A Post All the Way from Alaska!
Sunday, August 20, 2006
I'm sitting in my stateroom in College Fjord, Alaska with the door open listening to the snap crackle and pop of the icebergs as they release gas bubbles trapped for hundreds of years. The Harbor Glacier looms ahead and I jump up and head out to the balcony every couple of minutes as I hear the huge chunks "calve" off the face of the glacier. There are Harbor Seals hanging out on the little icebergs, keeping an ever-vigilant eye out for "Free Willy." This is day six of seven of a cruise from Vancouver B.C. to Anchorage with our family of four. We were also excited to include my parents on this part of the trip as it has been years since they have travelled further than a day or two's drive from their hometown of Nashville, TN. It has been the perfect sequel to an amazing summer at camp...a time to relax and reflect and reconnect with our own children. I have found myself sitting on the deck drifting by these amazing untouched areas, and I can't help but think that we must be "wired" somewhere deep down to long for "wilderness" experiences. I think that this is part of the success of camp. Few experiences that I can thnk of combine our need for community with the opportunity to be in close proximity to some of the most amazing places on earth.
Tomorrow, we will shuttle up to the airport in Anchorage to collect a 35 foot R.V. to begin week two of our grand adventure. Yes, that's R.V. as in rolling double-wide. What possessed us to become the "Griswolds" still escapes me, but we will spend the week stalking a view of a brown bear, trying to catch a glimpse of Mount McKinley in Denali, and wetting a line to try to catch some of the big salmon we have seen spawning. The first week on the cruise ship was "decompression" week, and this coming week is more down my alley. It takes a while to "come down" from the constant activity of camp and this week has been perfect in that respect. It has NOT been good for my post-camp resolution of recovering from Miss Nancy's amazing camp cuisine. But, there's always next week. I think trying to figure out the stove on the R.V. will be a good start in limiting the calories that neither a summer at camp with amazing food or a week on the Food Fiesta Cruise Ship provide.
Before we left, we set a record for first day applications with almost 150 camper applications for 2007 arriving by FedEx or US Mail! The girls in the office have been taking thier own time off, but also processing incoming applications. We are blessed with many things at Illahee, but one of the things that we count highest among them is our amazing group of campers and camper families. I think that of the many tours that we have each summer, almost all comment on how friendly our campers and staff are! It's not just for tours! Laurie was commenting the other day on how much she loves her job during the summer. It is such a great community and we miss it already!
Check back often...we have some great things in store in the coming months including lots of changes to the website. For those of you who can't wait to become Illahee girls, we will let you know the first week of October. We'll be busy between now and then getting our video footage together for travel season...which will start in October! See you back in Brevard!
