Feels Like Home

Leslie and I had a leisurely morning in  Bismark, stopping by the local mall for an extension cord (be prepared, always have one on a Summer Road Trip) and saw some interesting sites (prior post here).

The drive across the remainder of North Dakota was beautiful as we expected.  Similar to eastern Montana, the run across North Dakota alternates between rolling hills and pool table flat. The state has about 2% unemployment with the

Not an unusual site driving across the Northern Plains
a lake, river, creek or marsh land.

oil and gas extraction, and where that isn't going on the land is filled with agriculture production.  From what I could tell ranching, wheat, corn, alfalfa dominate the farmland.

What would surprise most, as it did me with my preconceived notions of the Northern Plain States before driving them for three years now, is the abundance of lakes, streams, marshes.

We cleared Fargo a little after 2:00 and entered Minnesota.  Almost immediately the rolling fields along the roadside were replaced by towering trees.  Pines, aspens and varieties I won't pretend to know.  We were in the land of 10,000 lakes (which Blaire told us later was false and that Minnesota has 15,000 lakes.  Fire the guy who counted for the license plates, he was off by 50%).

Word of caution when driving in Minnesota, especially driving east from North Dakota--go the speed limit.  This is our third year making the drive from the border eastward and we see more highway patrol on the two and a half hour drive than the rest of our trip combined (exception being 395 through California, but most Californians already know about that state money maker road).

Finally about 4:30 we reached our destination for part one of Summer Road Trip III: Camp Birchwood on the north shore of Steamboat Lake.  Not too long after our arrival Jenna came by our cabin as we were unloading to say hello and get/give hugs with some friends.  We saw Blaire later in the dining hall, with perfect teenage angst, she semi-ignored us while being happy to see us--anyone who has or has had girls over the age of twelve know this talent, those with younger girls will have an "ah-ha moment" when their sweet little girl hits the age range.

Driving into Birchwood always feels like driving home.  It has been part of our family's heritage for three generations.  My Dad physically helped build many of the structures and my brother, sister and I have spent parts of many summers there.  Bucolic could describe the setting, fun the environment of the camp.  With 120 girl campers in residence there is a precision to getting them fed, to activities and ensuring camp stays clean and safe.  Throughout the day peels of laughter, cheers and encouragement is heard from every corner of the grounds and water front.

For Leslie and I we take our place on chairs on the lakeside deck ("Yeah Lakeside Deck" is the cheer the girls give in unison whenever the words are said) to relax, watch the sail boats and interact with those coming and going to the mess hall and between cabins.  It is a great place to hang out and the idea of having a nice

Words are inadequate

cocktail or glass of wine in hand as the sun slips lower, clouds wander across the sky and the breeze swirls.

No alcohol is needed however to enjoy the moment and the view.  A great spot to contemplate, meditate and conversate. As the pictures shows, words are somewhat inadequate to convey the scene.

Looking east from the deck

While the pictures show the lake at the end of the day, during the day the lake side is full of activity with girls swimming, playing on the "Mountain" slide that is two stories high, kayaking, windsurfing, tubing, water skiing, and sailing.  Four periods a day, every day there are girls and their counselors taking full advantage of the activities available.

As the sun sets boats from across the lake start to appear as the fisherman troll for the walleye, bass and northern pike that are found in the waters.




Friday night a production of "Wicked" was presented by several of the campers, including our Jenna who had a fun role utilizing her innate sarcasm.  Over the

Jenna (left) delivering on cue

course of the evening and the next day it came out that I have seen "Wicked" twice, once on Broadway and again at the Pantages in Los Angeles.  Slept through most of both.  Jenna was glad her crew's performance managed to keep me awake through the show.


Saturday before end of session starts with the traditional donuts on the Lakeside Deck (all together, "yeah Lakeside Deck") as the cabins come down one

Jenna (Oklahoma sweatshirt (naturally) third from right)
and cabin mates enjoying Saturday breakfast.

at a time to sign a paddle that will hang in their cabin and then eat donuts, eggs, potatoes and fruit on the deck.  While the donuts are a treat, they are really not that special as the food at Birchwood is really very good--and consistently good. They bake a lot of their own breads and goodies and for putting out three meals a day for anywhere from 150 to 200 campers and staff daily there is rarely a complaint, in fact our girls always comment on how good the food is at camp.

Saturday Leslie and I lounged in the deck chairs in the morning watching the sail boats and other water activities.  After lunch the girls had to get their bags packed and brought to a central area so they could be loaded for travel early the next morning.  Want a logistical problem to solve?  One hundred twenty girls leaving on one morning, about six or seven will be picked up by parents, the rest leave by bus.  Some of them will be dropped off at a school parking lot in Minneapolis (about three hours away) to be picked up by their parents.  The rest are flying all around the world on several different airlines.  How do you manage two bags per girl, five or six airlines, departure times from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. the following morning?

The easy bags are for those being picked up at the school and the kids flying to St. Louis (about twenty-thirty girls). They get their own two piles and loaded into their buses.  What about the other 200 bags?  Every girl is given a number depending on their airline and departure time.  Then the bags are loaded in reverse order into a big U-Haul truck so the last two bags are for the girl with number one.  The U-haul leaves for the airport at 5:00 a.m. Sunday and heads to the airlines and checks in all the bags, last in - first out.  Amazingly it works session after session, year after year.  Several hundred bags. Multiple flights and airlines.  No lost bags.

After assisting with the sorting and loading of luggage, Leslie and I hung out.  I wandered over to the archery range where Blaire was shooting in the afternoon. I

Teenage ennui on the archery range

Blaire showing good form
before she lets loos

didn't hang around long, the teenager was reluctant to acknowledge my presence in front of her friends (one camper asked in front of the invisible dad, "do you like having your parents here?"  "It is so weird.").  I watched her loose a few arrows, impressed with her form and scoring--she moved up through two levels in her two
weeks at camp showing some proficiency and improvement.  After watching another round of girls shoot I wandered back to our cabin where we cleaned up and did some reading prior to dinner and the main events.

The last Saturday at the end of the combined two and four week session has two major events.  First is the banquet that is put on by senior campers--girls in high school who must apply to be admitted to the senior program.  These girls are held to a different standard than the rest of the campers, not quite campers but also not counselors. They are in what amounts to a leadership training and development program.  For the last dinner of the session they host a dinner with

Sign and part of display at banquet

a theme and decorate the dining hall and plan the menu around the theme.  This year two senior girls planned and coordinated the whole banquet with the theme of "Dream."  As different counselors came forward after the meal to hand out the top awards for their disciplines (example one girl in riflery won awards for scoring scores from a standing position---it looks easy on television but stand with a ten pound rifle that is maybe twenty years old shooting a small .22 caliber bullet at a target a little bigger than a half-dollar fifty feet down range that is blowing in the wind).  All the girls dress up for the banquet and it is a great celebration of achievement and camaraderie as screams of congratulations peel through the dining hall as awardees are announced.

After the banquet there is a large campfire.  Awards are handed out to girls who earned them, proud to see Jenna get a sailing award she was working on.  Campfire songs are sung and as the evening winds down the songs become more maudlin and the sounds of sniffles and sobs spread as the girls get ready to

say good-bye to their friends they have lived with for the past four or two weeks. One tradition is the senior girls capping off the evening with small speeches about what Birchwood means to them, many of them have been attending for more than five years, one sixteen year old has been every summer since she was eight. The common themes are their appreciation to be at camp, away from the pressures and expectations from others and themselves "in the real world," the strong friendships they have developed and will continue to nurture until next summer--or if they are not coming back will stay in touch through the years, and the personal growth they have achieved through the years at camp.  As much as I know the benefits my daughters get from attending Birchwood every summer, that knowledge is strongly reinforced witnessing the statements from these girls jumping off into womanhood with tools, confidence and wisdom gained through their experiences at Birchwood.  Someday each of my girls will stand in front of one hundred or so other campers, most younger then they will be, and offer their words of advice, wisdom and appreciation.  When they do they will be proud of what they have accomplished and the path to those accomplishments.

The campfire broke up pretty late, around 11:00, and Leslie and I headed off to our little cabin.  As we fell asleep we could faintly hear the songs and the laughter fade as the exhausted campers and staff fell asleep.  Sleep for long was not on the schedule as the bell rang at 6:10 to call the "hoppers" (girls from each cabin who help set up the tables for their cabin mates and then clear the tables after the meal) to the dining hall for the last meal.  Then the exodus begins with the camp congregating around saying good-bye to the first girls to leave on the 7:00 bus.

After the bus left we gathered up Blaire and Jenna, said our good-byes and thank yous and climbed into the Honda Odyssey for the second half of the Summer Road Trip III.

With the girls being quite talkative throughout the day we wandered through the

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox
in Bemidji, Minnesota

woods finding Hwy 2 through Bemidji and headed east to Grand Forks and the North Dakota border and then staying on Hwy 2 across the state.  The big event of the day was early on when Jenna finally got her first phone--for years we have heard "I don't have a tablet or a phone, I'm the only one I know..." but with her going to middle school in the fall we felt it was time.  Plus it keeps her occupied and not once do we hear "are we there yet?"

A perfect day for driving, high clouds keeping down the bright sunshine and glare, helped us reach our destination of Williston, about twenty miles from Montana to the east and thirty miles from Canada to the north.  We

The girls at the Geographical Center
of North America, Rugby, ND

arrived around 5:00 and checked into our hotel--like most in the area it caters to the oil and gas field crowds and the hundreds of thousands of workers in the state who are working far from home. This means a washer and dryer and Leslie ran two loads of the girls stuff so we are somewhat clean smelling for the remaining 2400 miles or so before we get home on Sunday.

A nice fun dinner at a local pizzeria and we are spread throughout the hotel room, writing, reading, "face-timing" (look it up you old timers) and checking emails.  We are the modern family on a road trip.

Tomorrow we drive most the way across Montana to Shelby, just outside Glacier National Park.

Into the Dakotas

After seeing thunderstorms gathering around us the past two day but never having any rain we saw the end of our sunny driving end this morning.  Waking up early in the morning I heard rain outside and throughout the morning the we went through small squalls that put just enough water on the van to turn the dust from yesterday's run along Idaho A-20 into mud.

Before leaving in the rain we had the Best Western complimentary breakfast at Stella's Kitchen and Bakery.  The smell as we approached was pure bakery, being somewhat conscious of the waistlines we eschewed the cinnamon rolls that appeared to be able to enter "best I ever ate..." category as they were the size of catchers' mitts--and not Little League either.  Fueled up we headed out to the east-southeast to the Little Big Horn.

Even those with just a scant knowledge of U.S. history are aware that Little Big Horn is the site of Custer's Last Stand.  The exact location of the Last Stand is very well preserved with an information center, museum of artifacts, a monument and guides and guide books to let you know where you are.

The site also has a national cemetery where United States veterans and their spouses may be buried.  With perfect rows and columns of small granite markers in different areas of the cemetery, one is at once impressed and reverent to be in

National Cemetery at Little Big Horn, Montana

the presence of so many graves of those who served in our nations military and the setting where they are interned.  Our nation has a long history of respecting the service of the men and women of our military when it comes to burial and cemeteries; the national cemetery at Little Big Horn is very impressive.

 The Little Big Horn battlefield site is a spectacular setting.  Walking the hillsides with the prairie wind blowing the tall grass, seeing the undulating hills, the crags and crevices, the Little Big Horn river down the hillsides, I found it easy to

View from Last Stand towards Little Big Horn River (trees in distance)

imagine the battles that took place at the site in 1876.  There is the Lakota village was, here is where Custer led his men to flank the village to try to force a surrender, over there is where the Cheyenne fired on the remaining members of the 7th Cavalry forcing them into their Last Stand defensive position.

The hillside where Custer's men shot their horses to form a circular barricade and fought to the last man has an enclosed cemetery with markers where soldiers were found, a monument under which is buried the remains of soldiers found on the battle field, a small monument where the remains of the horses are buried, markers where the Indians killed in the battle were found,  and a monument to the tribes who were represented at the Battle of Little Big Horn, those who were defending the villages and those who were scouts for the U.S. Army.

Markers for two Cheyenne warriors killed at Little Big Horn

Sculpture at monument to Native Americans who fought at Little Big Horn dedicated in 2003

Markers for the 47 men killed in the Last Stand,  the marker just left of center with black is that of General George Armstrong Custer

Part of the Native  American monument listing the names of warriors and scouts involved in the battle

Monument where remains of horses killed by their riders to serve as barricades

Monument under which is buried the remains of U.S. military and scouts killed at Little Big Horn

After walking the battle site we headed east on highway 212, wandering through the hills and prairie land of southern Montana, cutting north at Lame Deer through Colstrip and joining the I-94 east towards our destination of Bismarck, North Dakota.

It was an interesting drive today, going through the curves and elevations of the hills and valleys of the prairie and then driving for ten, twenty, thirty miles through flat terrain with wheat, alfalfa or grazing land stretching as far as you can see.  There is no rhyme nor reason to the change in terrain, it just happens.  You can be winding down a large hill then climb the next after crossing over a creek or small river, after climbing the hill the land is incredibly flat and goes on seemingly endlessly with only a clump of trees several miles off breaking the horizon.

For most of the day we continued to parallel the Yellowstone River, which has wound its way along our route from yesterday afternoon until today when it left our route and headed north to merge with the Missouri somewhere near Glendive, Montana, just west of the border with North Dakota.

Driving along this afternoon I saw a sign for Hebron, North Dakota and called my brother Michael to let him know we were driving past this little spot on the map. Why? Because in the summer of 1977 during the summer after his junior year in high school Michael and four other campers and a counselor from Gunflint Wilderness Camp (now Camp Birchwood for Boys) were stranded in Hebron for a week when the station wagon they were taking from the camp in the upper northeastern edge of Minnesota to Jackson, Wyoming broke down.  Memories.

The call has some positive results as Michael soon sent us an email with a couple of dinner spots for us to consider in Bismarck.  We took him up on the suggestion of the Peacock Alley American Grill and Bar.  We shared some Walleye Cakes, a dinner salad and a Prime Rib sandwich with fried onions, swiss cheese and horseradish sauce--yummy especially with a few local brews.  We got sprinkled on as we walked to the Peacock, but with the nice high 70's temperatures it felt good.

The half mile or so walk back to our hotel was a good way to settle a good meal and mark the end of the "date" portion of our journey.  Tomorrow we drive to Camp Birchwood and will see the girls, our friends the Bredemuses who run the camp and spend a few days before we start part two of the SRT.

It's That Time of Year....

....for the Annual Smith Family Summer Road Trip To Minnesota And Back To Get The Girls From Camp(ASFSRTTMABTGTGFC), we'll just call it the Summer Road Trip (SRT?).

This is the fourth summer in a row that Leslie and I have shipped the girls off to Camp  Birchwood on the shores of Steamboat Lake in the beautiful woods of northernish-central Minnesota; and the third summer in a row that we hop into the Honda Odyssey for our own odyssey.  Our first SRT (is it working?) we managed to cover over two thousands miles from Long Beach to Camp in two nights, with stops outside of Salt Lake City and outside of Gothenburg, Nebraska.  Actually, there is no "outside" Gothenburg as "inside" consists of one McDonald's, two hotels used mostly by bird hunters in season, one stop light and a couple of stop signs.

Our route home for SRT I was via Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, across the Tetons, through Zion National Park and home.  Kids handled the trip so easily we knew we had a summer classic and more road trips in the future.

Last year, SRT II, was a more leisurely pace eastward at the request of our Cruise Director Leslie with stops in Bishop, Reno to see friends Mike and Shelle, Pendleton, Oregon, up the Clearwater River in Idaho and across the Bitterroot Mountains to Missoula, Montana, to the High Line and Havre, Mt across the great northern plains to Minot, North Dakota and into Camp Birchwood. A beautiful journey that had us traipsing along historic routes.

Our trip home had us paralleling the Mississippi south from Camp Birchwood (it originates about thirty miles west of the camp) to West Des Moinse, Iowa through Kansas City (and Arthur Bryant's Barbecue for lunch) to my birthplace of Tulsa, Oklahoma for a few nights.  Then across the Great State of Oklahoma, across the Texas panhandle to Albuquerque for some green chili dinner and breakfast, onto Williams, Arizona on Route 66 and a train ride up to the Grand Canyon and back before pulling into Long Beach.  Our journey covered 14 states (the girls hit eight of them) and 4,998 miles.

This year's journey has Leslie and I going at a pace between SRT I and II with four days of driving and three stops (Midvale, Utah, Billings, Montana and Bismark, North Dakota) through seven states (inclusive of about fifty miles through the very northwest corner of Arizona).  Google maps has our outbound trip at 2084 miles.

After two nights at Camp we leave Sunday morning August 4th bright and early heading very much west as we pass through Grand Forks, North Dakota and head up the High Line we traversed last year heading East.  Our trip home will be seven nights (Williston, North Dakota, Shelby, Montana, Bonner's Ferry, Idaho, Seattle for two nights, Medford, Oregon, Novato, California to see Aunt Sharon and Uncle Bob then home) and cover seven states--the girls will get to knock Montana, Washington and Oregon off their list. Google puts the return at 2810 miles. For those who are not math whizzes the estimated round trip is 4894 miles. Last year I took some guff from some who felt I should have driven around the block to get the odometer to hit 5,000 miles, this year if our side trips amount to a mere six miles more than Google estimates we will surpass the big mark.

Our plan is to leave very early so we can get into Midvale (691 miles per Google) before dark and enjoy the happening scene there.  So tomorrow we are off, I will be trying to update this blog daily with our sights, tastes and sounds of the trip. I hope to be able to have readers join us vicariously as we see this incredible country we are blessed to live in.

Here is the map of our trip:

Camp Ends Part II Begins

Last summer when writing about our first Great American Road Trip I wrote about Camp Birchwood (link here for that blog) and why our girls are in camp in Minnesota.

Last evening the decision to send our girls was validated and for any parent with a daughter at Birchwood I can only say: keep sending them.

Sunday was get-away day at camp, the daily routine of activities broken up by packing bags for home, loading bags onto trucks and buses to be carted off to Minneapolis airport before the camp is awake and saying good-bye.  Sunday was end of session for the campers who were finishing a four week session, as our youngest Jenna was, and those finishing a two week session, as was older daughter Blaire.

The camp tradition for the final night of the session is the senior campers prepare a banquet for the camp and decorate the dining hall.  Last night's theme was Dr. Seuss and remembering how great it is to be a kid.  The seniors were very clever in their decorations and the night was a huge success culminating in awards being presented to campers for their reaching the highest awards in various disciplines, from sailing to archery to wilderness to riflery to riding.

Following the banquet is the final campfire.  For some of the girls, young ladies, it will be their last campfire at Birchwood as their lives take them onto college, jobs, sports team commitments or other pursuits.  The evening is filled with traditional campfire songs, more awards and presentation of honors for those girls who have attended Birchwood for five or ten years.

At the end of the evening Rachel Bredemus, who with husband Terry are the camp directors, lights a candle and invites those senior campers and junior counselors who wish to address the camp to come down and say a few words.  Before relinquishing the candle Rachel addresses the assembly that runs in age from eight year old campers to counselors in their early twenties.  Rachel asks them to reflect on the accomplishments they achieved during the summer at Birchwood, how they have set goals and achieved them, she tells them that life will have disappointments, that their hearts will be broken and there will be challenges but that no one will ever take away their accomplishments so keep striving to build their accomplishments.  She reminded them of the tools they gathered over the summer that will serve them well as they grow in life and become leaders of other young women. The cliche ending to the summer would be a "rah-rah, we love you!" speech, Rachel is not cliche and gave them the truth that life is not all rah-rah and rosy but the knowledge that everyone present has the skills and ability to overcome and continue to achieve no matter what life brings.

Listening to Rachel speak directly to this gathering running from girls to women in age and maturity I thought how fortunate they, and every other girl who has come through Birchwood, were to spend part of their summer, part of their childhood, with Rachel Bredemus and the other staff and campers assembled at Birchwood.  I was so very thankful my own two daughters have been able to be in this environment gaining confidence, learning how to cope with others without mom and/or dad to rescue them or to hide behind, being able to be themselves and just experience great joy throughout their summer.

After Rachel spoke the candle was passed from one speaker to the next, many of them very tearful as they end their time as campers after six, seven, eight years.  Some had some great advice for my daughters and others, one young lady learned how to sail at Birchwood, made her high school team and traveled the world because of sailing, she encouraged the campers to take the skills they learn and see how they can apply them back home; another young women who has been a camper and counselor at other camps told the gathering that Birchwood is a special place where everyone is held to a very high standard and everyone meets it; another speaker who was a camper for several years and has been a counselor for a few more encouraged them to continue to return to Camp Birchwood so they can continue to grow in an environment they cannot find at home.

Rachel Bredemus' ability to teach and nurture leadership, confidence, team work and team building to multiple generations of females all at the same time in the same setting year after year is tremendous.  Her talent shows in the speeches and words of her mentees as they address the next generation of girls to follow.  Every dad should be as fortunate to have someone like Rachel and her staff to be in his daughters' lives as I have been.


After a late bedtime and early wake up Leslie and I walked over to camp this morning to get the girls and begin our trip home.  After watching the first of two large coaches leave the camp filled with sleepy and weepy kids headed home to mom and dad, we piled into the van and started heading south.  It was time for the Smith's to officially begin Part II of the Great American Road Trip 2012.

The ride in the Odyssey was very different than the first 2600 miles--it was filled with chatter, retelling of stories, impromptu songs and an energy of two girls bursting with excitement waiting to tell their parents everything.  As we played 20 questions, learned about their adventures at camp and filled them in on some events they missed while at camp we drove out of the woods of Minnesota and through the cornfields. We got on our first major interstate (US 94) for the first time since we left the 405 in Southern California eight days ago, crossed onto the 35 south and saw the corn fields of Minnesota become the corn fields of Iowa.

Almost ten hours after leaving Camp Birchwood we pulled into our stop for the evening at the Hilton Garden Inn in West Des Moines.  Exhausted, excited and looking forward to our trip home and what we will see on the way.

Our next stop is a big one for me, the girls we be in Oklahoma for the first time, where their dad, uncle, aunt, grandfather, great grandfather and great-great-grandmother were all born.  We will spend the next two nights in Tulsa at the home of my godmother, Ann Lake Wilson and look forward to seeing family and friends--despite the well over 100 degree heat.

Jenna gives me her #1 Dad mug she made!

Great American Road Trip 2012 Version

And we're off! It is time for Leslie and I to pack the Honda Odyssey and head to the North Woods and pick up the girls from Camp Birchwood. Jenna has been there since July 9th and Blaire since the 23rd.

 Last year's route to pick up them up consisted of a three day sprint through California, Nevada, Arizona (about 10 miles), Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, South and North Dakota and finally Minnesota. About 2,000 miles in two nights. Our route home was a long first day haul to Mount Rushmore, through Wyoming and Yellowstone, down to Jackson Hole to jump the Rockies and down to Idaho Falls, south to Cedar City, Utah and Zion National Park and through Vegas to home.

 Last year's round trip looked like a diagonal cut across Western America. This year's trip will be a giant square. We will head up 395 on the eastern side of the Sierra's to Bishop and then Reno, continue up 395 into Oregon, cut across Idaho to Missoula, Montana, head to northern Montana and then east to Minot and Grand Forks, North Dakota then southeast to Laporte, Minnesota and Camp.

 Next Sunday we will depart Camp Birchwood with the plan to spend the night in Des Moines, Iowa so the girls can see the homeland of their maternal grandfather then on to Tulsa for a few nights to see the homeland of the Dad (that's me) and several generations of Smiths. From Tulsa we will head west to Albuquerque to Williams, Arizona where we will spend a few nights and take a train up to visit the Grand Canyon. Two weeks from the day we left Long Beach we will leave Williams and return to Lime Avenue in Long Beach, California.

 Google Maps has the route at 4,949 miles and thirteen states and putting me at 40 states visited lifetime (missing Alaska, Washington, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia). Here is a look at our route. We'll be posting updates on our Facebook pages and this blog site so you can follow along as we travel this beautiful nation and meet its wonderful people.

Camp Birchwood

Many people the past few years have said to Leslie and I, "Why are you sending your girls to Minnesota to go to camp?" once they have gotten past that we are sending our girls away for two weeks at all.

The reason we are sending our girls away to Minnesota is because that is where Camp Birchwood is located. Why Camp Birchwood? Two reasons.

Reason one is because of our family connection to the camp. My Dad was a camper in the 1940's and 1950's at Camp Lincoln (still in existence) in Minnesota and he had as a counselor one Jim Bredemus. Dad and Jim became great friends, Dad was in Jim's wedding when he married Nancy, Camp Lincoln's owners' daughter. In the 1960's Jim and Nancy acquired some land on Steamboat Lake and started Camp Birchwood for girls. My Dad and Mom were part of getting the camp opened and spent some summers helping run the camp as counselors.

In the late 1960's my sister became a counselor at Birchwood and Jim and Nancy's daughter Sandy was one of her counselors, we now had two generations of campers and counselors between the Smith and the Bredemus families. In 1970 my brother and I went to the new boys camp, Camp Gunflint, that Jim and Nancy opened at the end of the Gunflint Trail, on the very edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and a short paddle from the Quetico Provincial Park in Canada. We had as a counselor Terry Bredemus, Jim and Nancy's son.

A few years ago my nephew Jack went to Gunflint and his counselor was Danny Bredemus, son of Terry and grandson of Jim. The Smiths now had their third generation of campers being taught by a Bredemus. Last year our daughters, Blaire and Jenna, became first time campers at Camp Birchwood where Terry and his wife Rachael run the camp.

So reason one for why we send our daughters to camp in Minnesota is legacy. Our daughters are part of our family legacy with the Bredemus family, and I look forward to the day when my first grandchild goes to Camp Birchwood for girls or boys.

Reason two for sending our girls to Camp Birchwood is life. The life they lead at camp is so much different than the one they lead at home. No hectic schedule of ballet, karate, music lessons, running here and there. No screens. No television, no video games, no computers, no Nintendos. No parents. That is the big one, no parents.

Our girls are being led by some fantastic young women who are carefully interviewed and selected by Terry and Rachel before they are brought onto the Birchwood staff. They hale from all parts of the country and abroad. The staff go through weeks of training and constant support to help them help their campers, from eight years old to high school. Our girls are encouraged to challenge themselves, to step outside of their comfort zones, to be part of the community and engage with the other campers. They rotate chores of cleaning the cabin, hopping food and dishes at meal time.

Camp Birchwood is not just a place to dump your kids for a few weeks and then their time is filled with time filling activities. At Birchwood each activity has a series of badges and awards the girls are encouraged to work towards giving them goals and markers for their achievements. At meal times when awards are given the entire camp cheers them on and shows their appreciation for what they have accomplished as they have once done it as well.

Since we showed up late Thursday evening Leslie and I have seen a horse show, an art show and a very good scaled down presentation of "The Wizard of Oz." Each of these exhibiting the skills of the campers involved.

Each day girls chose their activities for the following day choosing from dance, drama, arts and crafts, riflery, archery, horse back riding, sailing, water skiing, windsurfing, kayaking, photography, rock wall climbing, or perhaps they are off on a wilderness trip to the boys camps several hundred miles away to canoe and pack through the wilderness. Or an over night bike trip that my girls took.

Each activity is not just about getting through the activity but involves training, learning and getting better.

That is why we send our daughters to camp in Minnesota. If you want to change the life of your daughter, or son, or grandchild, or niece, nephew, send them to Camp Birchwood.

One more day of fun for Leslie and I before we start Part II: The Return of the Great American Roadtrip. Yesterday we went sailing and Leslie skippered a sailboat for the first time, so learning new skills is not just for young girls at Birchwood! In the late afternoon the weather turned from sunny to dark, cool and big gusts of wind. Satellite imagery showed a huge thunderstorm cell headed our way. Camp was quickly buckled down and everyone collected in the dining hall as the storm with 60 mile and hour gusts, lightening and hail the size of quarters just missing us.

Today the girls have normal activities while packing to leave tomorrow. The logistics of getting over two hundred kids to Minneapolis-St. Paul airport for their various flights is something to behold. But they do it every session, every year and do it well.

Tomorrow is an early start for us as we hit the road for about seven hundred miles to Mount Rushmore. I'm off to the dining hall for some breakfast.

Road Trip!!!

Roooooad Tripppppp! (Picture John Belushi in Animal House)

Day one of our Smith Family Road Trip 2011.

The destination is Camp Birchwood on the shores of Steamboat Lake, Minnesota. Blaire and Jenna departed for Camp last Monday, flying without parents for the first time ever.

Leslie and I embarked this morning at 8:00 a.m. from Long Beach with intention of arriving at Camp Birchwood Thursday night. We will then depart Sunday and wind our way back to Long Beach through Mt Rushmore, Yellowstone, Zion and possibly show the girls the lights of Vegas.

Incredibly we cleared the LA basin this morning with no traffic and made Las Vegas at noon. Finding a small Italian deli north of the strip it was with some angst, some anger and some bemusement that when we were ordering our sandwiches that my wallet had failed to make the trip!

Leslie began to text our house sitter about the situation to ensure the wallet was in fact at the house. I then fired up the laptop, connected to the internet via Verizon’s groovy wireless gizmo, and using the AAA travel site began to call hotels in Salt Lake City to get an address; not only for us to lay our heads down this evening but to be able to get FedEx delivery tomorrow. Evidently there is a rather large outdoor products convention in Salt Lake so rooms are scarce, thankfully we secured one!

Leslie, already sensing my desire now that we are on the road to push far and fast, giggled and said, “thank goodness the FedEx is before 10:00 delivery and not 8:00 so I can sleep in a bit tomorrow—we are on vacation!”

We have cleared St. George, Utah and are about 260 miles south of Salt Lake as I type this. Gorgeous country through the canyons and hills. Temperature has gone from 103 south of St. George to 80 degrees wherever we are now and where the picture above was taken. Big thunder clouds around us all day, a few flashes in the distance but perfect driving for us under high clouds and filtered sun light.

Looking forward to getting my wallet tomorrow!