Camp Gualala or bust!

One of the students at PSR (Pacific School of Religion) works at a church aobut 20 minutes east of Berkeley. He had arranged for his youth group to go on a retreat this past weekend but for some reason no one signed up to go. So he sent out emails to all of the young adults in his church offering this retreat to them. No takers! So he sent out an email to several students at PSR letting us know his church had reserved this camp and if we wante to go, we could and it wouldn't cost anything! So about 20 PSR students loaded up and took off for Camp Gualala about 3 hours north of Berkeley. We left about 6:30pm and arrived at Camp about 9pm. I drove and the last hour of the trip was curvy, curvy, curvy oh did I say curvy roads. At one point, I had to slam on my brakes because I couldn't find the road it cut back so much! It wouldn't have been such a big deal if the yellow lines in the center were still there but they weren't so it literally looked like the road ended and there was no where to go! Eek! At some points, in true mountain road fashion, it was one lane although it didn't warn us it was going to be one lane! Very surprising sometimes! We did make it without any major hitches! Couple of our passengers did get car sick...no bueno but no messes! :-) When we arrived, we pulled up in front of this big lodge! The bottom floor is jsut a big Great Room with huge fireplace and a kitchen in the corner. In one corner there were the log stairs that led up to the bedrooms. It was a huge log cabin basically!

In the bathroom stalls there was a sign that read like this:
Toilet Directions
( and you thought you knew)
If its pee, let it be (put toilet paper in trash can)
If its brown flush it down with tp

I can't remember what the very bottom said but basically thanks for helping with the stewardship of the water usage or something and the waste system of the camp!

That was very different! It was such a refreshing weekend! Friday night we did a processional to the river. We carried incense and candles to the river. We sang "down to the river" from Oh Brother Where Art Thou.

There was this big suspension bridge that was suspended from two enormous Redwood trees! It would swing when you walked on it! It reminded me of the bridges in moives where one of the cables starts coming apart and one side falls and everyone is hanging on for dear life! Nothing like that happened but we wouldn't have fallen very far so it might have been fun! hehehe

there were huge Redwood trees and one had a sign on it saying it was 2400 years old! That is older than Jesus! hehehe One tree had been cut down, it looked like becasue of a fire! One of the guys laid down and its diameter was bigger than his heigth. It was probably 8 feet in diameter! WOW, that is big! On Saturday about 5 or 6 of us went on a hike on the Dogwood trail! It was a very beautiful hike! There was a creek and lots of fallen trees for us to climb on and over! I felt like a kid again! I did make out with a big bruise on my thigh from hitting in on a tree!

the meals were amazing! Definitely not like any camp food I have had before! Yolanda and Tom cooked very good for us! Saturday we had pancakes, yogurt, cereal, eggs, and bacon! then we had strawberry or peach topping for our pancakes not to mention the syrup and whip cream to go on top. Orange juice and granola to go on top of the yogurt! OH it was mighty fine! Mmmm! Hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch with an awesome dessert! they had every topping you could have possibly imagined for your burger! OH so many choices! Dinner was a mexican casserole! Breakfast on Sunday was french toast, eggs, bacon, yogurt and all the fixings!

We watched some movies. I taught some ballroom dancing to some of them! We had a communion service on Saturday night! We played some games and even read some! I spent alot of time in front of the fireplace because it was pretty darn chilly there! Oh my! I actually slept in front of the fire! It reminded me of being at my grandpa's in Kansas! I would always sleep in front of the fireplace cause I'm the only one that wouldn't get too hot!

On our way home a group of us followed HWY 1 along the coast! That was breathtaking! The first 30 minutes from the camp to the HWY was right through the forrest! It was like we were in the jungle! The ocean was...I don't know that I have words for it! The coast is rocky and it would jut out here and there...rocks poking up out of the water making its presence known! Then the ocean just went on and on and on for as far as you could see! You would think this was the first time to see the ocean...it wasn't but everytime I am in awe to think the one who created me created such a beautiful landscape for me to be in awe and wonder! We stopped at a beach a ways down the coast! We cooked some hot dogs on our drift wood fire! We laid out some blankets and sheets. Admired the ocean. Felt the sand. Soaked up the sun! big breath and sign! Amazing! We played apples to apples on the beach for a bit and then we all just laid down and took a nap! It was a wonderful afternoon just cruising along the coast...once again kinda like the movies! hey it really exists in really life too! Awesome!

Just a side note: Apparently Camp gualala is for sale! Like 500 some odd acres for $1.7 million. So if you happen to have some spare cash laying around...buy it and I can think of lots of things I could do with it! And you would fall in love with it too! hehehe