Big Lake Youth Camp!

 The last week has been SO amazing! We spent the week up at Big Lake with the "High Desert" camp taking kids out on the lake for skiing, wakeboarding, and surfing. There were 15 campers who from as far away as Michigan! The goal of the camp is to give campers a chance to have a week on the water to improve their skills on the water, spend time with good people, and have a lot of fun. I would say it was a complete success!

Morning ski starts at 6:00 am, which comes awfully early, but is so worth it! At Big Lake the water is usually very calm in the morning, then very choppy in the afternoon when the wind picks up, so the morning slot is the ideal time to be on the water. The water was cool, but not terribly cold, in the upper 60's according to the boats. The first entry was often accompanied by wailing and gnashing of teeth, but usually after the first run it felt just fine!

 

The rest of the day is pretty much eating, and time on the water, with short breaks for various games (Codenames was quite popular), then worship, and then SLEEP! Man, even though I spent almost the whole day just sitting in the boat driving, I was EXHAUSTED at the end of each day. But it was so much fun, such good campers, good staff, volunteers, everything!

Sadly, the week had to end, the campers left, the Chaffees left (they were the other volunteers), and we headed to the main camp for the weekend. Goodbyes are always sad, but there are new adventures still ahead!

On Sunday and Monday I spent some time working on the sewer system at Big Lake. It turns out a sewer system is pretty much vital for camp to operate, and the control system for the one at Big Lake needed some adjustement. So I spent a couple days sitting on a log round with my computer connected to the controller making updates. Hopefully it will function at peak efficiency! I always enjoy the opportunity to be part of keeping camp operating, even if it means working with sewer!

Julie and I are now in Salem, reorganizing our van, moving some bins around, and getting ready to go camping with Julie's family near Grand Coulee Dam! We are hoping to figure out how to fit our kayaks in so that we can spend some time on the river when we are up there (we have Oru folding kayaks, but they still take up a lot of space). I am also hoping to get a tour of the dam while we are there. If we do get a tour I will make sure to post some of the highlights.

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