the j o u r n e y of a lifetime

Asheville to Nashville to St. Louis to Kansas City to Denver to Fraser.  This is the list of the road trip I traveled by charter bus with 106 other people from North Carolina. Why would I do that you might be asking…171 changed lives. That’s why.

I get the blessing of being a Young Life leader in my county, and every summer we travel to a week-long Young Life camp that is also called “The Best Week of Your Life”. I get to experience high schoolers’ lives changed, for the better. I got to experience true joy, and laughter, and fellowship, and community, and adventure. I got to watch people make the decision to accept God’s proposal. I got to form relationships rooted in Christ that will last for eternity.

With all that being said, this summer’s camp destination was Crooked Creek Ranch in Fraser, Colorado. Well, since I am a leader in North Carolina, you can imagine the excitement I felt when I found out we were traveling out west to Colorado (especially since the furthest west I had ever been was Nashville, TN). So when we found in November our summer camp destination, the countdown began, but before we knew it…CAMP WAS HERE.

So just like any trip, we pack our bags and hit the road. Well 7 minutes into the trip the AC in my bus (a bus full of boys, plus me and the 7 other girls in my cabin) decided it did not want to cooperate. After about 20 minutes of riding in a mobile sauna we realized we could not travel like this for 3 days. No worries. We changed buses. Thank goodness!

Then we stopped for lunch in Ashville. WhichWich satisfied our hungry bellies.

Next stop: Nashville. Nashville with 96 high schoolers was interesting. We had one girl drop her cellphone in a drain by the bridge (she was a good sport). We  had girls on the hunt for T Swift, myself include (we weren’t successful). And we had MANY selfie stops with “the King” statute.

At this stop we stayed in a hotel, which I will forever be grateful for. That goodnight sleep and shower before the rest of the trek was such a blessing.

At 7:45am we loaded the buses and were off again. Next stop: St. Louis. This was a COOL stop. Well cool as in rad, NOT temperature wise. This was probably the hottest stop. I think I may have gotten burnt while sitting under the Arch for 15 minutes for lunch. But after lunch we headed to one of the sickest places I have ever been: The City Museum. This was like a big kid (and kid-friendly) playground. There were 10 floors of human mazes. Two of my high school girls and I found our way to the roof and it was honestly one of the prettiest views of a city I have ever experienced.

After burning about 3948+ calories at The City Museum, we were off to Kansas City. Kansas City consisted of eating Mexican for dinner and 96 high schoolers fighting for outlets for their phone chargers.

After dinner we loaded the buses for a long stretch to Denver. I woke up to a breath-taking sunrise in Denver, Colorado. God never ceases to amaze me with His artwork in the sky.

We then began to approach the Rocky’s. I cried. How lucky are we to know that the same God that took time to create the beautiful and massive mountains, took time to create our every detail and wants to take time to know us at the most intimate level. Wow.

Now that we were in Colorado, we still had some time to kill so we went to this wicked ski resort, Winter Park.

After killing some time and making some memories buying stickers, doing yoga, taking pictures, riding the Alpine slide, and eating overpriced burgers, we were FINALLY headed to Crooked Creek.

All of this was just the PRE-camp trip. There were so many memories made. SO many songs sang. So many games played. So many bad joked told. SO many selfies taken. So many naps interrupted. So many conversations. SO many movies watched (You’re KILLIN’ me Smalls). But I would do it all over again because I know the impact it had on my life, and the impact Crooked Creek had on the lives of my high school friends.

The journey to Crooked Creek felt like a lifetime, when actually it was a journey OF a lifetime. So beyond thankful God allowed me to be a part of that journey.