Clear Creek 2015

Yeah. So Clear Creek was different this year. But everyone still had a good time. It's the ATTITUDE, not the weather that makes it a great trip!

We departed for camp in the middle of a winter weather advisory. Our bus driver's name was Blake and as far as I'm concerned, he's the hero of the decade! There was heavy slush and falling snow with people crawling up the summit and fishtailing...and the whole time Blake was just...so chill. The bus ride was a bit uncomfortable because he had cracked all the windows prior to boarding in order to fight back against the fogging up of said windows. And then he instructed us teachers to open the vent in the roof to further help the situation along. At one point, a student called to me from the back, "Mrs. Kyburz, I'm cold." Blake needed to see and the road conditions were so poor that I merely turned back and said, "Sorry, zip up your coat and put your hood on."

After a few minutes, one of the boys noticed, "It's snowing inside the bus!" Sure enough, flakes were coming in through that opened ceiling vent. I gave that boy a happy grin.

In spite of the wiper blades, the slush was accumulating on the windshield and then proceeded to slide slowly down, so the kids began betting on which side would fall faster, the Miss Berry side or the Mrs. Kyburz side. When one side eventually fell, a little cheer would go up, "Ooohhh! Miss Berry won that time!"

Some students noticed Miss Berry and I chuckling about their newly invented game and responded, "Hey, it's the only entertainment we have!"

By the Grace of God, we finally made it to camp. The camp caretaker instructed us to view the shovels hanging on the porch of every cabin and invited us to use them as often as necessary. There are rules about keeping the children outside in cold weather and using the ropes course in snow and ice, so we had to adapt our agenda to indoor activities. Nevertheless, the kids still needed to run around a little and spend time outdoors so they were more than happy to do a little shoveling. One of the dads talked the caretaker into letting him use the snowblower (the caretaker was busy plowing, trying to keep up with it all). One of the boys walked along with the snowblower to intentionally have it spray snow directly on himself.

Just getting there safely was all I needed. They ended up closing the canyon which locked some of the chaperones out of the opportunity to come--they got turned back by the sheriff. The parents who were with us were all kinds of amazing--we really couldn't do it without them. It was a very different Clear Creek for me, but a wonderful experience!