I drove Lindsey and Cameron up to church camp today. Camp Jenness, up on Highway 108, a little east of Twain Harte, for those of you who know where that is. Camp Jenness is owned by the California Southern Baptist Convention, and they run a camp program they call Centrifuge each summer. Our church youth group is attending this week.
It was a good 3 hour drive, with stops for some lunch and a potty break. We hit the Subway Sandwich in Sonora. When we got there, about 2:45pm, we were greeted 1/2 way down the long, winding gravel road that leads to the camp, by a couple of camp counselors where were acting as... well... greeters. They made sure we were going the right way and prayed with us before I took the girls down to the camp. Mind you, I love this stuff, and people enjoying and sharing their faith thrills me. (But, if any of you have seen the movie "Saved".... this felt a little like the first day of school at the school in the movie. Everyone so polite and smiling and running around. Kinda funny.)
The camp is freakin' gorgeous. Laid out at the bottom of this little valley, it has a huge, green grass area (real grass, not mountainy scrub grass - nice homegrown grass) big enough for a regulation soccer match, a couple of sand pits for volleyball, a small lake plenty big for canoeing or paddle boating, and definitely swimming, all kinds of little picnic areas or covered gazeebos near the lake to hang out at. A big, two story rec center with the entire front of the building glassed in for a great view of the grassy area and lake.
When we pulled into the parking area, there were teenagers running all over the place! Both sand pits had big games going, tons of kids were swimming, music was blasting out of speakers all around the grassy area. It was Cool, with a capital C.
The youth pastor flagged me down and told me where the girl's cabin was, so I drove them up this little road to their "cabin". Uh huh... it's a lodge that sleeps 32. There's about 5 bathrooms with full showers, a full kitchen, dining room to seat about 20, living area with couches, chairs, and a TV with a DVD player (not that they were supposed to bring any, but dang!). There was an upstairs loft that slept about 8, two rooms on the main floor that slept 10 or more, and two big rooms downstairs that slept the remaining, what, 20 or more? With a balcony looking over the camp!
Needless to say, Lindsey, who had been quite worried about accommodations, was very, very pleased. I was crazy impressed. And apparently this "lodge" is reserved just for the girls from our church. There's about 27 or 28 attending, so it will fit them just fine. Make the camps I went to as a kid look cheap in comparison.
So, after that I drove home. I stopped at Slayton Lake (I think that's what it was called... ) and fished for about an hour. Didn't catch anything, as per usual. One day, I swear, I will catch something. It will be a truly read letter day.
Aaaaaanyway.... I'm pooped. Off to relax from the 7 hours of driving.
