Camp's Fall Colors

I've taken some cool shots around camp of the fall colors lately and thought you'd might like to see them.

Happy Trails

During the kid's fall break, we decided to experience Amie's "new" RV for the first time.  While it wasn't ready, and we weren't ready, to take it out far, we were ready to take it virtually to our back yard and camp out for the night.  So we headed across the river to Keith's house and parked it by his barn.  I made a fantastic 1 match fire, we made hobo dinners and roasted marshmellows, and finally settled into our spots in the RV.  I got the spot above the front seats.  Small but warmer than the rest of the RV.  It did get warmer once the space heater got going.

A great campfire breakfast of eggs and french toast capped off our camping trip, a mere 2 miles from home!






The next day, Amie and I took the kids on their very first Winamac trip.  We'd been talking about the day that might happen and it finally happened!  I rode Max, Braydn rode Haddie, Gavin rode Clifford, and Amie and Reagan rode Dude.  The kids were troopers and we rode a good 2 hours.  It was an amazing day and so much fun to take the kids with us.

Traverse City Travels

After a long summer and a busy start to the fall, it was time to GETAWAY!  I was going to be going by myself and I decided to have a completely unplanned, alone, vacation.  All I did was decide on a destination and booked a hotel.  It was going to be 4 days of getting up when I wanted, deciding on what I was going to do that morning, and if I passed by something that looked interesting, I was going to stop.  Fun to go unscripted every once in a while.  After a busy weekend, I loaded up my truck with several bales of hay to go to Ben and Carrie's in South Bend (they have two of our horses) and make the first two hours of the trek.  A couple of good hours at the Modlin's and some dinner and I make the next 5 or so hours of the trek.  For as tired as I was, I was feeling pretty good about the drive.  Easy, good gas mileage.....until I start to get low on gas.  It appeared there were several big towns ahead and surely there were gas stations.  Of course there were....they just weren't open and they didn't leave their pumps on.  So the first town I got to I drove around a bit but didn't find any open station.  My light wasn't on yet so I decided to go for the next town.  Next town, station but pumps aren't on.  Bummer.  As I sat there, at midnight, trying to decide whether to keep going or try to find something open, I prayed and decided to keep going.  As I left the station, my light did come on (Come on!) but I felt like the only option was to keep going.  There was nothing inbetween the towns and the area kept looking desolate.  I accelerated slowly and coasted down the hills.  Still going....still going....then bam!  A bright, lit up, oasis in the middle of nowhere.  A huge Shell station.  Coasted in and filled up my next to empty tank.  Turns out, I was 7 miles from Traverse City.  Wouldn't have made it anyways though.  I pulled into the Travel Lodge around 1 am and was in bed by 2.  Slept in really late and then made my first plans of vacation.  Sleeping Bear Dune here I come.  Or so I thought.  Turns out it was closed due to the government shutdown.  :-P on the government.  However, I noticed a semi-full parking lot and the barricade had been moved.  I guess the public decided to take back the land.  :-)  I enjoyed a good 3 hours hiking the dunes with the other families-everyone from grandparents to kids, everyone was enjoying their time "trespassing"-and making the 3 mile trek to Lake Michigan.  

Next stop, Stocking Scenic Drive.  Also closed.  But never fear.  Why drive when you can walk it?  Once again, several folks were in the parking lot and I asked them what they did and they had walked around some.  Turns out, it was a very long walk and I ended up cutting off part of it.

Even the drive back to the hotel was gorgeous.  Fall colors were beautiful and the sun was just right.  I stopped at a gas station to pick up dinner (I brought all my breakfasts and lunches so I just had to get dinner-very economical).  Stopped a few times on the way back to snap some pictures of those beautiful colors.

That night I rested my very weary calves and looked up a few places to go for the next day.  The Yuba Creek Natural Area was first on my list.  I spent some time hiking in absolute quiet, lying on my back watching crazy cloud formations, and watching a hawk float through the sky.










Then on up to Old Mission Peninsula to see the light house up there.

 That night, I decided to look up a restaurant unique and well known to Traverse City and landed on Bubba's Bar and Restaurant.  Very good, very unhealthy, and, since it was down pouring, a wet excursion.  I sat at the bar next to an older local who loved to talk.  All in all, another great, unplanned day. :-)

Wednesday wasn't the most successful day as I couldn't find a few of the places I was wanting to visit but I did get to take a hike through parts of the Leelanau State Park as I waited for the lighthouse to open on Leelanau Peninsula.  It was a very rainy, windy day.

 After the park and lighthouse, my next stop didn't pan out so I headed on out to Grass River Natural Area, a good hours drive.  It was completely desolate as sundown was approaching.  Their trails weren't mapped out well and I didn't stray too far.  On my way back to the hotel, I stopped at a local diner for some food.  It was my last night in Traverse.

The drive home was very rainy and I went home through Holland.  As I got closer to South Bend, I made the very impromptu decision to try to stop and see some of my relatives.  I surprised two of my aunts and spent time talking to them.  Then two more hours and I'm home.  All in all, a good vacation.  :-)

Warrior Dash 2013

Good day blog world.  After another hiatus from blogging (summer camp was entirely too draining), I am finally back.  Before I go into how our summer ended, I should bring you up to speed on my adventure from last Saturday.  After much prodding from a friend who had signed up for the Warrior Dash in Crawfordsville, I decided to finally sign up myself in June.  I've never done anything like this before and while it sounded fun, I was hoping I wasn't going to get hurt or that it wouldn't be too much for me to handle, especially since I hadn't trained at all for it.  But I decided to do it even as the days counted down, I found myself not wanting to do it.  Then Sara backed out and the person who had persuaded me to try it wasn't going to be with us as we conquered the course.  Alex and I bravely (?) soldiered on and decided to do it.  I have done two races in my lifetime and I hated it both times.  A 5K at the Indy Mini-Marathon and a 5K at Faith a long time ago.  I had no inclination to do another.   But obstacle courses are fun and I thought that this was worth a shot.  I read up about what to expect, what to wear, etc and by 11 am Saturday I am headed on down to Crawfordsville to meet up with Alex for our 1:30pm slot.  When we meet up, we are both like, "Why the hell are we doing doing this??"  But we decide to continue on and enter into the madness.  We check in, get our timing chips, check our bags, and wait in line for the 1:30 wave.  Above is what we looked like before the race started.....it was the cleanest we'd be for the rest of the day.          
We start off in the second portion of the 1:30 wave and pretty soon we're running up hills, mounds, through creeks (and marking them all as "obstacles" in our heads), and then we hit the first obstacles of crawling through mud tunnels under barbed wire.  Up and down some muddy slopes, over and under walls and barbed wire, a rope crossing over a ravine, and finally we are maybe halfway through.  A few water breaks here and there and we were ready to conquer the next half of the course.  Lots of crawling through mud and crawling up walls with a slippery rope.  There were a lot of waits at the walls and at the mud pit but everyone else seemed to be having a great time, helping one another out and cheering when they made it.  At one wall, the wait was so long that the mud began to dry on us, making a nice hard layer.  I was proud of how well I did at the walls concerning that 1) I'm a girl and 2) Most of the girls were struggling.  I try not to brag but I thought I did a fine job climbing up the walls.  I had a rough go at the monkey bars with my wet/muddy hands.  I decided to just drop into the water/mud pit which looked to be about 6-7 feet from the water but I didn't know how deep the water was.  When I dropped in, it turned out to be much deeper than anticipated and at first I thought I blew out my knee but thankfully, a few strides later, it didn't hurt nearly as bad.  A little sore later but definitely not what I thought at first.  At the end we had a few more walls to go up and over, a few boats to go up and over, another hill, a swim through the lake, a few modest jumps over fire, then one last swim through mud under barbed wire.  I finished the race smiling and knowing that I'll probably do this again.  I was very proud of my medal.  Alex and I washed off in the lake, redeemed our chips for a free (nasty) beer which we didn't drink much of, then we were off to home with wet, muddy, nasty clothing.  I honestly had a blast and want to sign up for next year.  There was a definite thrill to knowing I could handle those obstacles.  Before I leave, I have a few pictures to share of the experience.  Fun fun fun!

                        

"Fried Chickenisha"

Week 5 was a fantastic week of campers.  Everyone seemed to be hitting their stride as far as counselors go and the kids were awesome.  Justin and a whole bunch of returners were here for a week of 36 campers.  I co-taught a fantastic week of lessons with Marrigje and we just had a blast!  We had campers telling their counselors that their lessons were AWESOME!  This week was just the one I needed to revive my spirits, lift me up, and get me excited again about summer camp.  Summer drains you physically, emotionally, and mentally.  Justin is a natural leader and he created a family unit with the pathfinders and gave everyone new names.  He's a fantastic young man and earned a Character Counts award.  There were plenty of challenges during the week with a young man with several developmental disorders who Kylie and I were determined to give the best week of his life to.  She poured her heart and soul into the kid and to see him wash his horse because his cabin counselor was coming up to see him ride and the care he put into everything he did and how proud he was when he did it reminded me of the power of horses and God and love from us.  I hope he can take the feelings he had while here and take them home and be changed there too.  Good job Kaleb.  Then there was a horribly homesick camper that was able to stay the whole week.  She really loved her sister so much and felt like her soul was dying to not be home.  I told her she used her words so well she should journal.  And that's how she got through the week was journaling the good things that were happening here.  We inititally gave her 24 hours to stay and then we'd re-evaluate.  But she made it thanks to a lot of counseling from her cabin counselors.  Good job girls!  And lastly there was Henry.  Oh Henry.  You and I created a fantastic bond.  You asked me SO many questions. As you pestered Steve the farrier with questions, I tried to divert you away from him and I asked YOU why you asked so many questions and without missing a beat, you looked at me and said, "That's my job, to ask questions!"  Our bond was only strengthened on our trail ride together.  I had a strong suspicion that this would be the first trail ride where I'd actually use the halter and leadrope I always carried on my saddle.  Henry loved Flicka but there were lots of times where he was scared to death of her.  I prepared for all possible outcomes before our trail ride and had Henry put "all of Flicka's clothes (tack) on her", including her halter which is something we don't usually

use.  Another counselor had told him later he didn't need it and Rae had to make up a story as to why he was the only one who had a horse with a halter and she told him it was because we always pick one person on our ride to wear a halter on their horse in case it's needed an it was his time.  ;-)  Our trail ride is intimidating but I have always made it a safe experience.  I had no plans to scare poor Henry so I was

doubly prepared to hook him to me for the ride.  I led it out on a horse who would have no issue having another horse on his butt the whole time.  No sooner than we get out the door, Flicka tries turning around and heading back to the barn.  Henry-"She doesn't want to leave!".  Me-"Henry, she's fine.  Just turn her back towards me."  Then I walk Clifford back and grab onto her halter and lead her a few steps forward to get her going back the right direction.  Henry was so quiet during the ride and all I could usually here were sharp intakes of breaths every once in a while and him mumbling how nervous she was.  I kept thinking that he was projecting his feelings onto her.  ;-)  But we make it to the hill to go down in Ghost Creek Valley and I hear him gasp.  All along the ride so far I kept telling him to keep Flicka on Clifford's butt, pointing him to where I wanted him to keep her nose, and telling him it was going to be fine.  I thought eventually I'd have to hook him up to me but I wanted him to do as much as he was able to.  He makes it down the hill just fine, right on Clifford's butt, and she stops at the creek.  Henry-"She's scared!  She can't go across!"  Me-"Henry.  Henry!  Pull back on your horse and turn her around."  Flicka starts to go down a footpath into unknown territory and I start to yell at Henry (not in a mad but in a "get it done" voice), "Henry.  HENRY!  BE THE BOSS AND STEER YOUR HORSE!!!"  Immediately I see his hands actually pull back on the reins. By this time I've crossed back across the creek and am on foot with Clifford in tow.  I get him turned around and ask Clifford to back up the entire path (Good boy!) and I clip Henry to my long rope and then get Clifford somehow turned around to be facing the right way and jump on his back.  We go across the creek and Henry starts talking up a storm!  He told me that it was now like a "pony ride" and he didn't have to do anything.  ;-)  Oh Henry!  I'm so proud of you!  You made it halfway on the ride.  He was

so relaxed and chatty afterwards and I had made a new friend for life.  You were a drain in the question quota for the week but you were fun.  I wondered if his parents were good to him or ignored his million questions and it turns out, he's got good parents.  Yeah!  Sometimes the parents of these kids don't seem to care.  That's why they love camp so much because they matter to someone!  It was a challenging, awesome, loving, caring, tiring week.  A great halfway point for the summer.  Friday's theme was superheros and Sara rode Quiggley as Batman.  :-)  Got the job done and had a lot of fun doing it.  On to week 6!