SuperNatural Christians Retreat — May 2005
Nickie's Diary

Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

This is Bob, long-time owner of Sylvania Outfitters, where we rented our canoes and the "yak." He's wearing a Watersmeet Nimrods sweatshirt!

We woke up at 6 a.m. again today, rested and ready to go. This would be my last opportunity to use a flushing toilet and running water, so I must confess that I took my time in the bathroom. I crammed back into the van but today I felt a lot closer to the other girls on the trip. We are from all different grades and aspects of Rockhurst and even other schools. Anna and Courtney are going to be sophomores, Mary and Margaret will be juniors, and Jamie is a graduate student who works in PR. Karen goes to UMKC and Beth, a former Jesuit Volunteer, goes to Marquette. It's been fun getting to know everyone!

We drove through Northern Wisconsin and into Michigan. We passed through lots of small towns with funny names, the best of which being “Spread Eagle.” Watersmeet, MI is home to the “Nimrods,” the local high school's mascot. Driving has been fun—I'm enjoying seeing all of these new places.

My first time canoeing...this is great!

It started to rain right before we got to our canoe rental store. Bob Sylenski, the local canoe expert, was very eccentric, as it seems all people in the North are! He was going to meet us at the Sylvania Wilderness area in Ottawa National Forest. I got nervous as we approached the actual site. The van had been a comforting place for 15 hours and I was not ready to enter into the rain!

We got out of the van and suddenly the rain stopped and we could see the blue sky. This was an awesome start to the retreat! I began to get excited when we climbed in to our canoes. Luckily my canoe buddy knew what she was doing—I had only been in a canoe once before. We left our van in the parking lot and started off. I couldn't believe that everything I would need for a week was in my canoe with me—no phone, no computer… This retreat has already taught me how to live simply.

It took us 2 hours to canoe to our campsite. It is in the middle of the woods, the most remote place I've ever been. There were no other people around—just us. This forced us to concentrate on nature and spirituality. We all worked together to set up the tents, find firewood, and organize the site. Our first dinner at the site was hot dogs, string cheese, and S'mores. Hot dogs have never tasted so good! We spent the rest of the night relaxing. My favorite part of the night was sitting by the lake with a couple of the girls, silently watching the beautiful water. It felt great to be silent and not worried about the next thing I had to do.

We ended up spending a lot of our time huddled around the fire — there really is a fire in this shot, it's just hiding under the grill.

Right now we are sitting around the campfire, telling stories and getting ready for bed. The campfire is enticing, I could stay here all night! But I am tired, so I'll climb into my tent and go to sleep. I am thankful for the day and looking forward to the next.