Comments on: #137. Holding retreats at locations that could double as horror movies.

By: Michele

Michele — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:53:55 +0000

Every New Year's we would take our youth the an old ski resort near Mt. Rainier (WA). Old wooden buildings, deep forest, snow up to your waist and a misty lake. Talk about scaring the pee out of people! (sorry Kristin) Still ranks as one of the best, and creepiest ways to ring in the new year. (literally, they had a big bell!)
Michele

By: oldefashionedgirl

oldefashionedgirl — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 19:38:21 +0000

Ha ha ha!! My retreats have always been fields of flowers. The first time I went to one in 7th grade, I discovered a cute little abandoned farmhouse with an apple tree and meadow-like lawn, complete with the usual daisies and buttercups. It was during free time; I was on a God high…

The closest thing we've ever had was the time we were playing our scary night games where the counselors hunt you down through the woods. This girl didn't see the ping pong table and slammed into it. She had to be airlifted. Ouch.

We never had such thrilling night games after that…

By: Finny

Finny — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:40:54 +0000

I wanna know too, Anicia! Makes our Saturday Night Love Circle (you always knew what was ahead when "Get Together" was popped onto the burlap-covered record player, who's got the Kleenex?) look like kid stuff, yeah, what was going on there? I am posting way too much on this site…this is so very fun!

By: Finny

Finny — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:37:15 +0000

Hee Hee! Huge rambling complexes of rundown buildings filled with fascinating junk and pre WWI canned goods, Melmac tableware, and ample time between planned activities to explore and find even weirder outbuildings that looked like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre family had just stepped out for a sec. Primitive latrines cluttered with Bonne Bell and Aquanet containers and the one kid whose mother made sure he had his very own stash of Archway Cookies who would be urged to share once the rest of us saw him walking around horking down Dutch Cocoa's (right out of the package-not smart) and how he then looked like he wanted to cry a little. Watching a movie about a plucky armless woman in the dark, cavernous lodge the afternoon it was raining, knowing those canned goods lurked nearby…

By: anicia

anicia — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:37:58 +0000

Wait…soo….you don't really know why that candle was in the middle of the room and there was screaming?
Or are you saying that the youth pastor planned it all?

What in the world.

By: savinggrc

savinggrc — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 00:08:00 +0000

I get more annoyed that some refuse to use the word “retreat” – because Christians shouldn’t retreat, we should advance [the Kingdom]. Therefore? We have “advances.” Dumb, du-dum-dum DUMB.

By: Anna vB

Anna vB — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 21:50:00 +0000

am especially recognising the getting ice cream part: they used it like a drug to sugarcoat the really really awkward moments we laugh about so hard today… or do we only laugh about it because my brain now associates all those weird memories with ice-cream?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:20:00 +0000

The phrase ‘pressed hard against the ocean’ is so lovely and evocative…

By: Brad

Brad — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:59:00 +0000

In North Carolina our favorite spot is Camp Caswell. It is a lovely place on the coast south of Wilmington whose central landmark is an old, decrepit Civil War fort. Yeah.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:58:00 +0000

Ellebelle-
Now I’m trying to think of a campsite near the Mental Health facility in Norman…do you remember the name of it? Was it near Lake Thunderbird (”Dirtybird” as we like to call it)? But yeah, it’s a creepy looking building, and I never wanted to be by it for too long.