Our Eventful Camping Trip

     Our whole family recently spent what was supposed to be a full weekend at Thousand Pines Christian Camp. Because of Covid, they were not allowed to hold camp but opened their facility to families. Micah was bummed that he couldn't go to camp this year.

     We drove up before lunch on Thursday and ate Carl's Jr. on the way. When we got checked in at the site they gave us a packet of activities and, funny enough, the evacuation route. We chuckled over the page and promptly lost it. On Friday, we enjoyed archery, BB guns, the rope course, and the swimming pool. To us Californians, the big diving board was a real treat.

               

     

     We especially liked the food, which was brought to our site on a golf cart at every meal. 

     On Saturday, we didn't get a slot for the pool because there was a limit of families. So we decided to take a drive to Lake Arrowhead after lunch. As we drove around the mountains, we saw signs that said "Extreme Fire Hazard." We joked about the fact that they were permanent road signs.

    When we got back to camp, we sat by the parking lot in the camp hammocks before we returned to our camp site. As we sat there, we heard fire truck after truck put on their sirens and go somewhere.

                           

     We finally got up and walked back to camp. At the site, we threw down our stuff and just then, noticed the cloud of smoke coming out from between the trees. As a camp director pulled up on his golf cart, he informed us that the camp was evacuating. We asked how far away the fire was and he told us it was on the camp property. By the time we got to the car, with only half our gear, we could see how close the fire was. We drove all the way down the hill because we couldn't find the evacuation papers and spent a couple of hours at the nearest Costco. 

One of the many planes we saw going to drop fire retardant: 

     

    The fire was able to be contained. We went back after dinner, Del Taco, to get our stuff. However, we were not able to spend the night, because flare ups were a possible concern. 

     When we went back to get our stuff, we stopped to chat with two of the camp staff. The fire had started with a house, which burned, and spread over the hill. It had traveled in between the swimming pool and the Ponderosa side of the camp. Only one structure of the camp's property was touched and the only thing that needed to possibly be replaced were some stairs. This spring the Camp had a crew come to clear out all the dead stuff and under brush from their property. The firemen told them it probably saved the camp.

     We finally got home on Saturday night, a day earlier than we had planned.

Anna