Family Togetherness on a Large Scale

The last Neil Y. Fugal Family Reunion was held at Heber Valley Camp in Utah. The camp is far larger than our local Camp Alpine, and can house thousands of visitors. Don and Lois are serving their mission there.

Our section had four cabins and two pavilions. Everything looked new, although the camp was built in 2003.

We were greeted and briefed on the rules by a missionary couple.

The food was great as always. Each family was in charge of a portion of a meal and one round of KP duty.

The first evening we had a talent show. A number of the nieces are very musically talented.

There were a number of activities to do. Robin is doing a rope swing, which both Polly and I tried. It was pretty exhilarating. There was also a zip line and confidence course.

Grandpa provided a number of fun crafts.

On the second evening, we had a presentation about mountain men by Jo's father.

We saw a number of deer and moose. The were unafraid of us and drifted through camp a number of time. Luckily we didn't meet any of the resident black bears.

The camp has a large pond, which we were granted exclusive access to for an hour.

Boy, having fun is hard work.

Camp Alpine Preview

We spent a rainy weekend at Camp Alpine in order to give you a
sneak preview for Reunion 2009:

Pool at Libby's Leap.	New bridge above the Libby's Leap.
There was a hole at the bottom of the pond?	Olsen Reunion Memorial Zip-line launch pad!

The End of Camp Alpine as We Know It.

With the impending end of the world, we decided to spend it at out favorite place on planet earth, Camp Alpine.

The was our first outing of the season, and we took my oldest granddaughter along.

We practiced crossing fire spewing chasms on rope bridges.

And in case of zombies, evasive maneuvers.

And worked on the art of camouflage.

And defensive driving.

And ate emergency ration of hotdogs and smores at our temporary shelter.

All tiring work. With no sign of the apocalypse, we picked up some ice cream at Hazelnut Hill and returned home to clean up and get ready for church on Sunday.

I'm sure there will be more end of times to come. We don't mind practicing.

First Outing in the Westy

We had our first shake down cruise in the Westfalia. The destination of course, was our beloved Camp Alpine. We had to share it with a Ward from Eugene, but stayed in Nauvoo and had that area to ourselves.

It was  beautiful evening with lots of stars. And glowsticks. And smores. With five bodies, it was pretty cozy in the van. I'm sure it is similar to the quarters on the space shuttle, with the exception that they can't open a window for fresh air or step out and stretch their legs. Ann Marie ended up sleeping on a mat on the floor, something she says she doesn't want to do again. Polly reported it was more comfortable than the cabins at Heber Valley.

The pond was drained, and with mom on site, there was no mud bathing or newt roundups. A new sign shows a small step in the relentless march toward "Heberness".

There was still plenty of wildlife to observe and play with. Ann fearlessly captured a small snake. Dad found a few lizard friends who were willing to pose for photos. This one eventually gave Robin a love bite before being returned to the wild.

We explored the Christmas tree farm area with an eye toward camping there in the future. The caretaker reports that they are fully booked for next season and have a waiting list. They are considering "doubling up" and having two girl's camps at once in the future.  A separate "family" camping area like Eldon is proposing would sure come in handy.

Griz, the camp mascot, came by to meet Polly after the other campers left and the caretaker let him loose for us. He seemed happy to see us, but I'm sure he does that for everyone he meets.

Another "having fun is hard work" picture. We drove to Alsea Falls in hopes of finding an open camp site on Labor Day weekend, but without luck. Instead, we continued on to Alsea, bought a half-gallon of hazelnut ice cream, and headed home to sleep in our own beds. A short, but successful cruise.

Happy 14th

Lynn survived the reunion, then her 14th birthday, and then returned to Camp Alpine for a week of Girls Camp.

We are glad to have her back!

Ms. Rivett (middle) in a camp skit.

Westy Outing #2

Ann Marie and I took the Westfalia back down to Camp Alpine again so I could help with the Blazer Day Camp. It is a bit more spacious with just two of us in it.

We spent Friday night at Alpine, and did water bottle rockets with the scouts on Saturday.

The second night we drove up to Marys Peak. We got to see the shadow of the mountain to the east. I always thought the Indians called it "Mouse Mountain", but apparently that was the mountain men's term for it.  The Kalapuya tribe referred to it as T'cha Teemanwi, pronounced "Cha TEE mahn wee", which means "the place of spirits".

The Indian name is quite similar to "Chintimini", which comes from a story John Horner wrote in 1900 about an indian princess who saved her people. There was a movement in the 1930s to rename Marys Peak Chintimini until it was realized that Horner's story was just that, a story. We were treated to a marvelous sunset with a crescent moon and Jupiter adding to the spirits.

The resident herpetologist captured and brought home three specimens. We picked up some crickets on the way home and will see if we can get them to eat, a prerequisite to keeping them longer.  We got back in time to clean up and go to Trevor's birthday party at Janeil's.

Camp Christmas

We'd never visited Camp Alpine during the winter, so we decided to go check it out.

We had the place to our selves. The drained pond was sporting a layer of grass, with frost still remaining in the shade. The salamanders were snug in their beds.

It got cold quickly after the sun went down. Luckily there was plenty of firewood.

It has been an uncharacteristically dry winter, and we had another clear night. We spotted the space station pass by. The Soyuz capsule docked the day before and six humans will be spending Christmas orbiting earth this year. With all the solar panels, it becomes the brightest object in the sky for a few minutes. If you want to try spotting it, I published a how-to at Instructables.

After some hot chocolate and listening to Cinnamon Bear on the radio, we declared "mission complete" and returned home to our warm beds. The caretakers gave us a plate of Christmas treats to take home. I'm sure they were glad to have some company, even if only for a short while.

Sketchnoting Dangerous Things

I've been been playing around with sketchnoting (visual note taking). Here is one of my favorite TED talks by Gever Tulley and my sketchnotes from it.

Now I know why the kids love going to Camp Alpine! We get to do dangerous things there!

Geocaching, Five Years Latter

The weather was so nice after conference, we headed out to find our first geocache in over five years (not counting Camp Alpine). It was near the pond, and we met the volenteer park hosts who lives in an RV and had a nice visit with them. We took Robin and Ann Marie's friends.We also checked out the old hospital smoke stack which is nearby. It has a nice layer of railcar-style graffiti on the inside now. We were trying to estimate the height with the park host, and I went back and got my bottle rocket altitude gear. It is 100 feet high (+/- 10ft).

Camp Alpine Season Opener

Camp Alpine 2012