Woodward West

I don't know if I was in a hurry to get on the road or what. But I got out of town for this trip with no camera! So the above picture is one of two from the whole trip! It's probably just as well because my boys were too embarrassed to have me even take their picture with my cell phone. I kept asking Indy if he wanted a picture with Chris Cole or Adelmo Jr. but he said no way!

All in all, the trip was a success and the boys would love to have a chance to go back. We left on Friday night and drove to St. George for the night. The next morning I wasn't in too much of a hurry. We stopped at the outlets in Vegas to do a little shopping which Finn and Indy usually love. But I think they were anxious to get to Woodward so they weren't too interested in shopping. The camp is located in Stallion Springs, CA which is just outside the little town of Tehachapi, CA. Tehachapi is about 1 1/2 hours west of Barstow. We had directions from the website of the camp so I was pretty confident we would be able to find it and I had made sure we had plenty of time just in case! Thank goodness we had the extra time because the directions were not very good. I had to be there at 6 p.m. for an orientation because I was working as a driver for the camp. We got there at about 5:40 p.m.---not too much time to spare! We had just enough time to put our bags in our cabins and get to the meeting.

Right off the bat I was worried about the whole experience! They had originally told me to go to the Lodge to check-in and get our rooms. When we got up there, no one was there. Luckily we saw someone else who was working at the camp and he helped direct us where to go. Then, the boys had nothing to do while I went to the meeting. Then, we hadn't eaten any dinner and the closest food was 20 minutes away in Tehachapi! And it was soooooo freezing cold! Luckily, after my meeting, they fed us some pizza (cardboard pizza I have to say). But we were so hungry that we really weren't complaining. At this point it was time to go back to our cabins and go to bed. We were all so tired that it didn't even matter that the beds were super hard and uncomfortable!

The next morning, we had to be at breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Camp didn't officially start until noon so the boys didn't really have much to do until then. Mid-morning I was sent to Bakersfield to run some errands which took me about 3 hours. By the time I got back, all the campers had arrived and things were starting to get going. We took a tour of the camp and the boys got to see all the facilties. From that point on, I didn't see Finn and Indy much except at mealtimes and when they would come back to their cabin to hang out. My cabin was right next door to theirs and I knew Indy was in his cabin because I could hear him coughing! The first night he wasn't feeling very well so he ended up going to bed really early---poor guy!

Each morning after that, the kids would wake up, eat breakfast, shower, etc and, then about 9:15, they would break into their various skill groups and have instruction from the instructors. At noon they would eat lunch. Then it was back to skating until dinner. Then skating, hanging out at the Canteen (bowling, video games, music room and food) or doing whatever they want until 10 p.m. What more could a kid want?

Finn and Indy were in a cabin with 12 other boys and 1 counselor. Their counselor's name was Jake. He was actually an LDS kids from Ventura who goes to school here in Orem at UVU. They really only hung out with 1 or 2 kids from their cabin. Most of the boys had the most foul mouths I had ever heard! Finn was really good and told them to please not swear in front of him. They do have rules about bad language at the camp but that doesn't always get policed very well.

There was one other driver at the camp besides me. His name was Dave and he was LDS too and from Las Vegas. He was a really nice guy. His son Trevor was there for BMX. I only had to take one kid to the hospital during my stay. It was the first day and he had broken his finger. The whole ordeal only took about 2 hours in all. They were really good at the hospital about speeding things up as much as possible knowing we were from Woodward.

There was one day at camp where I didn't do any driving at all which was not good! By that time, I had finished my book and so I had nothing to do. We weren't allowed to really go anywhere just in case we were needed for an emergency. And I could only watch the boys skateboard for so long! From what I understand from other drivers who come during the summer months, we got off really easy! I guess in the summer months there are a lot more injuries!

We're glad to be home and glad we got to have the experience. And, hopefully, the boys will be able to go back!