Now Playing: Brahms, A German Requiem, Track 7, "Blessed Are the Dead".

We came back from the Midwest Presbytery family camp at Horn Creek, Colorado, on Thursday. Since we used to go to Horn Creek nearly every year for family camp until about six years ago, I have very good childhood memories of the campground. It's probably one of my favorite places in the world, and this year it was especially beautiful. The Sangre de Christo mountains in southern Colorado have had unusually heavy rainfall this year, so the whole valley on the approach to the mountains was green. The mountains marched along the western edge of the valley, green to their peaks. Awesomely beautiful, yet vaguely menacing.

We arrived at camp in the early afternoon. Horn Creek Christian Camp is split into three campsites: Mountain Meadows, which has a lodge, a gym, a large dining hall with an upstairs meeting room, and a big circle of cabins; the Ranch, which has a couple of big meeting spaces, cabins, two small lodges, and a dining hall; and another resort area. We had the use of Mountain Meadows and the Ranch this year. About two hundred people from the midwest came to attend the camp, which was very encouraging since in past years attendance at the Colorado camp has been dwindling.

Philip, Laura, Stephen, Anna, and I started out the conference with one typical Horn Creek activity, a visit to the horse barn up near the Ranch. It was just the same as I remembered it, and, fittingly enough, an afternoon thunderstorm blew in, forcing us to take refuge in the barn. It always storms in the afternoon in the mountains. We watched the horses eating their hay and teased Anna after one of the horses sneezed on her feet.

Saturday evening, we had our first meeting with the entire camp, and afterwards, campfire in the meeting room above Mountain Meadows dining hall. The usual ridiculous songs and a pillowfight. Campfire used to be restricted to the CY, but these last few years, even the adults and small children have started to participate.

On Sabbath day in the afternoon, we had a Psalm sing in the arena at the Ranch--a long building, set into the ground, covered with a metal roof. When the requisite afternoon thunderstorm blew in, the noise of the rain drumming on the roof nearly drowned out the sound of a hundred fifty people singing.

Monday was pancake breakfast day, a Horn Creek tradition. It's always funny to watch the wee kids trying to catch pancakes on their plates as the chef flips them. Usually some pancakes end up on the ground, and the manager joked that if we get hit in the head by a falling pancake later in the week, it's probably because some squirrel tried to hide the extra ones in a tree.

In the afternoon, Laura, Philip, Stephen, and I went to the water slide with Will and Buck. Horn Creek has a really good set of three water slides, one short one for small children, and two long, fast ones that stretch down the mountainside. Walking up to the top of the hill from the pool at the bottom of the waterslide is very, very chilly work, and by the end of an hour-long stint, Laura was practically blue in the face. So she and I went down to the hot tub and soaked ourselves in there for awhile. We were joined by about ten small children, who'd all had the same idea and were cavorting in the bubble jets.

Tuesday, my parents, Philip, Laura, Stephen, Keith, Carla, and I went hiking up to a waterfall about ten minutes north of camp. It was a very steep climb, and my parents turned around about halfway up. The mosquitoes were absolutely awful on the trail. The wildflowers, though, were beautiful. So many different colors and shapes. For some reason, many of the flowers up here seem to have more vivid colors, seem to be more graceful and elongated, even though the climate can be much harsher. The waterfall was well worth seeing: a series of steep cascades over dark rocks into a black gorge, with pine trees growing stiff and straight up the sides. As we turned to hike back down, it began to storm on us. The trees were thick enough that we didn't get too wet, but down at the car park where my parents were, it hailed.

On Wednesday, Amelia, Laura, and I went for a horseback ride together for a couple of hours in the afternoon. That was probably one of the best parts of camp for me. I've always loved horseback riding, and we couldn't have had a more perfect afternoon. Just the three of us and the wrangler. Laura's horse was very sleepy and kept trying to graze while she was riding it. We rode through a big meadow with a spectacular view of Horn Peak on one side and the valley on the other. The sunshine rippled in lush grass and wildflowers, up to the horses' knees. We splashed through clear creeks and saw strip marks on pine trees where porcupines had eaten the bark.

Each day, Dr. G, from College Hill RPC, would give a talk in the morning to the entire camp. The theme selected this year was the church, so all of his messages were about some aspect of the church and our work in it. After the main message, we split up into age groups either for classes (for the smaller children) or for discussion times (for CY and adults). Then came lunch, followed by an afternoon of recreation. Usually there was some sort of program in the evening: New Song performed on Monday night; Tuesday night was the consecration service and CY skit night; Wednesday night was western night with square dancing and music.

With such a full schedule, I found it difficult to find time to spend by myself with the Lord. Quiet times are enriched in the mountains, though. When I sat outside in the early mornings, the woods were full of birds and big grey squirrels. Hummingbirds buzzed past my ears. At night, the stars were stunning. One night, Amelia and I walked out into the woods, found a clearing, and lay on our backs in the grass. So many stars that the constellations were lost in the blaze.

So Horn Creek was good this year: all the traditional activities, teaching, and fellowship. A lot of people didn't recognize me, and when I was introduced to them, they'd say, "Oh, yes, I think I know you! You used to have long hair, right?" Nice to know that the entire presbytery notices one's haircut!

And the week ended with one more traditional activity: getting sick to my stomach Thursday morning. At least it was at the end!

On the whole, though, very refreshing.