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Hej Ladies! Episode 05—Alison Holmlund and Kristin Liner
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In this episode, Jenny speaks with Alison Holmlund and Kristin Liner, lifelong friends who credit Mission Springs with creating and forming their friendship for the past 50 years. Even though they have lived and worked in different locations—Alison in the tech industry in California and Kristin in the medical field in Texas as a nurse—their bond has remained as strong as their love for the camp that made it happen. They share some of their favorite memories of spending summers at Mission Springs.
If you have any questions, comments, or ideas for this podcast, please contact Jenny Cobbley at jenny@nwrtw.com. Thanks for listening!
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Transcript
Introduction and Purpose of Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
Hi there, this is Kala and Jenny Holmgren, otherwise known as the Holmgren Twins, or just Hey Ladies. Hey, Hey Ladies. We have been coming to Mission Springs for our entire lives. So as part of the Centennial Celebration, we decided to start this podcast to talk Mission Springs memories. We invite you to listen and share in 100 years of what's been happening at Mission Springs.
00:00:27
Speaker
Welcome to Hey Ladies.
Isabel Joins the Conversation
00:00:29
Speaker
Hello, hey ladies, listeners. This is Jenny talking right now and Kala unfortunately cannot be with us for this episode. So instead I've asked my daughter, Isabel Copley, to join me for this introduction part where we talk a little bit of Mission Springs history. Welcome, Isabel. Hello. Thank you for having me.
00:00:49
Speaker
Yeah, this is fun. Now you have been at Mission Springs since you were a little kid. Since you were a baby, we have pictures of it. You've worked in a lot of different roles, including at Frontier Ranch. So I thought it would be good to talk to you a little bit about Mission Springs history from almost 100 years ago and think see what you think about it.
00:01:08
Speaker
Sounds great. Let's do it.
History of Fires at Mission Springs
00:01:10
Speaker
Okay. So did you know that there's actually been quite a few fires have been at Mission Springs? I knew that there was one because we talked about it a little bit this summer after we had that fire in the Frontier Ranch parking lot. And I know that there was one, but i don't know that I knew there was multiple. Yeah, just for listeners out there, there was a fire up at Frontier Ranch this summer that was little startling. How did it go, Isabel? There was a there was a car. Yeah, there was a car that caught on fire in like the dirt lot up the hill where like the parents staff park for Frontier Ranch. And it caused two other cars to catch on fire as well. So we all had to evacuate. Luckily, nobody was injured. So they kept the fire from spreading too, right? like Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They did a really, really good job of making sure that it was all under control. Everyone did a great job.
00:02:07
Speaker
Okay, that's great. Well, it wasn't the first fire Mission Springs. In fact, the first fire, which sometimes they talk about as being the baptism by fire, was July 1st, 1929. So only three years after Mission Springs was established, right? Wow. There was actually, in this case, it wasn't directly at the conference center at first. It was nearby, like 11 miles northwest of the conference grounds. So you can imagine all of that, those trees and all of those, the forest, you know, it just can be a place where fires happen. And so they, people could see the smoke and the, but they were really hoping that the firefighters could, you know, dampen the flames and And it wouldn't really be something that they'd have to evacuate, but actually it started to move toward the grounds by by July 2nd. So everybody who was on the grounds had to evacuate to what was called Camp Evers at that point, but basically Scotts Valley. They had to evacuate to Scotts Valley. They brought most of the belongings that they had that were at the camp and they they kind of gathered there. There were a few people that
00:03:16
Speaker
stayed There were few people who were worried that Mission Springs was not going to make it through the fire and stayed to help decide what to do. One of these people, his name was Magnus Johnson. So a good Scandinavian name. Yeah, that makes sense.
00:03:29
Speaker
Walking and he was walking over the flat with a determined look on his face and he said he was going to stay right there. and that the place was not going to burn down. Now everybody else was out at Camp Evers. I'm not sure that that's a good strategy now. I think that the fire department and Cal Fire think they want people to listen and to evacuate, but this was a long time ago. He and a group of people went back to Camp Evers to get people to come to the grounds to save the building, and six or seven people went.
00:03:57
Speaker
And they even had people who were willing to cook for the people who came to fight the fire, serving coffee and sandwiches. And they they played a vital role in saving the grounds. And the fire went on through the night. You know, there's just, ah it was kind of a stressful time. But by the morning, things were under control and everybody got to go back to Mission Springs, even though it was very stressful. And there were actually quite a few places around that burned down.
00:04:24
Speaker
So yeah. Wow. Fascinating. Yeah. That's pretty What you think you would do if you were in that situation? Oh, I'm, I don't even like taking things out of an oven. So honestly, i think I'd probably,
Childhood Adventures at Mission Springs
00:04:40
Speaker
I'd probably evacuate with everybody else. I don't know that I'd be much help in a crisis like that. I think I'd be more helpful on the outskirts, calming people down over there. Not so much fighting the fire. But we'll let the other people do that. My best friend, she's training to be a firefighter right now. So she could do that because she could handle that.
00:04:59
Speaker
But I think I'll be passing around the coffee and the donuts for everybody else. The sustenance, the necessary sustenance. Well, there are also a few other fires. There was an original Laurel Lodge that's not where Laurel Lodge is now. That was more where the worship center is. And that burned down. But actually, they thought that it wasn't such a bad thing.
00:05:20
Speaker
I mean, it's never a good thing when something burns down. But they hadn't been sure where to put the worship center. And so when that Laurel Lodge burned down, they're like, oh, well, this is a great place to put new worship center. One door work closed, center another one open.
00:05:35
Speaker
Right. And then like, well, maybe maybe God wanted that. And so, yeah. So then that they were able to put the worship center where it is and then build the new Laurel Lodge where it is. Then, you know where Fireside Hall is right now?
00:05:49
Speaker
You know, kind of in the middle? That used to be called the Memorial Hall. So a few things on the task force, we talk about the Memorial Hall and I, for the life of me, I'm like, I don't know what that is, but the Memorial Hall was that space and that actually had a fire as well. Oh no.
00:06:07
Speaker
Yeah. And I think it actually got started, if I'm right about this, during um during a Covenant Women's retreat. Oh, that's not good. Well, I know. And I'm just, I'm not sure how It started except that it burned down and then they rebuilt it.
00:06:24
Speaker
And then I think it was, you know, where it is now until I think the fireside hall, the, during the earthquake, that chimney fell down. So. What year was that earthquake again?
00:06:35
Speaker
1989. Got it. 1989 was a very eventful year. Are you thinking about Taylor Swift? I'm thinking about Taylor Swift and I'm thinking about the Berlin Wall. Oh, okay. Because now I know two things. Oh, two things that happened in 1989. There was an nurse earthquake in California and way over in Germany, some people tore down a wall.
00:06:55
Speaker
Right. I know. That's what they asked me when I was in Germany this past winter. They asked me, they're like, do you know what happened in 1989? And I think I said very confidently Taylor Swift was born. And they're like, well, that that did happen. But also and keep in mind, we were standing right next to the Berlin Wall.
00:07:15
Speaker
So you missed that opportunity to... um Just slightly. Okay. they're like You know what also happened? Earthquake. Earthquake. Yeah. You know, there's a lot happening in 1989. And I was alive in 1989 for the earthquake.
00:07:29
Speaker
And yeah, a lot of chimneys fell down. ah yeah i think that's why maybe things aren't really built out of brick too much. In they certain places in California, they're susceptible to destruction when... Yeah. You see lot of brick here in Chicago. i don't know that we have earthquakes here. We have tornadoes apparently.
00:07:45
Speaker
but Right. want earthquakes Not So the the Memorial Hall fire was in 1955 and it was in September and it was during the annual women's conference. So, but then they rebuilt it again by 1956. So it wasn't, it didn't stay vacant for too long or destroyed. They rebuilt it and Nice. Thankfully, it didn't spread to anything else. But I think it's just an ongoing reminder that that spot in the Redwoods is, it's such a wonderful spot, but it is susceptible to to fire and people should always be really careful about things like that.
00:08:24
Speaker
For real. Fire safety is great. It is. And I know that the staff at Mission Springs has put fire extinguishers in a lot of key places and that that played a role in helping to put out that fire this summer. Exactly. Yeah. It also help the fact that, I don't know, the the fact that it was, like, right next to the water tank that was up there. So that's just a little bit about the history of Mission Springs.
00:08:45
Speaker
Did you know any of this stuff before? ah i knew about, what is his name, Magnuson? Magnus Johnson. Magnus Johnson. That I had heard the name before, but the other stuff was pretty new. I don't think I knew how many fires were in Mission Springs before.
00:09:01
Speaker
Well, those are just the ones that I've heard about. There may have been others, but I don't know. and Perhaps. don't think Yeah. oh Fascinating. Well, thank you for sharing. Yeah. Oh, you know what? I should mention there was the big fire that was the CZU fire. Is that what it was called? A few years ago, the burden when big basin burned down. Remember?
00:09:19
Speaker
Yeah. And that a lot of people at Mission Springs, we shouldn't you know neglect to mention that one too, had to be evacuated. And I know that, for example, Scotts Valley Covenant and a lot of police people in Santa Cruz helped to house people from Mission Springs who couldn't stay at their homes or their cabins because of the the presence of the fire. And I remember praying and praying and praying that it would be okay.
00:09:39
Speaker
It was in the middle of COVID. Yeah. I was at school and it felt like everything was happening. We were, I was teaching kids that were six feet apart in a mask. Yep. You know, and meanwhile, there's this gigantic fire in big basin that feels like it keeps coming closer to mission Springs. And exactly. No, I just remember it in COVID, everything just kept popping up like that happened. And then there was also like fires that were sprouting up in Australia Yeah. time And then we also had the what was it? It was like the killer wasp thing.
00:10:11
Speaker
Or the murder hor hornets? The murder hornets. Yeah. though That was up in Washington. No. Yeah. I just remember it was in Washington. Yeah. Okay. Good. Cause I got many of them though. I don't think there's many of them, but I remember that summer was the summer I first got stung by a bee.
00:10:27
Speaker
oh of that So I, and I was alone and I was hiking up to Eagle's landing actually. And cause I thought that was a good idea to hike up there alone. And I remember I got stung by a bee. And because of that, I thought I had gotten stung by a murder hornet.
00:10:43
Speaker
Murder hornets are gigantic, Isabel. they're i I didn't see it, though. Oh, you wouldn't see it. That's the point. You would have noticed it. No, I know I would have noticed it But also, like, what would have happened if I was allergic? That would have been not great. And camp was in session, so I couldn't go the easy way. Backed out.
00:11:02
Speaker
I'm glad that you that you were not allergic to bees. That is very good. and Wasn't a murder. I think the murder hornets were only up in Washington. No, they're really big. But because i am such an anxious little bean, Reminded my me I went there.
00:11:18
Speaker
Yep. I was, yeah, I was so certain that day. Yeah. Yeah. i'm We're very thankful that that fire, again, by the heroic efforts of all the people who are in fire departments across California and the surrounding areas, yeah that they were able to put it out and it didn't come any closer to Mission Springs. But yeah, always good to be aware that that's one of the things we have to rely on the providence of God for protection for Mission Springs and something to be praying for all the time. Yeah. People in California where it's dry.
00:11:51
Speaker
In this episode, um I am going to be talking to actually two of my cousins. So Allison Homeland is my first cousin on my mom's side.
00:12:02
Speaker
Her father and my mother were sister and brother, and she is my first cousin. And it turns out one of her best friends, Kristen Lanier, and they've been friends since birth at Mission Springs, is...
00:12:14
Speaker
I think a third cousin, third or fourth. I don't know how those cousin things work. On my dad's side, my grandfather and her grandfather were cousins. So they're best friends, but I'm cousins with both of them. And I'm going to spend a little time talking to them about...
00:12:32
Speaker
growing up at Mission Springs together during the summers, how their friendship developed. Allison works in the tech industry in California. Kristen is in the medical field as a nurse in Texas, but they've maintained this friendship for all of these years, and Mission Springs has played a huge role in that. So I'm excited to hear about what they have to share about that. Very fun. Well, I'll let you get to it.
00:12:54
Speaker
Great. Okay, we'll talk after the interview.
00:13:07
Speaker
Okay, this is Jenny and I'm here with Allison Homeland and Kristen Lanier. Unfortunately, Cal can't join us right now. She's busy at work, but I'm gonna talk to these ladies about their experience at Mission Springs. And as I mentioned in the intro, they have been friends for just about ever and Mission Springs has played a crucial role in that. So welcome, Allison and welcome, Kristen.
00:13:30
Speaker
Great to be here. Thanks for having us. Wonderful to be here. Full disclosure, I'm related to both Allison and Kristen. On opposite sides of my family. Not creepy at all. Not creepy at all. Very fun.
00:13:43
Speaker
But I would like to know from each of you, what are your earliest memories of Mission Springs? Allison, why don't we start with you? Sure. I would say most of my early memories of Mission Springs revolve around the swimming pool.
00:13:57
Speaker
So I can recall when I was a little girl going to visit my godmother Lois who ran the snack bar and because I was her goddaughter she pretty much gave me any snack or treat that I wanted. And Jenny, I know you said you weren't going to talk about snacks as much in future episodes, but it's a big part of Mission Springs. So I would just say, let's embrace it. Okay. I'm with that. Okay. Okay.
00:14:24
Speaker
So lots of snacks from Lois. And the other was, do you remember the old backboards at the Mission Springs pool where you would lean against it? And if it was really hot, you'd have to put your towel down so you didn't burn your back. Well, we would be laying against the backboards and then this wonderful old man, Henry Homeland, who later became my grandfather-in-law, he would walk up and down the the side ah backboards of the pool and would say, treat, treat, you want a treat?
00:15:00
Speaker
You want a treat? And here was this man who would just go to the snack bar and buy everybody who was at the pool at that moment a treat from, like, it was amazing. It was like, as a kid, i words can't describe just the joy of someone giving you a free treat.
00:15:19
Speaker
That's one of my first memories as well is Uncle Henry... like taking a gaggle of kids to the snack bar and there was no limit. Like you could get three or six items, whatever. Like you could get a slush and you could get, you know, some red vines. You could get the whole deal. And there was like, he wouldn't bat an eye.
00:15:38
Speaker
Yeah. Isn't that the task? Yeah. and It's funny how so many of us have these memories and, and you, we joked about the snack part, but when you are a kid and you know, there, it was the eighties. So there's not like superfluous snack food around, you know, and it wasn't easy to just now I think my kids might door dash something, but then you'd you'd have to ride your bike somewhere and you'd have to find money like in a couch cushion. And so it was really special.
00:16:07
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, that's great. Especially in our family, Jenny, our grandma was not known for having treats around. Kristen's grandma, on the other hand, always had treats. Always. Very snack-based over at Cliff and Gladys'.
00:16:22
Speaker
i That is true. we Because our cabin was right across. You guys meeting each other. When you remember meeting each other and maybe realizing that the proximity of your cabins to each other at Mission Springs?
00:16:35
Speaker
I don't really remember a time in my life when I didn't know Allison. think, I mean, there's pictures of us together as um infants. So my parents are her brother's godparents. Her parents are my godparents.
00:16:49
Speaker
um i She's about two months younger than me, almost exactly. I remember going to Mission Springs, starting at around six years old. I would spend my summers there with Cliff and Gladys, Lanier, my grandparents. And it was just a sort of like built-in friendship that I had because they would have me come over. She was over at my house. But it was um it was like a relationship of convenience. But very quickly, early, early on, we were like, this is my person, right? This is who this is who I want to like be side by side with, you know?
00:17:26
Speaker
yeah So there's there's truly, ah I have a hard time remembering a time when we weren't best friends. Yeah. yeah Yeah. I've always remembered you being in my life. I mean, it started with mini camp, right? So we went to camp together and that really kind of forged our friendship. And from there, you would go back home to Texas for the school year and we would write letters. And i think I flew to visit you once when I was nine years old by myself, like,
00:17:55
Speaker
Talk about the 80s back in the day We went to the Alamo together.
Kristen's Summers at Mission Springs
00:18:00
Speaker
Yes. That was amazing. Yes. We would write, Jenny, we would write, I mean, multiple letters per week. We wrote letters constantly throughout the school year. I actually, when I was um cleaning up my parents' garage recently, found a box of letters between you know from Allison that are from when we were in the starting in the third grade and forward.
00:18:23
Speaker
And it it started when our parents lived across the driveway from each other. So my parents were newlyweds, Jan and Dean Bowman. They lived in the yellow cabin that they shared with your parents, Jenny. And Kristen, your parents lived in Gladys and Cliff's cabin. Is that right? Or was there another? Yeah. And so, yeah. yeah So the newlyweds were...
00:18:47
Speaker
living across the driveway from each other, became best friends, and that's how it all started at Mission Springs. Oh, my goodness. So your friendship comes from that legacy of friendship at Mission Springs of your parents. But Kristen, you grew up in Texas, as you said. Yes. And well you had a long-distance thing, but then you would come back to Mission Springs every summer and stay with – Every summer.
00:19:09
Speaker
I stayed with Cliff and Gladys from like the minute I got out of school until the minute I had to go back from the time I was about six until I graduated from high school. I was there all summer long, every summer. Cliff and Gladys had retired to their cabin when they retired from the workforce. And then even when they had gone to live at Covenant Village, they would still come back in the summer so that I could still come out and stay with them.
00:19:34
Speaker
And I would drive away their their sky blue Volkswagen Bug and, you know, live my best life all summer long in Mission Springs. Yeah, that's great. and And Allison, you, because your parents live so close to Mission Springs in Scarks Valley, but then you are over at Mission Springs all the time. Yes. It felt like a different world. You know, I grew up in Scotts Valley. My parents didn't want me to only be exposed to Mission Springs. So even just crossing the bridge felt like I was going to another world, even though it was just five minutes from my home. And I loved it.
00:20:10
Speaker
It was great. you Do you feel like, we've asked a few people this, do you feel that there was a lot of freedom that came with being at Mission Springs just because it was like this other world that had a feeling of security and safety, even though it's in a very you know dynamic area in California. We definitely ran around Mission Springs without a whole lot of oversight, let's it that way. There was a lot of freedom because it was a safe place and because everyone at Mission Springs was known and cared for one another. I think that's one of the things that really stands out to me about it being a special place is that there are these generations of families who care for one another and look out for one another. And to let you know me go to the playground, to go to the pool by myself, to
Generational Mentorship
00:21:00
Speaker
kind of walk around, to get rides with people, it was safe because we all knew each other. We were all in community with one another and looked out for each other.
00:21:10
Speaker
And it was really an ah amazing experience as a kid to have that kind of freedom and autonomy. So, so much freedom and so much security and like really truly such a, um like a pure and innocent environment. There wasn't like bad influences and missions, but you know, it was just a very safe place to, to grow up as a child and, and just run amok. I mean, run the trails, just really, there was not a lot of, a lot of rules around any of it because it was so safe.
00:21:41
Speaker
Yeah. And distraction free. I mean, I think about some of the the games that we played and the creations that we made, you know, taking like the scotch broom pods and we would like open them up and use the little peas inside and like make meals out of them in our fake restaurant. And I just think having that freedom to be creative in creation is just a really unique thing. And and a lot of cool things out of it. feels that way now that the more I yeah hang out with the kids that I teach or i see other kids just out and about,
00:22:16
Speaker
that the idea that of not using the devices of just being in a place where you might be a little bored. So what are you going to turn your environment into to kind of, you know, make it so it's not boring anymore. and How do you interact with people in person? And Mission Springs is such ah a great place for that because there's so many different options of things to do. And yet, you know, people aren't going to wander too far away or all of a sudden find themselves out on Mount Hermon. You know, hopefully not.
00:22:43
Speaker
Maybe they would. Maybe they would. Well, and and talking about that, like having, um you know, creative things to do, like I think Kella and Jenny also, we spent a lot of time on that side deck at Cliff and Gladys' house where we played, you know, restaurant, we played hotel, we played house, we had a kitchen set up. We had, you know, all of these like ancient toys from 50 years ago that my grandma would pull out at the beginning of every summer, little tea sets. And we would spend hours there, usually in the morning before we would head to the pool
00:23:16
Speaker
And then we would do our morning play and then we would pack up a lunch and you know off we'd go to the pool to spend the rest of the day. Yeah. By ourselves down the trail. That was something Emily was talking about the other day with me, who's, for those who don't know, is my sister Emily, who is a peer of Allison and Kristen. She was saying that she remembers just us going to the pool.
00:23:39
Speaker
Like the parents weren't necessarily accompanying us to the pool. They might show up later, but we were just kind of, okay, it's the afternoon, the pool's open, you head over there, we'll meet you there. And and maybe we won't, maybe we'll take a nap and you'll just walk home. Yeah. Cliff and Gladys never went to the pool. i they I think they would go one time a summer, grandma would put on her little swim cap and they'd swim a few laps, but like the the rest of the time, every single day i was solo or with you guys.
00:24:07
Speaker
Yeah. What are some of the other memories that you can think of from that time period Either just being at Mission Springs, being at Conference, being at Frontier Ranch from those early years when you're starting to be friends and where we we've kind of decided Mission Springs is kind of a pivotal like place for kids growing up in those years between maybe elementary school and high school.
00:24:28
Speaker
I would say family camp was a really important part of the summer. And i look back on all the different people that taught us and led us. I was thinking about Larry and Kayleen Johnson. though This was before Banana Slug. So they taught in the old tab, probably like the first through third graders.
00:24:51
Speaker
And i still remember some of the lessons about trees and creation that they taught us way back then. and one of the cool things that I think of is this intergenerational, like caring for one another and teaching. So Larry and Kayleen teaching us and then us, as we got older, teaching their kids and then you know, now their kids are teaching my kids and, you know, Kristen's Rennie, Kristen's son Rennie was a LIT up at Frontier Ranch and like all of the kids that he's teaching. So this, this beautiful, like generational circle of giving and teaching just keeps on going at Mission Springs and family camp, I think is a really cool part of that too.
00:25:42
Speaker
yeah Yeah, for sure. And also speaking of family camp, the, you know, the impact that like Joe and Penny Noakes had on a whole generation of kids, you know, i mean, i still think about them. They still pop into my mind, not infrequently, the lessons they taught us and just the the feeling of belonging that we had. And just like what a magical week that always, that always was with those guys.
00:26:08
Speaker
They were infinitely patient. Yeah. I can't even, and I think Allison and Mike, when they took over the high school group years later, ah you know, a lot of what they did mirrored that patience and, you know, infinite patience for these, you know, each of us learning from the generation before and taking that forward.
00:26:27
Speaker
Yeah. And the importance of just showing up for one another. I mean, I think about Joe and Penny and how they dedicated their time and put so much energy into preparing that one week. I mean, they, they helped us create a musical right that we would perform or, you know, do at the, you know, new tab. There was a lot that went into that and they, they gave up their time for us teenagers, you know, it's such a good lesson in like,
00:26:58
Speaker
We adults need to show up for our kids and just be there and how important it is to have people like that in our lives. Yeah, it is. i In fact, i'm I'm working to interview Joe and Penny on the podcast. Oh, cool. That would be wonderful. So many people want to hear from them. So many people across the board. That's who I found people want to hear from.
00:27:21
Speaker
Are those kind of significant people? That's my next question. Who are some other significant people in your lives that you met through Mission Springs that you can say, oh, meeting that person was just a really significant moment for me going forward, either in my spiritual life or just as a person?
00:27:40
Speaker
I can't say one person, but I can think of, of course, Allison. But we, Allison and your younger sister, Emily, and Gretchen Weiss, it was the four of us starting off at a very young age, running around Mission Springs together. And that, those friendships were, much like the friendship I have with Allison have, we sort of revisited it several years ago, the four of us, and sort of made a recommitment to the relationship that we started as young girls. And now that is, those are, you know, three women in my life that I talk to on a weekly basis. And those women are, you know, key to my my faith and my, you know, I feel like people that know you as a young
00:28:23
Speaker
person as a young girl, like that is the true Kristen, right? Who you met when, when I was eight years old, that's really the core of who I am. So knowing these women now that I'm 50 years old, these are people that understand like what truly drives me, who I really am underneath it all. And it's a really, it's been a, it's the biggest blessing in my, in my life life to have had that experience, all based at Mission Springs and all thanks to, you know, the people that laid down those first cabins a hundred years ago.
00:28:53
Speaker
And we've been through a lot, the four of us, just as an example, over the last, you know, 40 plus years, now we're dating ourselves, since we were kids. And, you know, to have that foundation of a friendship to support one another as we go through the trials and tribulations of life that happened to everybody has just been a godsend.
00:29:16
Speaker
Really. Yeah. That's such a nice, special friendship. My original intent was to interview all four of you at the same time, but then I was worried that it would just be too many voices all at once. So then I i am trying to get Gretchen and Emily to be interviewed. Emily is very reluctant. Yeah.
00:29:34
Speaker
and like ever we work an honor yes We're Yes. And I'm like, okay, but we're related. So you kind of have to do it because we're related, which is not really proving to be a compelling argument. um Any other significant people that you can think of that would be good for a mention?
00:29:51
Speaker
i I mentioned Dave and Lois Kane, my godparents, their house was at the top of Free Me Circle. The door was always unlocked and you could always, maybe you had stop to go to the bathroom. Maybe you wanted a treat. Maybe you needed both, but it was that open door policy that I think is just so loving and welcoming, especially as a kid. And, you know, if Lois and Dave were there,
00:30:17
Speaker
they would smile and they would spend time with you and they would ask you questions. And it was just such a beautiful feeling to have that. I also think of Vi Martinson at Free Me Circle too, who also had a very fun cabin or house to visit and always had a treat. Dave and Bob and Norma Anderson. And I would say on kind of the Chet and Margaret Cederborg, I went to their cabin a lot for so for treats and snacks down at the flat. It all depended on where you were on the mountain and and where and the Gambleguards, you know, kind of that midway. yes You could get treats and cookies there or stop and bake some cookies. Other people that come to mind are Maria Friesen, now Kallmeyer, and Lisa Pettuff, now Hurl. We're both counselors at at Frontier Ranch and we're really, you know, kind of role models, mentors for me growing up.
00:31:16
Speaker
Yeah. For me as well. Yeah. Kristen, I'm coming from Texas. Did you ever feel like, wow, this is weird. It's just me with my grandparents.
00:31:28
Speaker
And now they're inviting all their other, you know, older friends around. Did you ever feel like, oh, i I have to escape this environment a little bit. I'm feeling a little like it's not quite my my group.
00:31:40
Speaker
Um, no, like i you know, I was, I was very close to my grandma Gladys from the beginning and I, you know, it was nothing but, you know, at Clifford and i certainly had our issues at times. He didn't quite know how to manage a young girl. But there like there was nothing but love there and such freedom to you enjoy my friendships. They always were willing to have people over, as you guys know. like I think your little sister, Gretchen, was renowned for coming over and
00:32:12
Speaker
with her little voice and saying, Cliff, do you have any candy? And like, you know, like every day. um So, so truly like um I did feel like I sort of had parental people, Jan and Dean were sort of like the parental people. Like if I had a a parent thing that I needed. And and then Grandma Gladys grandma gladys and and Grandpa Cliff were just like a very comfortable home base for me to just be comfortable and you know give me rides places and feed me great food and and just enjoy um the innocence of summertime at Mission Springs.
00:32:49
Speaker
They were the paragon. Go ahead, Allison. I was going to say, if you get tired of hanging out with your grandparents, you just leave and roam around and find some kids to hang out with. that's but I think that's the nice thing. It's kind of the best of both worlds, right? yeah but they were so hospitable. I just, I can remember going over there if we needed something and they just have tons of people around and they'd be having coffee. It might be a hundred degrees like in August and And all these people sitting around drinking coffee at four o'clock in the afternoon. And they'd be like, come on in. Do you want something? We've got some cookies here. There was such a feeling of hospitality. And as a small child, the freedom to be able to do that was just really nice. So really loved your grandparents. they were They were so great to us. They're really wonderful, wonderful people. I'm i'm very blessed to have had all that time with them, um particularly my grandma Gladys, you know.
00:33:41
Speaker
I have a memory of Cliff in the 4th of July parade. So two things. He would lead the band, right? Yes. But then he would also come around sometimes with the imaginary dog on the leash.
00:33:57
Speaker
you remember that? He had like... a leash that was on a wire and he would walk the imaginary dog. An invisible dog, right. Well, and he would wear that crazy big fuzzy tall black hat yeah And he had like his, his thing that his like scepter and his suspenders that he would leave the parade for several years. Cliff did that. Yes. He had a lot of personality. When I, when I think of your your dad and your uncle, Kristen, I think that boy, Cliff must've had a lot of personality because they have a lot of personality. oh for sure. For sure. I was thinking actually, Uncle Rod might be somebody good to interview too. He's got so many stories. So many stories and probably a few jokes.
00:34:40
Speaker
Oh, gosh. Yeah, brace yourself. All right. So now this is and this a new, we we talked about some serious, like heartfelt stuff. How about some scandalous stuff? Was there anything scandalous that happened at Mission Springs? And i I'm, you know, quote unquote scandalous, right? Like no no buried bodies or anything. But what are some things that you can think of that you're like, wow, it's a good thing maybe the parents didn't know about that at the time.
00:35:07
Speaker
Beyond like spray painting the water tower scandalous? Well, that's kind of one level of scandal. I think a lot of people have done that. We talked with Ryan about the fact that if people would maybe spray paint a little bit better, then we wouldn't mind so much. Some of some of the art efforts on the water tower have not been, you know, 10 out of 10. But, you know, like levels of scandal.
00:35:29
Speaker
I can't think of any. Allison, you might know better than- I think ton. I'm just trying to think what's appropriate for the podcast. Right. I will say if you knew somebody at Mission Springs that had, was it the C key? There was one key that opened every single lock.
00:35:46
Speaker
Oh, that's cool. I can't remember. Yeah. And so if you knew somebody with that key, that was the golden ticket. So we could go into the walk-in and get some- the pool. Yeah. cookie dough we could get the donut maker out and make some donuts we could instead of hop the fence at the pool we could walk in and actually take a hot shower after dunking in the pool that is right so is that scandalous I don't know they were borderline it's good fun scandalous it's good
00:36:21
Speaker
Yeah. It's a very wholesome scandalous. And I think a lot of Mission Springs scandals are wholesome scandals. Cal and I used to walk around, and usually not during the summer, but when we were there during other times of the year, and there would be cabins that we didn't, had never seen the inside, and you didn't know what was going on in there. And we would try to find different ways to peek in the windows.
00:36:43
Speaker
And I think again, it was just one of those ways, like we were trying to get out of the cabin because my mom was the kind that if you weren't doing something, but she could see you, she would put you to work. So it was like, okay, we have to go and be out of her eyesight. What are we gonna do? And there were just some cabins and we'd make up stories about the cabins and we're like, wonder what's going on in there. And so we would try to figure out ways to peek in the windows, which meant sometimes like going behind the cabins. sure asking so That's like frowned upon.
00:37:13
Speaker
now. People shouldn't be looking in other people's cabins, but, you know, we're just curious what's going on in there. most of the time you look in the window and you're like, there's a giant map of Sweden. Great. and there's There's some dollar horses. Exactly. like Anything was being unearthed by our prying eyes, but, you know, we're just kind of curious because all the cabins were different and we, you know, we went in the ones of people we knew, but some people we didn't know. yeah. I will say one thing that comes to mind that should not be repeated currently is I i was with a group of people that worked on staff, not to be named, took a bunch of the non-dairy creamer that was set out of the, you know, by the coffee area and put it like in a big cup and then went to the top of the old tab and lit it on fire. Yeah.
00:38:02
Speaker
Does that stuff light on fire? sure does. it's super flammable. Yeah. It's super flammable. Listeners do not do this at home, but it was quite entertaining. Wow. Yeah. Wow. I didn't even know you could light that on fire. I learned something new every day. Okay.
00:38:18
Speaker
Huh. I'm glad they didn't light anything else on fire, you know, nowadays. Emerson, the naturalist, would be like, no, no. When I worked at camp, you know, I think there was one kid that got caught smoking when I worked at Frontier Ranch. Oh.
00:38:30
Speaker
And I went up him I'm like, dude, I don't care if you smoke. What you do with your lungs is up to you. But I really don't want you to burn down the camp. Interesting. All right. Well, um any funny stories that you can think of? Not necessarily scandalous, but funny stories.
00:38:45
Speaker
Well, I was thinking about, this is an Allison and I story from family camp. So she would often stay with with me at c Cliff and Gladys' for the whole week of family camp. And we had a lot of together time and there would, we would have fights. And I remember this was before the earthquake, cause it was in the old, my old cabin before we rebuilt. And we got into it. Like we were,
00:39:13
Speaker
not speaking, but she didn't want to go home to Scotts Valley. So we asked Gladys for some masking tape. We split the room down the middle. There was a small hallway that she could walk through my area to get out of the room.
00:39:28
Speaker
But we, like, we gave each other all of our, like, she she took her stuff back. I took my stuff back. Like, we were about to get divorced. The life-size poster of Jon Bon Jovi shifted from one side of the room to the other. to mine. You got it. You got that in the divorce. I did. I did. She could still see it, though. She could totally still see it But we eventually made By the next day, I'm sure.
00:39:53
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah.
00:39:57
Speaker
yeah Like sisters. It's almost like sisters, I suppose, right? Very much so. We feel like we have to fight and argue because we know that no matter what, we're going to this bond when it's over and it's going to be fine.
00:40:10
Speaker
Yeah. Well, we also, another memory that comes to mind that's pretty funny is we were friends with a bunch of kids that had cabins and whatnot. So Dave and Carol Erickson have a son, Dan. And so we hung out with him and he had some friends from San Jose. Yule and Mike Norton, they had this orange Volvo station wagon that didn't go in reverse. And so there were a lot of times driving around the mountain or parking in various places in Mission Springs where we'd have to get out and push the car.
00:40:45
Speaker
in neutral, make it go backwards so that they could then go surfing or go to work or whatever it happened to be. And we used to call the Erickson cabin at the top of Freamy Circle, the better house.
00:41:03
Speaker
And that was definitely a hangout place for us teenagers. And and we were all So that was fun. Lots of snacks. It was too funny. It is funny like that when the cabins start getting kind of differentiated because one of the um things I read to Calla for one of the podcast episodes was how bare bones the cabins started out as. Right. So all the cabins were basically just sides and a roof and no water or anything like that. Just. Kind of like the Frontier your Ranch cabins still are. And then gradually over time, as people realized, you know, it's hard to live in the forest, things start to fall apart a little bit. How do we kind of fortify these cabins? And then then all of a sudden, some cabins got a little different. And you're like, okay, some cabins retained that Mission Springs kind of musky smell. And some cabins were more like houses. Yeah. Right.
00:41:51
Speaker
Our cabin definitely has the musty smell, no insulation, but you know, of all the places in the world, it is where my three children want to be to this day, which is pretty cool.
00:42:02
Speaker
And it's where Rennie wants to be. You know, i was going to mention that Allison and her husband, Mike, and their family have allowed my son, Rennie, to continue the Mission Springs. are We no longer have a cabin there, but to continue the Mission Springs legacy where he has been able to spend weeks at a time in with Allison's family since he was since he went to minicamp with her son, JD. So he's been able to really like plug in and dig in and have a whole Mission Springs life just just like I did, which has been amazing for him and and has really enriched him as like a a human being and as ah as a as a young man. That's really cool.
00:42:45
Speaker
Have you thought about how Mission Springs might look in the future for your kids? Because you both have you know, kids that have been at Mission Springs, how that transition might look um going forward, looking back on 100 years and all those wonderful things, but knowing now that times do change, what does the Mission Springs look like in the future for you, for your friendship, for things like that?
00:43:10
Speaker
In a perfect world, well, let me tell you really quick, in a perfect world, Rennie would marry a good Swedish Mission Springs girl who has a cabin in the family already.
00:43:22
Speaker
And there you there you go. that's That's as far as I can see. okay like that answer. That's a good answer. Well, I'm hoping we can expand the diversity. So i'm hoping my kiddos can bring in a little bit of non-Swedish, but we will welcome Swedes alike.
00:43:38
Speaker
I honestly, with the, you know, i my background is the technology world. And as we've seen technology changing our lives so quickly and even faster now with I I think that Mission Springs is going to continue to be a critical place where people can meet our creator, where we can
Future of Mission Springs as a Retreat
00:44:00
Speaker
be free of distraction, where we can connect with one another and really have a place of retreat from this crazy world. I think now more than ever.
00:44:11
Speaker
Mission Springs and camp are needed. So I'm excited about the next hundred years. Is it going to look exactly like it did, you know, 50 years ago? No, we're going to have to adapt and evolve. But I think the importance of the place that it is will sustain.
00:44:30
Speaker
Okay. Now, Allison, you had said earlier that, you know, a lot of your memories go back to the pool. If you were to say your, what is your favorite place at Mission Springs?
00:44:41
Speaker
And I know that's a really difficult question. um I know I'm, it's like, I'm asking the kids in my art class, what's your favorite color? And they're like, what do you mean? I can't pick one. No, no question. It's the pool. it's okay No question. In fact, no, Allison, I love that. Yeah. My children know that when I die, my ashes should be scattered in three places. One of which is the Mission Springs pool.
00:45:01
Speaker
Okay. Okay. um not in the Not in the pool, but we just quietly around the area yeah of the pool. I love that. I like that.
00:45:11
Speaker
Kristen, what would you say? Same, definitely the same. I mean, I can't, it's like countless hours that we have, we spent at the pool all day, every day, all summer long. And it's, it's the best. Yeah. Do you have any other good pool stories? Emily was just talking this weekend. We went out to lunch after church and she was recalling those giant black inner tubes.
00:45:31
Speaker
Oh, yes. I had completely blocked those out. I don't know why. Maybe as a parent, I'm like, not safe. But we had those giant black inner tubes that people would just like start standing on. And I don't think you could puncture them. Like they're like tires, practically. they were tires. And they had that big pokey thing that would scrape you or poke you in the leg. Yes.
00:45:51
Speaker
And people would come up under you, like my brother or my now husband, and flip you over if you weren't paying attention. And they would get really hot. They'd get really hot.
00:46:03
Speaker
So yeah, you just had to be careful. Yeah. The other pool um memory that I have is blind tag, playing blind tag for hours every day. Nine to nine. Yeah. Yeah.
00:46:15
Speaker
Absolutely. remember getting, like, really frustrated with people who were not familiar with Mission Springs coming to the pool and being like, do we want to play Marco Polo? I'm like, we don't call it that here. No, no. Like, I don't want to be snooty, but we call it line tag. Yeah. if you don't know how to play, I'm sorry. It's a quiet. We don't shout things. We don't shout. And it's only in the deep end. Sorry. Only in the deep end.
00:46:36
Speaker
Yeah. Trash can to block off the dining board. Yeah. That's right. And now they play a lot of other games. They play that toothpick game that I really worry... kids are going have some kind of head injury. yeah Now that I'm a parent, I go to the pool and I feel like, do I work for an insurance company? it seems like there's a lot of dangers here. But as a kid, it just felt like, oh, this is just awesome and fun. Totally.
00:47:00
Speaker
And I even remember, do you remember this? Coming down from Frontier Ranch when the old baby pool was there and basket weaving in the pool. Yes, basket weaving in the baby pool. I do remember.
00:47:12
Speaker
Okay, I'm not crazy. I'm like, we did basket weaving, but it was in the old baby pool. Once that wasn't there anymore, I don't think they did it. They didn't, but that's a totally recovered memory that you're giving me because I would not have ever thought about that again unless you had mentioned it.
00:47:25
Speaker
i have another pool memory. There was a snack bar gal, I think her name was Joni, that knew synchronized swimming, and she taught the four PTPs. Yeah, so me, Kristen, Gretchen, Emily,
00:47:40
Speaker
how to do so how to stay afloat, how to prop ourselves up, how to do all these different moves. And so we would come up with all these little like choreographed aqua dances. That's impressive. Can we still do these things? I think we can still, we can do a couple moves, I bet.
00:47:59
Speaker
I feel like we should maybe revisit that. I think we should this summer. Okay. That leads me to another question that I feel like we have to tell people that are listening. You said four PTPs. PTPs. Okay. So I think you're going have to tell people what that means because they probably heard it mentioned and been like, what is that? Is that some kind of weird like code name for, anyway, explain.
00:48:24
Speaker
We were the four preteen punks. Okay. And our motto was... wide be normal
00:48:34
Speaker
we we had We had T-shirts that Allison designed and manufactured for us on her dad's um white T-shirts that she stole from him with a Sharpie. Sharpie. And it said, four PTPs. And I don't think that you could come up with four young women that were less...
00:48:51
Speaker
pi Maybe Cal and I. I don't think Cal. You guys are probably a little more punk than Cal and I. We're like, there's going to reading involved. We did. We popped at Lily Wong's downtown, Mitch, to your father's dismay, Jenny. Oh, Lily Wong's was the best. I loved Lily Wong's. Your father hated No, I know. It was too much. Too many things. much. And they were all small. I think dad had a few things he didn't like. Balloons, sleepovers, and lily wongs. And you're like, okay. Was it hairspray or nail polish? One of those. Oh, he didn't like hairspray or nail polish. Hairspray. Okay. Maybe it was The only thing that was just accentuating the fact that he was surrounded by women.
00:49:29
Speaker
Women. You know, anything that was like, there are no men around here for me to commiserate with. It was nylons, brushes, anything like that. And lily wongs was definitely on the list. Yeah.
00:49:40
Speaker
but That's so funny. So who came up with the name? don't know. I don't know. kind of happens. Yeah. I'm not sure. But we've been the PTP. We are still to this day the PTPs. Our group chat is called the p four PTPs. anything i mean it's all wait My parents call us the four PTPs. Mine do. yeah That's so fun.
00:49:59
Speaker
Jenny, I have another pool memory. Okay, go for it. that of when you and Kala were baptized by our Uncle Art. Oh, gosh. i I remember that as well. Okay. I'm sure a lot of people did. I will tell the horror story of – and I shouldn't say it as a horror story because it's a baptism and it's an important spiritual event in the life of a young child. But the thing was is that we wanted to get baptized at the pool – Uncle Art was going to do it. But he said that in order to do it, we needed to memorize the Apostles' Creed and the explanation that was in the Lutheran church, because he was a Lutheran minister, um like in their handbook of of creeds and things, which was super long. It was super long. I'm like, how are we going to do this? And my mom said, if you do this, you can get your ears pierced.
00:50:48
Speaker
So already I feel like my spiritual life requires negotiation. I don't know. not super okay with that. Then the next thing was we we get these white robes from a church in Felton somewhere.
00:51:01
Speaker
And my mom said, you don't have to wear your bathing suits underneath. And I said, I think we do. i really do. They're white robes. And she's like, no, you don't. And we didn't. And you could see right through them. Like I know could I don't remember that, Jenny, but what I do remember is I can't remember who got baptized first, but whoever got baptized first of you two got water up their nose. And it was like sputtering. And then, you know, the next person that went got their nose plugged. So whoever went second got the yeah good luck. I don't think Uncle Art was trying to drown me, but- No. No, probably I just-
00:51:37
Speaker
I don't think he had done a baptism in a pool before. I think that was Maybe not. Our kids ended up getting baptized in the Mission Springs pool, um my own kids and Emma, and James did it, their uncle. So that was nice thing. But I just remember there was a lot of things related to that baptism that I was, okay, I know this is supposed to be meaningful, but I'm just remembering the things that were kind of weird. And then we ended up having to take It was freezing, of course, because the pool's all freezing. And then pictures and my hair's all wet. And then we took showers in the in the showers at the pool. And those were not nice showers. you know and But again, we didn't have bathing suits on. So I'm like, Mom, someone has to stand at the door. I don't want just anybody walking in here and singing. I'm taking a shower after this baptism. So, you know, all all fun things. All right. So I have a a list of questions that are kind of the quick fire questions for the end of the podcast. And you can think about them ah a little bit, but they're meant to be answered pretty quickly. Again, if they're too scandalous, you can be like, oh, I'm not going to say that. It's okay. The first question is this, and we call this segment shooting the gulch.
00:52:46
Speaker
So have you ever participated in shooting the gulch? Of course. Yeah. How did it go? We did it a lot. In my, what was it, circa 1978, 79 Volvo stick shift.
00:53:03
Speaker
and And we would give it gas at the top and put it in neutral. I'd keep the lights on, okay but see how far we could go at max speed cruising in neutral.
00:53:17
Speaker
Okay. and And also we did it a lot with um Greg Bowman driving his car, which was like a Taurus, I believe. patient dragonagon That would be with lights off. Off.
00:53:29
Speaker
ahh Yeah. Not smart. And then the other shoot the... I remember riding on the bus... from like maybe it was an event for our family camp with Stuart driving and we would sing the song. Do you guys remember? We are the back of the bus, the back of the bus, the back of the bus. We are the back of the bus. Stuart, shoot the gulch. Yes.
00:53:52
Speaker
Yes, totally. Now it's coming back, Kristen. I have not heard that. That was amazing. So you we would be coming back in a school bus from the beach or for some, the boardwalk or something. We would all start screaming for him to shoot the gulch. Of course he wouldn't. He was in a school bus for children. yeah Responsible.
00:54:10
Speaker
We hollered for it for sure. yeah we We tried. Oh, that is so funny. That is great. I love that. Okay. That's a great shooting the Gulch story. Second question. Have you ever broken a Mission Springs quote unquote rule?
00:54:24
Speaker
Well, I think I already covered a lot of those. Okay. i Well, what i would say I would say one more is Kristen and I would always grab the same bunks in a cabin at Frontier Ranch every time we went to GAMP and we would carve our names oh in the sides. That's probably not advice. Are they still there? Yeah.
00:54:48
Speaker
I don't know. You should look. I don't think a lot's been i mean, they have done some things to kind of fortify those cabins there, yeah but not a lot. I mean, they don't look completely different. All the canvas tops are pretty much gone, but the the structures are pretty similar to what the way they were when we were kids.
00:55:05
Speaker
Well, and also a Frontier Ranch sort of rule breaking thing was when we were like, it was the eighties and we were very much into big hair. We brought our butane curling irons with us to camp um because there was no electricity. So I think that's probably frowned upon as a hazard.
00:55:24
Speaker
I love my butane curling iron. That thing was amazing. like but more Yeah, big hair from the 80s and all the makeup that we would bring too. I think we spent more on the accessories and cosmetics for camp than we did on camp altogether.
00:55:39
Speaker
Oh, probably. But now, you know what? Okay, I'm going to say, because i I know I used to get busted for like putting on makeup at camp or at the beach or something. But that stuff has SPF in it. So I'm not going apologize. It'll probably
Favorite Snacks and Treats
00:55:50
Speaker
help us in later on. That's right. That's smart of you. I'm like, yeah maybe it was okay.
00:55:55
Speaker
It wasn't the worst in the world. All right. If you were at the pool at any point in history and went to the snack bar, what are you ordering? A suicide slush and then maybe a handful of red vines and then maybe – some Reese's peanut butter cups to leave out in the sun to melt so that I could drink them.
00:56:19
Speaker
ah What? How do you drink a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup? You leave it out in the sun, in the cup itself, and it melts, and then you drink it. And you kind of snurp it?
00:56:29
Speaker
Yeah, you sleep it. I prefer to get plain M&Ms, leave them in the sun, and then squish them between your fingers and then lick your fingers. Yeah, that does sound pretty good. Or a Coconut Wonder Bar. Those always went fast.
00:56:44
Speaker
Okay, Wonder Bars. Coconut Wonder Bar, yeah. it's like word got out at the pool that they had them and then there'd be a line. Last question. Oh, no. i Second to last question.
00:56:55
Speaker
Anytime in history, again, you're running the mountain goat run. Where do you place? Allison would probably, Allison would place in the top three. no. Kristen would place at the bottom four.
00:57:09
Speaker
So you wouldn't be running together in the mountain goat run? Definitely not. for a long No, no. I will say fun fact. I have run the mountain goat every single year since I want to say 1982. Oh my gosh. have the t-shirts to to prove it. And I brought one of those t-shirts back and squished myself into it and ran and looked like a silly old lady. That's amazing.
00:57:38
Speaker
I would say I would win the stroller division, which, like you know, there were several years there with three little kids under the age of five where I would push a double stroller up that big hill. harder than just running. I mean, running it is hard enough and I'm not a runner and I i sometimes get out to wave at the runners and say, great job. Pushing a stroller is like,
00:58:00
Speaker
twice as hard. It wasn't really running. It was like walking, you know, part walk, part jog. But, you know, I would definitely win the stroller division because i was the only stroller out there.
00:58:12
Speaker
but I have a photo of us, Allison and I, and Kala and Jenny post mountain goat run when we were teenagers. So it may be At some point, you guys ran it.
00:58:27
Speaker
Right. We all looked – I think Carrie Erickson is in it. We were all very sweaty. We looked like we had run it. um There was one year i ran it, and we were the last ones. It was like there was a few of us that were the last ones.
00:58:41
Speaker
Kirk Christensen might have been in that group. And we were kind of walking down Nelson Road, which always seemed a lot longer than I remember. it's a little long. It's steep in the And it is. And so we were just kind of walking and there was a guy on a motorcycle who was supposed to be bringing up the back of the group.
00:58:58
Speaker
And we basically were like, yeah, you can just go on ahead. Like we're going be a while. Just, you know, we get it. We're slow. And I think we were some of the last ones to to finish. And then there was one year Cal got the idea that we would have a – we would make a, like, caterpillar of people. You know how – That's what have a picture of. That's what it was. We need people, like – trendy, like, ways to run races back in the 80s. I think mom and dad did the beta breakers, and we saw these people that were, like, all linked together, and that's how they ran the race. So we're like, okay, if we can't win this. And it's going to be hard. Let's like bring creativity to it. And I think that's what we ended up doing.
00:59:38
Speaker
and i And I think that's what I have a picture of. I think where i I might have been tied into the caterpillar. I'm not sure. Of course you were. I think there was a lot of us. So probably was, again, harder than just one minute. Yeah. Probably easier. I remember one year, Allison, Kala ran it with your dad.
00:59:54
Speaker
And it was really nice. ah I did not run it that year. But she was like, I'm going to do this. and And Uncle
Mountain Goat Run Memories
01:00:00
Speaker
Dean had a whole strategy. for running it and he was communicating the strategy to Cala. And I remember listening going, oh, okay, that sounds like you guys have a plan. And basically it was, okay, they were going to take it easy going up the hill and run when it was flat and walk when it wasn't. And then once you got to the top, right by Frontier Ranch, he's like, we're just going to race down the hill like you're falling down the hill, like you're falling down the hill. And I'm like, that sounds terrible.
01:00:26
Speaker
That sounds awful. But they had a whole thing and they were going to run the race together. i'm cute. wow It was cute. Kristen, your dad would walk it. he would He would walk it like the years that he was at family camp. be Sure. Yeah, yeah. I'm walking it. I'm not running it, but I'm walking it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to take you probably coming up the the rear as well there. I think it's always good. It's a nice walk, even if you're walking it. Yeah.
01:00:51
Speaker
Okay, last question. Calla hates this question, so it's probably because she's not here. um What is the best kissing spot at Mission Springs? There are to choose from. I know that's the hard thing. There are a lot to choose from.
01:01:03
Speaker
Well, my favorite is um where there are many kisses happened. After walking around the mountain with somebody, I would get walked to my cabin and just right there in the driveway of Cliff and Gladys' place. They were out cold.
01:01:18
Speaker
Nobody, you know, i could i could spend a minute smooching. That's a great one. I know as a parent now, I recognize that. Like I'm in bed at 930. So whatever else is happening. Okay. Totally. Totally. You're not you're not in waiting up. Yeah. now I would say it depends on where you are at Mission Springs, right? So if you're, you know, hanging out in the flat, the playground is actually quite a good place. That's a very good spot. wait unassuming On the slide, on the merry-go-round? on the merry-go-round. You could sit on the merry-go-round. yes
01:01:50
Speaker
Yep. Yep. And then if you were at Frontier Ranch, they used to put up a teepee every summer. And the teepee was actually a pretty solid kissing spot too. Anytime you're out on the sideline of adults.
01:02:07
Speaker
I know. I've asked this question of a lot of people. Calla doesn't like the question, but I'm going to make the argument that I think the best kissing spot at Mission Springs is the roof of the dining hall.
01:02:20
Speaker
Because we used to go out on the – Cedar. Yeah, ah from Cedar up there. yeah And go out and be on the roof. Now I'm thinking about there are probably tons of bugs and stuff. now I wouldn't do it now because just not a big fan of bugs. But, you know, when you're in high school, you don't care. And I thought that was a great place because it was kind of out and about, but no one's going to stumble upon you. and that's That's a good spot. happening Flashlight, you know, that kind of thing. Yeah.
01:02:43
Speaker
Actually, can I share a little story about my grandma Hanson from Kingsburg? So she used to come as a little girl. And there was one summer when I stayed out too late and i got in trouble for breaking curfew. And my this is my mom's mom. my My grandma Hanson was hearing my mother kind of give me a hard time about breaking curfew. And she said, oh, Jan, you know, we used to break curfew all the time when we came You know, for family camp. And she told the story of how she would hang out at Cathedral Grove with the boys from Turlock and they would, you know, hang out at Cathedral Grove. And there was one night at family camp when they stayed out so late that they heard the morning breakfast bell.
01:03:30
Speaker
oh Oh, that is scandalous. Yes. Well, and so, you know, my mom kind of laughed and she's like, okay, well, I shouldn't be so hard on you type of a thing. But I later grabbed Grandma Hansa and I said, tell me more about this story. She said, oh yeah, Cathedral Grove is a great place for kissing because it's, everybody thinks you're praying and, and you know, having Bible study and good fellowship, but that's the place to go. So.
01:03:59
Speaker
There you go, Grandma Hanson. Oh, my. You know what? And I think that is a great place because there's a lot of places to sit, and it can be kind of dark. And you can see people coming. You know, I think that's an important thing because you don't want to get surprised, right? So if you're in the Grove, if people are coming down the trail, there's no way to do that silently. And if people are coming up the road, they have to have some kind of flashlight or something because otherwise, you know, they could walk into a tree. or There are a lot of good, dark nooks and crannies at Mission Springs.
01:04:27
Speaker
Yeah. For those who want to find them. That's exactly right. Well, this has been so fun to talk to the two of you. I just love hearing some of these stories. I didn't know about the shooting the Gulch song. That was fun.
01:04:39
Speaker
I love hearing the old memories of the pool. It's been so great to talk to you. Thank you much. Thank you so much. It's been a real delight to remember some of this stuff and just like, you know, just kind of bask in the glow of such great memories.
01:04:53
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. and Thanks for doing this, Jenny. You guys are doing great. Yeah. So fun.
01:05:09
Speaker
Well, everybody, welcome back. Isabella and I are here on the other side of my interview with Kristen and Allison, which was so much fun to talk to them. Isabella, I just have a final question for this podcast for you because we always end the podcast with a question about Mission Springs. And I know you love to sing.
01:05:26
Speaker
i do. In choirs and musicals and all this kind of stuff. If I had to ask you, what is your favorite song associated with Mission Springs, Frontier Ranch, you know, any any part of the camp, what is your favorite song?
01:05:41
Speaker
Oh, I know exactly which one my favorite. Okay. I think it's called One Name Under Heaven, but it's the one for, I don't know if this is like, was around when you were a counselor, but it's like the one name under heaven.
01:05:55
Speaker
Okay. I might need you to sing the whole more of it and like louder because I don't know this song. Okay. It's, don't want to sing it. Just ah just so just like a stanza or something. is I just think it's for the one part that's funny is when we go like, Baptized in the water, filled with a go ghost. oh And then you have to like punch the air. But I just think it's really fun. You like this song because of the hand motions? that Yes. And you like this song because of the hand motions?
01:06:24
Speaker
Yes, I do. Because I think it's really, really funny to punch the air and go, when you're talking about that. Okay. So... A lot of Isabel's spiritual life is based on making ninja sounds during songs. Okay.
01:06:41
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's really fun. And it's also kind of a competition because there's like three different verses to the song. Okay. And so there's one verse that's like, the one name under heaven, whereby I must be saved. And then you have the other one where it's the hood, like, forgiveness of sins, baptized in the water, that one. And then there's the other one that's like, see... Really free, my friend, freed by the blood of the lamb. And it's really fun. But they split us into three different parts at camp.
01:07:11
Speaker
So it's like a competition to see who is going to be the loudest. And I never pick the right spot to stand for group two, which is the huh part.
01:07:24
Speaker
Why? Why do you never pick the right spot? So in the theater, we're all like sitting during prime time, which is the beginning of the day. We're getting ready to go to our activities. We've just finished breakfast. It's very, very fun. We're singing some songs. But so we have different like spots that we stand usually. So if you're on the like ah Left side, you're probably going end up singing either one or three.
01:07:49
Speaker
or If you're in the middle section, you're usually going to sing two and then vice versa for the right side. But I never pick the middle section when we sing that song.
01:08:01
Speaker
Got it. And I always wanted to be in that middle section. can you just pick yourself up and move? No, because I got my campers and they can't all move with me. And they don't care. Like I care. I did have one group who really did want to be in group two. So we just sang that part. okay anyways that's always an option it is an option we're just just not following the rules we're gonna sing this one but i just think it's a really really fun song and it's fun to have like competition who can be the loudest we're talking about god who can be the loudest while doing it and i think it's very very fun okay cool
01:08:35
Speaker
Well, that's a great answer. I mean, I don't know that song from when I was at camp as either a camper a counselor. We should bring it back. No, no, they have it right now. No, I know. We should bring it back for you guys. to so Bring it back to the main conference center so we can sing it too.
01:08:53
Speaker
Centennial, listen up. We're going be doing it all. Okay. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that people of a certain age group are not as fond of hand motions as smaller children. I think it's great. I'm 20 years old and I love hand motions. I know you love hand motions. It's not just hand motions too. It's my feet. I'm kicking. I'm going oh with my feet too, like a ninja.
01:09:16
Speaker
Right. Like a ninja. All right. Well, that's a fun song. For those of you who are listening out there, we're curious about what your favorite songs are. My personal favorite song is Romans 838. Do you guys still sing that?
01:09:28
Speaker
I do not think so. Are you sure? is it some Maybe. no it's called It's probably something I don't know. Yes. Is it like Taylor Swift, 1989? No. it's yeah It's where I am persuaded.
01:09:40
Speaker
You know that one? For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities. That one. Do you know that that the hate nor death? Yes. Okay, I only know that one part. only know that one part? Well, you sing it to yourself sometimes.
01:10:00
Speaker
Yeah. And you only ever sing that one part. Is that right? yeah I don't remember doing that, but wait, they don't sing that at camp anymore? no Oh my goodness. That's the song they should
Reviving Old Songs and New Song Cards
01:10:10
Speaker
bring back. I don't know about this other crazy song you're singing, but this song they should bring back. I think it's a hard one.
01:10:17
Speaker
Yeah. We're just going to, we'll make new song cards. I'm on program this year. I'll, I'll. It's a really good one. And for the hand motion people in the audience, there are a lot of the great hand motions. I'm just saying no ninja kicks, but good hand motions.
Encouragement to Share Favorite Songs
01:10:33
Speaker
All right. Well, hey, ladies, listeners, if you have a favorite song out there, please share it with us. You may have to sing a a bit of it if in case I don't know what it is and send those along.
01:10:43
Speaker
In the meantime, we've been happy to have this episode available for you and we look forward to talking with you again. Have a great day.