Friday night, we returned from camping at the
Lair of the Golden Bear – the family camp for
U.C. Berkeley. We have camped
at the Lair every August for 14 years. The Lair is made up of 3 adjacent camps (Blue, Gold, and Oski) of over 300 people each, open for 12
weeks in the summer. Lair reenrollment numbers are overwhelming; there
are families who have been Lair campers every year since Camp Gold
opened in 1945. The Lair offers activities and accomodations for everyone from senior citizens to babies, so many families use it
for their annual reunion.
My family rented two tents and spent a restful fun week together.
This year, John, Jessica, Paul, and I were joined by my brother and
his family, my mother, and Jessica’s boyfriend, Matt. My brother’s
friend Ed and his family were also there. Normally, we would have come
home Sunday afternoon after a leisurely drive from
Pinecrest, California. However, Jessica had a plane to catch: she
flew off to Carnegie Mellon University
in Pittsburgh, PA yesterday morning. We were very glad to spend a
full week with her before she took that big step.
I will post photos soon. Last week, we saw the funny movie
Ratatouille at the
Pinecrest outdoor theater (where bats flying across the screen
add to the experience), the kids went horseback riding, we hiked
to Sword Lake and paddled kayaks around Pinecrest Lake, Jessica and
Matt performed in the Blue Review talent show, we tiedyed shirts
and pillowcases (my fingernails are still blue), and had
a pleasant week.
It took a bit of organizing to be able to camp for a week and then
immediately send Jessica off to college the next day. She cleaned and
sorted her room and filled three boxes with selected worldly possessions, including a set of baking pans and supplies.
We shipped them to CMU a week in advance. UPS tells me that they
arrived in Pittsburgh two days ago. Jessica had her two suitcases
mostly packed before we left. The first three loads of laundry
I washed on Friday were for the clothes Jessica wore at the Lair
that she also wanted to take to college.
Jessica called when she arrived at the hotel near CMU last night.
We look forward to hearing from her tonight about how her dorm
move-in and first day of college orientation went. She starts
classes in CMU’s
Science and Humanities Scholars Program on Monday.
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