Sunday, February 8, 2009

Michigan Cross Country Skiing

After nine consecutive weeks of heavy snow and cold temperatures, on Saturday, February 7th, southeast Michigan enjoyed a sunny day with a high of 49 degrees, almost a record. This was the setting for a fun event of cross country skiing at Willow Metropark. Five adventurers skied a three mile groomed trail that took us through the woods, around Acorn Knoll, by an old cemetery, and back to Washago Pond. Everyone took a turn leading. After the first mile we were peeling off coats and hats in the balmy weather. Fortunately there was still plenty of snow even as it melted in the warm sun. We stopped many times to throw snowballs and to study the animal tracks and droppings in the snow - coyotes, deer, racoons, and dogs was the consensus of our amateur naturalists. We concluded the great day by sharing a meal and conversation at a nearby restaurant. We look forward to our spring event!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Texas Tour

Houston Rock ClimbingI met Aaron, the Round-up Ranch Director from Adventure Unlimited, in Dallas to start our three-day Camp Show tour. We had a great turnout at all of the shows and lots of good questions were asked about life at the ranches. In Austin and Houston the DiscoveryBound chapters made use of this meeting opportunity. In Austin, they held a brainstorming session to plan out what the youth want to do for the rest of the year and in Houston the camp show was held at a climbing gym so everybody could go and get on the rock and play after the show.

From here, Aaron heads back to the Ranches for a few days before starting his West Coast road trip and camp show tour while I will be heading down to South Texas to help get a chapter going there.

More Photos!