AdVill: Storm of the Century!

08/02/2009

Okay, maybe is wasn’t the storm of the century, but it was a pretty big thunder storm that rolled through yesterday! It happened to knock a tree down on the phone/Internet lines (don’t worry, everything is up and running now, and I send my sincerest apologies to anyone who tried to reach us yesterday or this morning!), but no other major damage was reported.

And the village? They had the time of their lives! The original plan for the day was to hike over Wildcat Mountain to Pete’s Pavilion. With storms supposedly moving in later that evening, they had a last minute switch from Pete’s to the Farm. So off AdVill started marching, and they walked about a mile away when the first rolls of thunder hit (yep…love the accuracy of weather forcasters!). AdVill ran for the nearest building (they were still on property), hunkered down and learned a new cheer for Hoopla! Meanwhile, the white lightenings (a.k.a Adventure 12 passenger vans) drove out to the rescue, picked up the group and brought them back to AdVill safe and sound. Everyone dried out, went up to lunch and had a bit of a rest period. The counselors started putting together the afternoon plan. Fort building & flower pressing, races and “manual labor” where the classes for the afternoon! Several of the campers got super into building some drainage ditches to help AdVill’s new streams and ponds find their way back to the real stream (pictures will be up on Smugmug soon!), and of course that involved just a tiny bit of mud throwing and puddle hopping!

Finally, the iceing on the cake was watching the weather clear. All of the “afternoon” storms cleared up and the whole village was brought out to Pete’s Pavilion for a surprise overnight. The stars were gorgeous, and I hear the sunrise was breathtaking. When we picked them up this morning, everyone had smiles on their faces as they ate oatmeal with fresh picked blue berries.

Today the village split into groups. Some people when hiking, while others stayed in the village to hang out. Those in the village painted directors (we have quite a few artists!), made friendship bracelets, learned some yoga and Pilate’s moves, and displayed musical talent among other things.

And now for an update in a change of mini-trip plans. By popular demand, the 3 day, 2 night mini-trip has been switched to a 3 day, 3 night mini-trip. Everyone will head out tomorrow afternoon for their various activities (climbing, biking, backpacking or canoeing) and camp out for the night. This way, all activities can start first thing on Monday morning and the participants have two whole days (and a half!) to perfect their chosen activity! The campers are super pysched about this change!

And for all of those who have asked, we are uploading Smugmug pictures as I type! More pictures will be coming up in the next couple of days as we finish uploading everything we have!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Zach eigenbrodt

Born and raised in Wisconsin, Zach couldn't keep himself out of the woods when growing up. He started working at a Northern Wisconsin YMCA Camp as a wilderness trip leader while in college and fell in love with getting kids into nature. The smiles on kids faces after returning from a once in a life time wilderness experience is why he is here today. Zach brought his talents to Frost Valley YMCA, in 2014, when he started as the Trips Coordinator and soon was promoted to Adventure Director. Zach loves all forms of Wilderness exploration, though some would say his heart lies most with canoeing.