a plate on the ceiling. But unfortunately, we didn’t get one. Also, I learned that bamboo is a type of grass. Another is that there are more than one kind of lichen.

One of my favorite parts was the Invention Convention. It was where you made an “invention” to help the world. Then, you would make a presentation on what you made. After that, the ‘judges’ would judge you. After everyone goes, they select a winner. Unfortunately, we didn’t win. Another one of my favorites was “Everyone Is It.” It’s a game and you have some balls and there is a grid. If you get hit by one of the balls, you sit down. But if the person who hit you with the ball gets hit, you’re back in and they are out. Another favorite part was Rec Time. Rec time is where you can just play for what felt like 30 to 45 minutes. During that time my friends and I would play soccer, basketball and volleyball. In the gym when you took off your shoes, the court would stick like gum to your socks. It felt weird!

Although this was one of my favorite school trips, here are some things that could have been better. One of them is the counselors. The counselors could have been a little bit nicer and engaging when we did things like the ropes course and Split Rock. Another one was the cabins. The hairy, moldy showers were disgusting. Also, the heaters in the cabin were literally real fire, and this is really dangerous. The cabin could have caught on fire because of the temperature of the fire. There is just one more thing. The classes. Also, the classes weren’t that fun and there were only like 3 to 4 classes and sometimes you wouldn’t get the one that you wanted because it was already full. Now we are leaving Mentone. Bye Mentone!!!

The Amazing Ropes Course

by Andrew Chang I moved very slowly through the log that was attached to the tree like a snail crawling on someone’s arm, trying not to slip off. I then beamed at the next odd structure. It took me a minute to recognize what it was, since my brain wasn’t really in my head that second. Then, WOOOOOOOSSSSHHHH! My brain flew back into my head, waking up my memories like, “Hey, wake up! You’re late for school!”. I was staring upon a Burma Bridge! It looked very odd, but very familiar. “This is the Burma Bridge! This should be easy to cross!” I thought. But I was wrong. When I crossed the bridge, I still had that chill in my spine, which got worse because it got slower, and I still moved like a snail, but a trillion times slower, which gave me a big shiver in my spine. The bridge started swaying, and my eyes were wide open as if I was in bed, trying to sleep but I couldn’t. I looked down, and I saw it was a long distance from the ground to my level. When you’re on the ground, it looks like it isn’t a long way up there. But if you look from the top however, you were like a tall man looking down from 49 feet above. Still, I made it through without falling. Then, I stumbled upon the “final battle” of the course. The V Swing. It looked so confusing. I simply got on, sat down, held the handles, and leaped! I squeezed my eyes closed and hoped for the best that it wouldn’t break, and I would fly off into the distance. Then, the G-Force came rushing through my body, as if it was a peregrine falcon, rushing away from an incoming storm. Finally, I felt something through my back that destroyed my chill. It was the wind. I didn’t fly off, it didn’t break, I was alive. I opened my eyes and saw a man slowing me down. My eyes were wider than it ever has been. “I said: “Wow, that was fun!”. Now, I understood why it was called “The V Swing”. Finally, I had finished the course, with a bright, happy smile on my face. I did it. Everybody loved it, and we all had that same “I want to do it again” smile. We walked back to camp for dinner. There was no way I would forget that.

Battle of the Dragons by Hudson Turner

Light Fury Sketch by Ila Hiller

By: Caroline Birdsey

Caroline’s Trip to Mentone

by Caroline Davis “Screech!” went the bus as we made a sharp turn into the Mentone camp entrance. My first glance: two tiny cabins. How will we fit? OH NO!

“Good Morning!” I said to my roommates: Avery, Alexa, and Blair. “Hi, guys. Oh, hi Madame Dickey.” “Ummm… Is this anyone’s towel?” “Yes, that’s mine,” Avery replied. “Oh, I found it on the heater last night,” “It’s burnt.” “How?” Avery asked, “Tell Us!” We all yelled politely. “Ok,” Madame Dickey replied. “So, last night I started smelling smoke. I wasn’t sure where it was coming from. So, I looked around. Then I saw it… the towel on the heater. I peeled it off so the cabin did not burn down. I took a look at it and saw that the yellow towel had turned brown.”

“Lichen; there are three types of it,” Konica said. “What are they?” I asked, “Fruticose, Foliose, and Crustose. They can all grow on trees and rocks.” Konica replied, “Oh, I thought that Fruticose was moss.” I said, “Well, now you know it’s not.” “So, let’s move on to learning how to identify trees.” Konica said, “You can identify most trees by the crevasses in their bark, but some can be identified by the shapes of their leaves and the things they produce.”

You go to the egg drop shop to buy items to protect your egg when you drop it. “You have $10 to spend at the shop.” Konica said, “So, let’s get started.” “Caroline, do you want to be my partner?” Emma asked, “Of course!” I shouted in excitement. We picked from materials such as egg cartons, plastic bags, coffee filters, paper cups, and tape, just to name a few. “DONE!” We shouted. “Ok, now since everyone is done, let’s start dropping.” Everyone before us cracked their egg. Emma and I went next. We walked up the stairs and dropped our egg. “TAP!” Emma and I quickly got down the stairs. Then, we opened our creation and saw a crack-free egg. “Yay!” Emma said.

“Mmmmm,” “That lunch was delicious.” I said, “What’s for dessert?” “Oreo Yum Yum,” Konica replied. “Ok, sounds good,” “Can I go get some?” I asked. “Sure,” Konica replied. So I went to get the “Oreo Yum Yum.” It was a giant brown blob with Oreo chunks in it. “Ewwwww. This looks awful.” I said, but I tried it anyway. It was the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted. 2 hours later, I didn’t feel so good. “Why don’t I take you to the cabin?” Ms. Kent said. “Ok, thank you.” We went back to the cabin and I eventually felt better.

“Screech!” I heard as we left Mentone. I said goodbye to Mentone and the two tiny cabins that we did not stay in.

My Mentone Experience

by Ellie Critz Harrison “Bump… Bump…Bump” went the bus as the fifth grade approached the beautiful fields and mountains of Mentone, Alabama. As we went slowly up a hill, drove through a road, and under some trees, a feeling of excitement rushed up my spine. I was not only excited, but a little nervous too. I had never slept away from home for more than a night. After that we were finally there! The whole fifth grade was going on a two-night trip to Mentone, Alabama! When the bus stopped, we all ran excitedly outside to put our heavy bags and luggage down by a small cabin. Brrrr! It was much colder than I expected, I thought as I put my coat on. We followed someone that worked there into a long green field, and soon learned what cabins we were in. As she called out the list of people in the second girls’ cabin, I was only thinking about one thing. I wanted my friends to be in my cabin with me. I listened, and listened, then finally YES! I was overjoyed to learn that I was in the same cabin as some of my best friends. As we walked across the long, green field to our cabins, I talked with my friends about how we were so lucky that we were all in the same cabin, and how we wanted to sleep together. When I saw my cabin I was so surprised. It had a colorful piano, and a sitting area where we all liked sitting and talking together. The best part was that it had an upstairs! As soon as we were able to pick our beds, my friends and I rushed upstairs, and picked our beds. We shared a small, cozy room with a big window that overlooked the area behind the cabin, and with creepy shaking beds. Before I knew it, it was nighttime, and we had planned to stay up really late together. We told creepy stories through most of the night, did shadow puppets, and just talked together. As we went on, we felt really tired and wanted to go to bed. We said good night and went to sleep. Well, we almost went to sleep. I could not fall asleep no matter how hard I tried. At one point, I heard this strange noise that sounded like water falling in a cup. Drip, Drip, Drip. It was surprisingly very relaxing, and soon I was asleep; dreaming of the fun day ahead.

In the morning, we had a delicious breakfast, then went on a hike. As we started walking, I found I loved taking pictures of the beautiful scenery. I would take pictures of everything, and I would always show them to my friends. By the end of the hike, I had a whole collection of pretty photos. I loved looking at my pictures, and loved taking them just as much. On one of our hikes, we went through a dark rock shelter called Hook’s Hideaway. At first I was scared and thought about not going through, but as I slowly crawled through the dark, pitch-black rock shelter, I felt more and more confident, and finally, I reached the end! I was so proud of facing my fears, but I know I could not have done it without the support of my awesome friends. After the hike, we had time to refill our water bottles, use the restroom, and prepare for our next activity. After I had prepared, I played volleyball with my friends. It was so fun. I would hit the ball over the net with my team. It was amazing. My next activity was called Back Country Baking, and I was really excited. When it was time to start, I learned that we were making cinnamon rolls! As we rolled out the dough, I could smell the strong smell of cinnamon. Yum. It smelled so good. Finally, after pouring a lot of different ingredients in a bowl, it was time to bake it. We made a fire with small twigs, but the cold wind kept blowing it out. We tried and tried again, but we only got it to bake a little. We decided to eat them, and they tasted amazing! Even though they were not fully cooked, they still tasted really good.

Our trip was really fun, and we learned really cool things, too! On one of our hikes, we learned about different types of plants. My favorite plant is Muscadine. The small green leaves taste like a peel of a green apple! It was so cool. I also learned about different types of rocks such as sedimentary and sandstone. Rocks are very interesting, and we even got to crawl through a few rock shelters. A rock shelter is like a cave, but with only one opening. I am so happy that I learned about nature and lots more on this trip.

Overall the worst part of the trip had to be leaving. That morning, I packed my bags and checked my room with my friends to make sure I did not leave anything, then took my stuff outside to be packed into the bus. I had breakfast, then went to my cabin to clean it. We all swept with brooms, dumped the trash cans, and sat on our beds, waiting for someone to check our cabin and make sure it was clean. After it was checked, we took a big picture together in front of our cabin. Then we got into the bus, and drove off; through the green trees, drove through a road, and down a small hill. Bump…Bump... Bump.

Sweet Stack

by Talia Russell

The Crazy Adventures in Mentone

by Harrison Baughman Something that I will never forget was when we entered the dark, wet, rock shelter. It was like entering a spider’s den. I was shivering with fear until I saw the bright sun and the exit. I also won’t ever forget my very joyful and funny group leader, Jordan. Thursday Night Live was another favorite thing that I will never forget because of all of the fun and the skits that people played. I liked that we got to meet and discuss the skits. The campfire is also unforgettable because of all the warmth from all of the cold. We were shivering so much that I thought my hands were gonna fall off. The last thing I won’t forget was when we got a treat after several days without eating one. My favorite part about Mentone was when we built a big, strong Burma Bridge. I loved that there were a lot of steps to it. I liked that the Burma Bridge was about learning knots. It felt like I was trying to memorize a very complicated potion in Harry Potter, but the teamwork was hard because of the cold weather making me shiver.

I learned a lot, but the thing that I learned the most about was how to survive in the wilderness. In that class we pretended that a storm was coming, and we had to set up camp. There was so much pressure that it was like a football game was going on and it was 49 to 49 in the last second. It felt very real when we did that.

Have you ever had a stench in your room? Well when we made soap, some soap bars did give a stench. Other than the stench, making soap bars was cool, but not as good as the other activities. Another thing that wasn’t so great were the cabins that we stayed in. They were pretty small, and there was a bunch of graffiti on the walls and everywhere. For example, someone had written something on my bed mattress that said, “I AM JUDI THE KILLER AND I WILL COME TO YOUR HOUSE AND KILL YOU! ! ! ! ! !” So those two things are the only thing that were wrong. After all the fun, I rated this trip 5 stars. But then when I walked onto the bus, sadly and slowly, the fun of Mentone faded away from me.

My 5th Grade Trip to Mentone

by Jack Underwood “VROOOOOOOOOOOOM!” the bus pulls up.

Shaking with fear, I go step by step into the massive vessel.

“SCREEEEEEECH!” the doors close behind me as I sit down.

Something I will never forget about Mentone is that the air was always so fresh. You could see the stars and listen to everyone laugh as they danced around with joy. We went on hikes and saw beautiful scenes that narrowed through the caves. We dropped eggs down heights and mostly watch them splatter. Then, we would eat amazing meals cooked with expertise. We would tell spooky stories that scared me. At the end of the day, we would all gather and watch the fire blaze with flames.

One day, we went to Split Rock. The caves were pitch black as can be, and the walls were as narrow as a frisbee. You had to crouch as if you were in a cannon to get out to see the sun once more. We also went to another cave called Hook’s Hideaway. It was very dark. When I was coming out, I hit my teeth on a rock, and it really hurt. The person on the other side of the cave said, “Say cheese!” and took my picture. Then they posted it on Instagram. We saw a stonefly - it really blended in with the rock.

Before we got there, everyone was expecting nice cabins! But when we got there, there were wooden cabins where they hadn’t even bothered to paint the walls! They were barely heated, and the beds were not even an inch thick! There was this guck called Oreo Yum Yum. It wasn’t that yummy to me. It looked disgusting and didn’t taste too good! The apple pie and cookies were good though. There was this really small fire, and honestly, it did not keep us that warm at all.

In the end, I had a great time at Mentone. I would give this trip a 3 out of 5 stars. It was pretty good but had a couple of flaws. For example, we were not being able to have ice in our water. The “V-Swing” was fun though, as was the ropes course.

So, this was my trip to Mentone, Alabama!

The Awesome Adventures In Mentone

by Maddie McDonald As the bus stopped with a screech, the fifth grade had arrived at their destination: Mentone, Alabama. The area was Riverview Girls’ Sleepover Camp, but boys and girls from fifth grade stayed there. My cabin at Mentone was Arapaho. The teachers in our cabin were Ms. Broe, Mrs. Kent, and Madame Dickey.

When the 5th grade got to Mentone, half of us took a hike. The other half had a class first. The hike was so tiring and long - it made me feel like my feet had bricks on them. My group was called the Armadillos. My field group leader’s name was Erin. Our group included Avery Grace, Claire Cummings, Sophia Toledo, Sienna Shortt, Bryce Smith, Andrew Chang, Davis Carlisle, Jack Wardner, Camilla Tuman, and Gavin Campos. It was an amazing group because I had a lot of friends in the group.

That night we had a thing called the Invention Convention where we had to make an invention for a world problem and present it. I was a salesperson, so I told what the invention was. My group’s invention was “The Deplastinator.” My group’s salespeople had a song which was “Deplastinator’s On Your Side.” The salespeople had a catchphrase which was “We’re optimistic!” My group won the Invention Convention.

The next day we had a class, and mine was called Eggdrop. It was where we dropped eggs with protection on it from the top floor of the gym and saw if the egg cracked. Ryder Ripps and I were partners. We were so close to winning because our egg barely cracked, but Grayson and Claire won.

That night we had Thursday Night Live. My group’s act was about going to the doctor’s office. My sickness was that I couldn’t stop making weird noises. As my field group leader pushed me onto the stage, it went dead silent. It was so quiet I could hear a pin drop. I was nervous and scared, but then I started my act. It was really funny at the end when Sienna was pregnant because the joke was that Andrew would catch every sickness the person had and he didn’t want to be pregnant.

Overall the worst part of the trip was leaving. This was one of my favorite field trips because it was really good bonding time with my friends. As I got on the bus, I had a feeling that I would miss being in Mentone. That feeling went away because I started wanting to go home. That night I was happy to be home, but also I missed being away from home. I will never forget this trip.