First Session: Week 2

Greetings from Clearwater,

It’s hard to believe we are already half way through first session! The less than ideal weather has subsided and it’s looking like sunshine and warm temps for the foreseeable future.  Here are some highlights from the last week:

• A beautiful Sunday Service hosted by the Point with the theme Connection through Disconnection.  There were lots of beautiful thoughts from campers about how special it is to be at camp away from technology and phones and how it allows them to connect and be fully present with one another.  
• A very memorable first Council Fire of the season where we got to officially welcome many new Clearwater daughters into the circle, hear about accomplishments from the week, as well as listen to trip sparks and trip songs from the trips that have gone out so far.  
• An amazing evening of camp History in which we got to hear from a panel of Clearwater alumni from many different generations.  Our most seasoned guest spent her first summer at Clearwater in 1949!  So cool for campers to get to hear how much has changed and how much has stayed the same since way back then.  
• Our sea kayakers returned after an amazing trip in the Apostle Islands and shared their beautiful trip song with us in the dining hall this morning after breakfast.
• Our Isle Royale and Canadian trippers headed out to begin their long trip adventures
• Free Activities Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday with favorites including embroidery, yoga, knot tying, nine square, archery fruit ninja, and Australian football led by four of our amazing international counselors from Australia.   
• Another great week of packouts including rock climbing, mountain biking, basket weaving, and tie-dyeing.  

We are looking forward to a very exciting day tomorrow when we celebrate Christmas in July!  

In case you were wondering, we celebrate Christmas at camp because it was right around Christmas time 1932 when our original founder, Sarah “Halokwe” Sprague and her husband, Dr. Sprague came up with the idea for Clearwater.  We start the celebration tonight with Christmas Carols from the Point then the campers go back to their cabins where they may get a visit from the infamous Tajar who paints campers faces in their sleep and leaves little treats behind for them to find in the morning.  Then we will have Christmas themed Free Activities tomorrow, plus a visit from Santa and a hand-made gift exchange at the end of the day tomorrow.  Here’s to another great week!

Happy Camping, 

Kat