This year the whole family headed up to Camp Blue, for a wonderful holiday in the Sierras.
Saturday
In the morning, Mom and I packed up the car, got breakfast at the Millbrae Pancake House, and then I drove us up 108 to the Lair of the Bear. We arrived early and settled into the cabin – Tent 15. The Lair is in Stanislaus National Forest. You could see how the forest was thinned over the winter, by, I assume, a tree selling policy.
The Umeda’s, including Ian, were in Tent 17, just across from us. I had seen them the previous weekend at Martin and Susmita’s wedding. The rest of the afternoon was spent catching up with old friends and hanging by the pool, reading my typical trashy romances and just trying to unwind.
After the welcome Thanksgiving dinner, we went to the Saturday Night Show, to meet our 2007 staff.
Sunday
It was another beautiful Lair morning, and after a late breakfast, I spend most of the day doing nothing. It was nice to catch up with friends like the Green’s, Brown’s, Rich’s, Brodsky’s, Godwin’s, and Kliszewski's, reading books and hanging by the pool.
The afternoon brought inter-tube water polo, and I once again was a great defender, flipping staff out of their tubes. Later, Amanda and Carter arrived, after participating in their last Wharf to Wharf run in Santa Cruz. We headed down to the Rich’s cabin for cocktail hour.
Sunday night, Julia and Ken arrived with Caleb (who had been fighting a fever), and the whole gang was around. It was nice to get to spend some time catching up with Julia on life in the West Coast. Being up in the mountains really reminded me of how much I miss California.
Monday
I was up early for the Hike to Sword and Lost Lake, in the Carson Iceberg Wilderness area. This is one of my favorite hikes. There were 20 of us in the group, in part because Stephanie Rich’s family all came along, since she was the hiking director this year.
It was a great walk down to the lakes and then wonderful to take off our shoes and swim! Their was a rope swing to swing into the rather warm lake. I really do loving swimming is fresh high mountain lakes. After play in the water and some lunch we were getting ready to hike out when disaster struck! Patty Rich fell off the cliff side in such a way that she badly hurt her foot. What to do? Should we carry her out? How could we contact camp? Our cell phones were not working, when luckily some Camp Gold hikers (that were also part time Search and Rescue Workers) came to our aid. One of them had a GPS and cell phone that worked and we were able contact the emergency response team. A few hours later, I played Wind Goddess, holding up a pole with toilet paper on it, to give wind direction to the helicopter that was coming for Patty.
That helicopter ended up landing fairly far away, but a second one was able to land where I had been standing to take her to the hospital. It was amazing. The hike out was a quick one, as we headed back to camp, to let everyone know of the adventure.
Tuesday
After the eventful Monday, I was ready to do nothing on Tuesday. I spent some time in the morning making a pot (that eventually blew up in the kiln) and hanging out at the lodge and pool.
In the afternoon, it was time for Staff vs. Camper women’s softball. Everyone (Julia, Ken, Caleb, Amanda, Carter, Mom) came out to watch the big game. We had yet another crack team, and this year were able to crush staff. It was one of my better softball outing, with me hitting an amazing Grand Slam! Of course, the home run came off of at least 2 errors, but still, it was a grand slam. To temper my good luck at hitting, when I was at first, I had a horrible time catching the “lair bounce” balls, but then was able to play some at third, my Dad’s old position.
After returning from softball, we spent some time making tie-dyes, a beautiful assortment of shirts and onesies for our friends. Before dinner, Amanda and Carter took on Rich and Ellen in a shuffle board competition. Sadly, they lost, but at least it was to good friends.
After dinner was the volleyball tournament, with Ken joining me on team Brodsky. We made it past the first round, but were not able to pull it out in the second round. That night, I got my first (and only) lair burger of the week, as we hung out in the lodge and enjoyed another great night at the lair.
Wednesday
After breakfast, Mom and I entered the round robin ladies doubles tennis match. My yearly efforts at tennis, leave something to be desired. Luckily, we had Rich Green to warm us up, and get me back into the swing of things. It was a good morning of tennis. When I had good partners, I did well, and I even had one “dad” shot, of a lefty pop over the net for a score.
Julia and Ken had to leave in the afternoon, but luckily had time to introduce Caleb to Camp Blue. After lunch, Amanda, Carter, Mom, and I, headed out to Lake Pinecrest, enjoying some beach time, then renting a motor boat and exploring the further reaches of the lake.
That night, we had our first big cocktail hour at our tent with Bill and Mackenzie making their famous Patron margaritas. It was also talent show night, which included a slide show of the Monday hike adventure, and nicknaming of me as the Wind Goddess.
Thursday
I got up early to go on a hike with David and Ellen to Cleo’s Baths. Cleo’s is right behind Pinecrest lake and it a beautiful natural bath. You can tell it has been drouht time in California, because there was very little water in the baths. After the morning hike it was back to camp for an afternoon by the pool. I finished the last Harry Potter by the pool.
Amanda and Carter had to head home, since they were moving out of their apartment for the big move to Boston in August, so Amanda can get her Masters in Social Work at BU. After Blue, they are heading back to Boston with me to find housing. Thursday night was the hootanay, a lair classic that I always love. This year we sang Harmony, one of my favorite songs.
Friday
The last full day at the Lair started off with more Tennis, this time, just a foursome with Mom, Kathy, and Nancy. After tennis, I headed over to the softball field for the game versus gold. Sadly, we were unable to recapture the magic of the Staff game and we lost.
In the afternoon, I finished my lanyard necklace, and enjoyed one last afternoon by the pool. When the pool closed it was time for the end of the week cocktails, with a big gathering at the Doc’s tent. We had tri-tip dinner and then headed over to the stage for the Friday Night Show. Awards were given out and then a remarkably coherent final show was performed for us.
At the lodge it was time for a last snack from the Burger Shack, some cards, and some goodbyes.
Saturday
We packed up the car, had a farewell breakfast, and then Mom and I headed home, after another great year at the lair. I am already looking forward to next year.
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