Morning all! I am well into my third cup of coffee and glad to be back in my own kitchen and catching up with all of you. I love Mink Lake camp but after a few days of no electricity, solar showers, and sleeping with a group in bunk beds and sleeping bags – it’s just nice to get back to an electric coffee pot, central air, and sleeping in my own bed. (We boil coffee over a stove there… pretty little house on the prairie but it does the trick!)
I arrived home late Tuesday evening and after a glorious real shower and a wee bit of email reading, I was in bed by 10 pm. On Wednesday I had taken the day off just to catch up on all the days off I missed with all the running I have done lately but also – quite honestly, to dive into Mockingjay. All of which were nicely accomplished. 😀
Here are a few pics of camp:
- Mink Lake
- Some of the peeps I was in Leadership training with
- My cabin
Book Journey 
The pictures of Mink Lake are beautiful. It looks so serene, relaxing, and peaceful, however, I would want a “real shower” too. lol.
CMash
Cheryl, its nice to go because the world just stops for awhile…. no cell phones, no computers, no things to do…. even town is 15 miles away.
We had a pretty tight schedule so I didn’t get a lot of relax time other than when I took my lunch down to the dock away from everybody (because people who know me know I tend to overdose on people and need my space occasionally) and took the picture of the lake.
Glad you had a good time, but glad you’re home, too!
Thanks Hannah – it is good to be home. 😀
That lake looks so peaceful. I just got Mockingjay in the mail this week. I finished The Hunger Games and I am now reading Catching Fire. I’m dying to know how it all ends!
Go Laura go!!!! It is so fantastic! 😛
What a beautiful location to let it all go and to really reflect and focus, even if it is for a few days. Welcome back to the real world and to the luxury of an electric coffee pot. Percolators are great, but they don’t compare to the “real thing”. I am raising my cup of coffee to you, cheers! Have a fantastic day!!
Thanks Sarah – It is good to be home. 😀
Looking at the lake really reminds me of my house. Now i feel like can’t wait to go home for holiday. Hope you enjoy Mockingjay!
I am loving it Darlyn and cant wait to have time tonight to get back into it. 😀
How fun, this sounds so much better than the inside of a courtroom. I also love my bed and shower.
Way better than a courtroom Esme 😀
That is an amazing photo of the lake! And you are definitely devouring Mockingjay…I haven’t read this series yet.
Jo-Jo, oh get started – it will be nice to read one after another as waiting for Mockingjay and wondering what will happen has been torture! 😀
I’ve so missed the boat on The Hunger Games. I’m ordering the Trilogy box set from Amazon this weekend. Yay for having one last gift card from my b-day last month! Until then.. I’ve been hiding from all the reviews, because I have 3 books to read 🙂
Andrea I have been avoiding Mockingjay reviews and twitter so I do not accidentally see something I do not want to! 😀
Oh, I simply love lakeside musing and reflecting….a few years ago, my son had a cabin at Big Bear Lake, which is a couple of hours from LA. The cabin was huge, though, and had all the amenities. We usually went in snow season…but I can imagine going in the springtime, too.
Then, near my city, we have a lake with more rustic cabins…Shaver Lake. I’ve gone there to meditate and shut out the world. Wonderfully restorative!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Laurel – Mink Lake can be just like that – a great place to just shut out the noises of the world… but this time was pretty busy and I was there with 42 other people, 17 in my Leadership classes and the rest were their families and children so not so much “quiet relaxation” time. 😀
What a lovely place to hang out for a few days! Enjoy Mockingjay!
Thanks Amy – I will be done with it tonight. SO GOOD!
This is one of the many reasons I love reading your blog, Sheila – you do such wonderful things and go to such beautiful places; I would love to be in that cabin right now – just me and a book! Bliss.
My copy of Mockingjay arrived today and I am so excited – I am going to take it on holiday with me next week. Does it live up to the hype??? (please say yes!)
I love that too! I didnt get a lot of reading time but I have been there before where I have 😀
Oh and the hype around Mocking jay – YES!!! I am so into this book and cant wait to review it! 😛
The lake is beautiful as is the cabin. No electricity…yikes, but at least you still had coffee! Speaking of the prairie, I’ve been watching the Love Comes Softly series on the Hallmark Channel this week. Have you seen or read the books by Janette Oke? They have been really good. Now I want to read her books.
Jill we have propane lamps in the cabin and propane heat (which we did not need – it was pretty warn and I really missed my ceiling fan.
The solar shower was kind of impressive, I wasnt looking forward to it but it worked like a charm. The guys ran our large bags of sun warmed water to the hook in the shower and the shower stalls were big enough that you could hang your clothes on a peg inside and they did not get wet.
And of course – there was coffee 😀
I have not read Janette Oke books but I have heard of her.
Janette Oke has written about 70 books. Most of them are historical Christian fiction. I’ve read some excerpt and have her Acadian series here at home to read. She is extremely popular at our library.
She is very popular at our library, Jill. She has written about 70 books, most of them historicals. She has a Canadian set series and there is a series about a woman doctor in the late 1800’s. I think you’ll enjoy reading her.
The lake and cabin are my husband’s and my idea of heaven. If we lived there, electricity would be a must. We can tough it out, but at our age we prefer not to any more. Of course, propane can provide most of what you need electricity for. How I wish we owned our families old cabin on the lake in the Adirondacks. The cabin itself needed to be torn down and something more health built, but the lake is lovely. Unfortunately, there are many permanent homes there now plus the lake is only about 150 miles from Montreal, Canada and people with money there have purchased many of the camps and homes. The prices have gotten totally out of site.
Is this facility owned by a college or by a private corporation?
Great question Pat! This camp is owned by the state but they lease it to the Baptist General Conference out of the cities. The lease is $600 per year (amazing I know) and the BGC gets full use of it. It’s 14 miles up the famous Gunflint Trail and is amazing – the whole lake is within the camp.
5 years ago, the BGC was done with there 20 year lease and they were about to let it go when friends of ours, Sandi and Bob stepped in and now run the camp each summer – April through the end of August.
I like to go up in the spring and help them set up the camp for the kids – it is mainly a youth camp but as our church has such an interest in the camp as well, the last couple of years we have rented it for Leadership training.