Camp Peniel

The first weekend of May, I worked in another camp kitchen.  I had been considering working at Camp Peniel during the summer, because Uncle James (and some others) had spoken very highly of it.  However, when I called up there the lady who runs the kitchen told me that she really didn't have a place for me.  They have several volunteers already lined up.  She did inform me that she could use some help for their last weekend camp of the spring, so hoping to get my foot in the door I drove out to Marble Falls on Friday afternoon.

I ended up enjoying myself fairly well, though it became even more certain that she really didn't need my help in the kitchen.  I decided that it's not worth the drive to go out there to babysit or work in "crowd control," so I won't be going back, but I'm glad that I went for that weekend.

No one else was taking pictures in the kitchen, since they've all worked there together for a long time, so I didn't get any pictures while we were working (yes, I know -- I'm very self-conscious...).  I did go back in during an afternoon to get some pictures of the kitchen.

And this is the Dish Pit, which I did not frequent very much.  The fellow working in there wouldn't let me in.  "You've already done your work; now it's our turn!"  That was one thing which was very odd for me -- I've never worked in a cooking situation before where I didn't have to clean up the kitchen afterward. 

You won't believe who I met on Friday afternoon.  As I stood at the sink scrubbing potatoes, I saw a large white van drive by.  I told myself, "it can't be..."  But it was.  Uncle James and Ryan were there for the father-son retreat!  :-D  I ate dinner with them that night, and said hello to them throughout the following days.  I thought that was amazing: out of many weekends that they held camp, we all decided to go to the same one. 

Saturday afternoon I went on a walk by myself, on the nature trail that goes along the lake.

After going along for awhile, I came to a point where the path ended.  Then I chose to scramble up the hill that was crisscrossed with roots (instead of just returning the way that I came; how boring would that be?!?). 

I also got some pictures of various facilities.  Here is the Camp House, where the kitchen and dining room are.

The campers were on free-time, and some had taken to the lake.  Camp Peniel has this thing that they call the "Blob" -- a huge inflated balloon similar to a moon-walk.  One person jumps down from the platform on to the Blob, then goes all the way down to the far end.  Person number two jumps off of the platform onto the Blob, and -- depending on the size of the respective persons -- the one who was at the end goes flying into the air to land with a *splash* in the water.  :-)  It was so hilarious to watch some of the boys, who went spurting into the air with flailing arms and legs.

And this was my home-sweet-home, my bunk that I shared with April.  She also worked in the kitchen, for which I was glad.  It would be hard to stay in the same room with someone who didn't need to get up as early in the morning as the cooks. 

I enjoyed the weekend out in the nature!