Church camp
Posted on 17. Aug, 2006 by kchristieh in my life, religion, travel
We’re wrapping up a weeklong vacation in Northern California. The main purpose of the trip was to attend the La Canada Presbyterian Church all-church camp at Mission Springs in Scott’s Valley, but we visited friends and relatives on the way there and back. Here are some highlights:
- Visiting my sister and her family in Marin County, where they have decided to live even though they’d promised they’d return to La Canada. My daughter fell in love with the area, and is now saying she might prefer Berkeley over Columbia, if she has the choice. I’m for that – better to be near than far!
- Visiting my friend Sandra and her family in Burlingame. Her husband, Dan, just started as rabbi at the local temple there. I wish we all lived closer!
- Biking at Stanford. It’s by far the best way to see the campus.
As for church camp, we enjoyed hearing Old Testament lessons by speaker Dr. Peter Whitelock from the Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church, followed by New Testament reactions from his father-in-law, the former pastor of our church, Gary Demarest. My favorite one was the last one, where they talked about Joseph and forgiveness.
We all enjoyed relaxing, getting to know people from the church better, and having fun hanging out in Santa Cruz and around the camp. It’s no wonder it’s the 5th year in a row we’ve gone!
An NYC friend just took his daughter, who had wanted to go to Columbia, to Wake Forest in North Carolina and she fell in love with the school. However, they were used to a much more diversified population in NYC.
As they stood outside of the campus chapel, the tour guide was explaining that the school used to be affiliated with the Baptist Church but hasn’t been for quite some time. When asked if there were any questions, our friend questioned the lack of diversity in the college.
“Oh, no, we’re diverse now,” the tour guide said. “We have lots of Methodists and Presbyterians,” she said.
When I was “little,” going to church camp was a summer highlight. Santa Cruz & Scott’s Valley are beautiful. That was so long ago, I think it was before Pete Whitelock became Gary Demarest son-in-law! Glad it is still such a great place to go.