Great Weekend!

As you can imagine, I had a wonderful weekend spending time with our youngest son, Korey, in Minnesota. My 7-1/2 hour drive on Friday was uneventful. I arrived around 3:30 pm and got settled into my very nice room in the retreat center. There are eight rooms that are similar to hotel rooms, each with a private bath. The room was nicer than I expected at “camp”.

On Friday night, I took Korey to supper at the Good Life Café in Park Rapids to celebrate his birthday. We enjoyed a good dinner and then went back to camp and enjoyed the beauty of Lake Morgan. The camp owns the lake so no one else uses it. It’s a beautiful lake where campers enjoy swimming, canoeing, fishing and relaxing.

This muskrat was swimming around near the shore eating some type of flower that was growing in the water.

A pair of loons have built a nest on the lake. It was fun watching them swim around the lake and hear their cry.

Here’s the view looking back towards camp from the dock. On the left is the chapel with a rec area underneath. On the right up the hill in the trees is the retreat center. The dining hall is upstairs, and the sleeping rooms are below. The camp also has quite a few cabins where the campers and staff stay.

Korey’s cabin for the summer is called “Peace”. What a fitting name as this is one of the most peaceful places I have been (when there aren’t campers running around).

Saturday was staff family day. There were quite a few people that came to visit their staff family members. Many of the staff live in the area, so their family members came for the day. I think I traveled the farthest. The beautiful sunny day started out with a pancake breakfast. I had no idea my son has become a gourmet cook.

The next two hours were spent at the challenge course. Korey is the High Adventure/Retreat Program Director and the challenge course is his domain. Here he is on top of the 32 foot wall waiting for a climber to make it to the top so he can secure them.

Lots of young adult family members climbed the wall. Even a few parents made it to the top. I had tried to climb the wall two years ago, but gave up rather quickly. This year I thought I would try climbing the telephone pole side. I made it about halfway up and then got scared. I wish I wasn’t such a chicken! I haven’t given up yet. Maybe next year I’ll make it to the top!

After a delicious taco in the bag lunch, it was time for arts and crafts. We made spray paint tie dye t-shirts. You just bunch of the shirt and spray it with different colors of spray paint. It was much easier than the convention tie dye method. Here are all of our masterpieces drying in the sun.

Later in the day Korey and I went canoeing.

Everyone enjoyed dinner together in the dining hall and a worship service in the chapel. What a great day!

Sunday was back to work for the camp staff. There were meetings and then campers started arriving. The weather was cool and overcast so I spent some time reading in my room and online using Korey’s computer. In the afternoon, we took a walk around the lake. This deer was standing in the path in front of us.

The wood ticks are pretty bad right now. I picked many of them off my shoes and socks. This one is a female because she has a necklace on her back. Male wood ticks have two stripes or suspenders running down their back.

Korey and I had dinner in the dining hall with all of the campers. A dining hall full of junior high students is quite noisy :) After dinner they began playing an all camp outdoor game.

It began to thunder so the game was moved indoors for Speed Pictionary. I couldn’t believe how these junior high students got into game playing. It was refreshing to see they weren’t too cool to play games. It poured buckets outside for about an hour.

Monday’s weather was still cool. I sat outside and watched as Korey got the Wet and Wilderness campers and their counselors ready for their adventure. Food, gear, 8 canoes, 16 kids and 4 counselors were loaded into vans and off they went to the drop-off point. I hope they have a wonderful week.

When Korey got back from dropping off the canoers, we went to lunch at Subway. I left camp at 12:30 pm and arrived home at 8 pm. I feel so lucky to have had no problems on either of my long drives.

I appreciate that Kevin volunteered to stay at the campground and perform all of the camphosting duties so I could make the trip. I’m also grateful to the camp executive director for allowing families to visit their staff members working at camp. What an awesome gift to give the families. And, I’m grateful to Korey and the camp staff for allowing me to stay a few extra days and see camp in action. How lucky the kids are to experience the amazing program the staff has created for them!

I must say I’m very proud of my son for the work he’s doing. And Happy 27th Birthday to him today!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!