Oh, my goodness! 45 singers and 8 adults venture into the mountains on a rainy evening to do what? Camp? Why? The DCC Fourteeners and Mountain Aires braved all to be together!! It has been a tradition for the Mountain Aires to retreat to a large property in Jefferson Colorado to camp, eat good food (and bad food), play numerous activities, get to know one another, and SING! This year we brought the Fourteeners as well. I do think it was a grand success, but let me elaborate…
- CAMPING FUN: Camping this year involved TENTS, 18 TENTS. The set-up on Friday was in the rain. Did anyone complain – NO. There was lots of giggling going on. The Flint families were clearly the most experienced campers bringing two tents and helping many others set up. Chaperones Sharon and Kate did all the repair work after the storm on Saturday. Everyone survived! Luckily, the next night was beautiful. The stars were out and you could see the Milky Way.
- ILLEGAL PETE’S: Delicious food started with Illegal Pete’s “make your own nachos” on Friday, Santiago’s burritos on Saturday, sandwiches & snacks for lunch, and Greek Chicken with rice pilaf and green beans for dinner. S’mores by a campfire for dessert! Cold breakfast in the morning muffins, fruit, and yogurt. We did not suffer. (Thanks to Sharon, Kate, Christina, and Sonja for cleaning up.)
- ACTIVITIES: well, how honest do I get? Yes, there was a trampoline, there were bows and arrows, throwing knives and axes (with adult supervision), darts, cards, puzzles, ATV rides (adults drove), and cows to feed. There were walks and time to just hang out. There, that sums it up.
- DOCTOR MERCE: My cousin, Merce, joined us from Grand Junction. She helped out behind the scenes EVERYWHERE, including a few times she was called to be a doc (nothing serious ?).
- KARAOKE: Karaoke night on Saturday (thank you Merce, my daughter, for organizing) was such a treat. Who knew we had so many passionate soloists? Now we definitely know. We were spellbound by some beautiful renditions of pop songs.
- REHEARSALS: Our rehearsals were an outstanding success! “We” learned almost all of our notes to five Thin Air songs. (FYI – Thin Air is Fourteeners and Mountain Aires combined for SATB repertoire.)
The retreat gave us a huge jump start for the year in terms of music and team building. Here are some comments from singers taken from a survey about the retreat…
“This was way more fun than I thought it would be and a wonderful experience. Thank you!”
“It was a great bonding experience for the group, thank you for that opportunity!”
Thank you to the Tuesday night team!
Lisa, Travis, Merce, Mary, and Frank
