(disclaimer) last week while rafting my camera unfortunately got wet! so i am hoping that it gets fixed soon. i sent it off, but until then.. no exciting pics ;(
This past week was a little bit different because our main camp was close for the 4th of July holiday. Because of this, we didnt have any activities to run on camp, so… the adventure staff that was not leading our adventures trips worked it out so that half of us would stay on camp and work the meals for the groups here, and then the other half could have that half of the week off and then we would switch. While we were at camp it was still relaxing because we didnt have all that much to do. We had some free time, so that was nice. Then i had off the wed-fri night, so i went down to denver and saw two of my friends, alisa and amy, that i worked with at quaker ridge camp in woodland park, co, a few years back. i drove down to fairplay to stay with my old bosses from the bakery, the macfadyen’s and their four kids for the night. we went down to this really neat place called kite lake that was still mostly frozen and full of beautiful aqua looking snow. it also had 3 trailheads to fourteeners (14,000 ft mts that people climb, also called peak climbs). we didnt really hike but it was really beautiful. and we saw some old mine shafts on the drive up too which were really cool and interesting to think about how they did that back then. we played charades and i had my own room and bathroom downstairs at their cabin, which was super nice. then michelle, amanda and i went down to a little mt. town, alma and shopped around a bit a store called the motherlode and sat at a coffee shop for a bit. we then went to a goat farm with about 30 of the biggest goats i have ever seen. they were nubians, and they all had LONG ears. it was funny. we had some delicious fresh goat cheese and i bought some wonderful goat soap. the people had 10 cats in their house (2 of which were sphinx’s, which are hairless cats… weird and kinda gross looking!), 2 big dogs, and 3 baby goats in their house!! little crazy 
so that was a really nice, fun relaxing time with their family. so sweet to let me stay with them and hang out. i then drove down to buena vista and went stay with two friends from camp, bekah and kim, at kim’s really! rustic, hardcore cabin that her grandparents live in during the summer its only water was from a hose that ran from the creek near by, there was an outhouse, electricity only by a generator, which we couldnt get to work so we just did without it and used a kerosene lamp and our headlamps. and the shower was a garden sprayer and you would put a make shift curtain around you in the woods! i didnt take a shower but the cabin was amazing. her grandparents bought it from a mining co years ago, 40 acres, and now it’s surrounded by nat’l forest! they are the only people who own land out there. its secluded and so cool. i felt like i was back in time or in some little magazine or something. the kitchen was little and cute and there were two loft sleeping places with cots, like 3 wood burning stoves, a little table and a seating area. i LOVED it. so so cozy and quaint. then i drove back to camp and later that night 3 of my co-workers/friends drove down to golden to watch the 4th fireworks. we were decked out in patriotic attire. we watched fireworks from the side of lookout mt. and it was really neat because you could see so far out and we were above the fireworks. they were far away so it was little bursts of color everywhere plus all the lights of denver and all the surrounding cities. we sand patriotic songs as well. it was quite fun. then today, sat, we went to golden again and hung out in a park and slacklined, which is basically like tight roping across webbing, and were going to tube down the river but it was kinda rainy and overcast so decided to wait on that. we got to play some sand volleyball with a couple from golden and it was really fun. i hadnt done that in a long time and i loved it.
tomorrow my next group of campers come! i am leading the trip with a guy named Ben who is also really cool. it is middle schoolers and the trip is called a-5. we do a different activity everyday and then sleep at camp every night. well be mt biking one day, rappelling and rock climbing, climbing a 14er!, rafting, and kayking, so a busy, but hopefully fun week. please pray for our safety and for the kids lives to be changed! thanks so much. hope all is well wherever you are.
dominique
