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Hej Ladies! Episode 01—Mike and Kathy Holmgren
110 Plays2 months ago
In our first episode, Calla and Jenny talk to their parents Mike and Kathy Holmgren. Drawing from their long history at Mission Springs, Mike and Kathy discuss their first memories of the camp, how they met each other and eventually married at Cathedral Grove, and what inspired them to buy their own cabin right before the earthquake in 1989.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Holmgren Twins Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
Hi there, this is Calla and Jenny Holmgren, otherwise known as the Holmgren Twins, or just Hey Ladies.
00:00:12
Speaker
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 100 years of what's been happening at Mission Springs.
00:00:27
Speaker
Welcome to Hey Ladies. hi my name is Jenny Holmgren-Cowblee and... My name is Calla Holmgren. And we are Hey Ladies, two patrons of Mission Springs who are hosting a podcast in honor of the 100 years of Mission Springs, the centennial year. We came up with this idea to kind of interview some people to find out what happened at Mission Springs over these 100 years, hoping to talk to lots of different types of people about their experiences and hopefully have a little bit of fun.
00:00:58
Speaker
Now, full disclosure, we are not professional podcasters. Cal is a doctor and I'm a teacher and we're just doing this for fun. So if you don't agree with what we say or have problems with how we say it, you can just keep those thoughts to yourself. Yeah,
Origins of the Podcast and Mission Springs History
00:01:13
Speaker
we don't want to hear about that. We don't want to hear about that, but we're hoping that as we interview people and we get some of these details in these audio sessions that you'll learn a little bit more about Mission Springs and what has made it so special during these 100 years. So here's what we're going to start out with. I'm actually right now, this is Jenny, and I'm serving on the Centennial Task Force, which is a group of people that has been put together by Mission Springs to plan this year of celebrating 100 years. And this is where I came up with this idea. And so I've been kind of immersed in a lot of Mission Springs information for a few years now, and I've found out a lot of things that may be a surprise to Callis. So I thought we would start out each one of these podcasts before we talk to our guests with just some information that maybe she doesn't know about yet.
00:01:59
Speaker
Probably a lot of stuff. A lot of stuff. One thing that I thought we'd just introduce this podcast with as far as the history of Mission Springs is how the location of Mission Springs came about. So, Cal, did you know that there were a lot of places that they considered to put Mission Springs? No, but what were the other places? Okay. So, way back in like 1923,
00:02:20
Speaker
There was a group of these Swedish Evangelical Covenant mission friends, and they were looking for a place to put just a camp because in the wonderful Scandinavian tradition, they like to go to other places and learn about God. They didn't want to just stay at their church homes necessarily. They also wanted to go camping and be in other places. So they kind of centralized their location search on the Santa Cruz Mountains because a lot of these churches were located kind of the Bay Area or over in the valley and they were looking for a place that probably was kind of woodsy or different than they were living. The natural world. The natural world, right. So they had a land committee and that land committee found a place near Aptos but they said it was too low and a real mosquito bowl. Oh, well I'm totally anti-mosquitoes.
00:03:11
Speaker
Yeah. like What does too low mean? I don't know. Maybe that's why there were all those mosquitoes there. Because it was really low lying areas. I don't know. That's
Challenges in Securing Mission Springs Land
00:03:19
Speaker
just a quote I read in something. So I'm not sure what that actually meant. But there was another one near a railroad track in Capitola.
00:03:26
Speaker
And... people just didn't quite agree on where they should be so they were actually kind of touring around and they learned from a storekeeper in Felton that there was a nice bit of land that was on the west side of the road through Scotts Valley that had a low price so they were going to look at that but it turned out that was not suitable you know what directions get kind of iffy up there I'm not sure what's west and what's east and all that kind of stuff but I guess the ocean is west. The ocean is west. so i think Sometimes, but it's a bay. Yeah. Okay. Okay. they didn't like that. But then they traveled a little further on and they came upon a place called Houghton Ranch. And there was a water pump and they stopped for some water. yeah And it turned out, and they were kind of chatting in Swedish, and a lady stopped by and asked if they were Norwegians. Oh, dear.
00:04:20
Speaker
I know. I'm not sure what that was all about. But they explained that they weren't. They were Swedes, but they were looking for some property and it turned out this this lady was Norwegian. oh And she had a Scottish husband and they had this ranch and they were gonna offer to sell it. oh They hiked up some trails.
00:04:38
Speaker
and they were able to view the properties and that this price for 45 acres was $6,000 and included quote unquote, a spring that never went dry.
00:04:48
Speaker
You know, if I've learned anything from Homestead Rescue, that is very important. Is it? Yes. I don't watch Homestead Rescue. yes You think that's the creek? No. I don't know. No, the spring is the springs. They come up from the ground. They might feed into the creek. Isn't that the creek? No.
00:05:04
Speaker
No. well we're different I guess one of the things we'll have to do is hunt down the actual spring. Unless it's gone dry since then. It was 100 years ago. thought those were the water towers. No, there wasn't water tower No, but you, okay, this is from Upstead Rescue. You develop it. The spring so that it pumps into water containment unit. I think the spring's on the flat.
00:05:26
Speaker
It's not where the water towers are. No, I don't know. I think the water towers have to do with where are they are. Okay, well I think that just stores water, but we're not, we're going to have to ask somebody who actually knows. we should probably ask somebody who knows. We have no idea. The problem was, there was an unscrupulous real estate dealer whose name was Body. Oh, that's Clue. It sounds like Clue. In the library with the wrench. I know. And he had shown them another piece of property by Boulder Creek, and he that learned they were visiting the Houghton property. He went to the Houghton farm and said he was working on behalf of these Swedish friends that he was in charge of the sale.
00:06:09
Speaker
And he bought it for $6,000 and then told the Swedish people, Now the price is $10,000. Rude. I know. They thought this was the end of all of it. But the truth was, what happened was that the Houghton couple had deeded the land to their daughter. So when they made the deal with Mr. Boddy and- It wasn't legal.
Interview with Mike and Kathy Holmgren
00:06:29
Speaker
No, and it he was tricking them. They were, you know, i think they were nice people.
00:06:33
Speaker
So it turned out it wasn't valid. So at that point, their league president, who was Reverend Wellander, I can only imagine. Wellander? think that's from Wellander Lodge. Sure. He said something in Swedish that I can't pronounce, but it means in English, won't the fox body cry crocodile tears when he discovers that he cannot make money on us? Oh, sure well, sure will. Okay, and then they finalized the purchase, and it went through. They got the $6,000, purchased it, and it was all ready to go.
00:07:05
Speaker
So that is a little bit of Mission Springs history. on high ground. this Still fair number of mosquitoes. yeah Not as bad as other places, I suppose. maybe Or Minnesota.
00:07:16
Speaker
lot of mosquitoes in Minnesota. number yeah um So that's how Mission Springs came to be located at Mission Springs. And, you know, we can talk later about how they eventually settled on the name, but I think that spring that never runs dry is part of it. All right, so that's a little bit of history. And now we're going to go into our interview. Our inaugural interview for this episode, we actually, we decided to go a little easy and we're interviewing our parents, Mike and Kathy Holmgren. who have been part of Mission Springs since, well in the case of dad, since birth and in the case of mom since age three. Yep, the 40s, early 50s. To be honest, it was an easy interview to get because they have to say yes, they're our parents. And they're chatty. And they're chatty. So we are going to spend just a little bit of time talking to them about their experience at Mission Springs and all that entailed. We hope you like this first episode. I promise we're going to get better at this the more we do it.
00:08:08
Speaker
it You know, everything... takes learning. Oh, no, for sure. And like I said, we are not professional podcasters. We just thought this would be fun. If you have things you want to write in and suggest, we are welcome to all of those suggestions. But in the meantime, enjoy our interview with Mike and Kathy Holmgren.
00:08:30
Speaker
So this is exciting. This is our first episode of our podcast, Hey Ladies, where we talk to different people about their memories of Mission Springs. And for our inaugural episode, we have Mike and Kathy Holmgren here, which is exciting because not only are they longtime patrons of Mission Springs, but they're also our parents. So it was kind of an easy interview. We got to get used to this. Yeah. haven't done this before. So this is our first episode, so we're going to it out.
00:08:56
Speaker
Yeah. Mike and Kathy, welcome. Thank you very much. Okay. Our first question that we're just gonna ask all guests is, and it's gonna seem pretty tricky because it might've been when you were really young. What is your first memory of Mission Springs?
00:09:11
Speaker
Boy, do I get to go first? Sure. Okay. Well, I've been there for, I'm 77 years old, so I've been at Mission Springs for 77 years because I came as a baby.
00:09:23
Speaker
Wow, really? Yeah, I don't remember that now. Well, no. You asked for a first memory. Okay. Okay, the first memory of that that stuck in my mind is I was on the swings in the old swing place. Playground? the Playground. Well, quick question. is it where Was it where it is now? It is where, but they modernize it. It does some things. Okay. And the swings, they had three swings that everyone used and would you would get a worn out ground underneath it. So you had kind of a trough.
00:09:58
Speaker
And I remember getting on there and falling off. And it happened to be a time when it had rained a little bit and it was, the trough was full of water. Oh gosh. So I went home, covered in mud, to the cabin and my my mom said, what did you do?
00:10:16
Speaker
I said, life I fell out of the swing into the mud. And I think I started to cry. How old were you? I was probably four or five. Yeah. And then your clothes were probably messy.
00:10:28
Speaker
Messy. They were awful. Well, yeah yeah I mean, it's not washing clothes at Mission Springs. It's gotten easier, but I imagine that was quite a production. That quite a production. In the sink. She would wash clothes in the sink. Wow.
00:10:39
Speaker
Were you at the playground by yourself? No, I think my my younger sister, Calla, was probably there. Someone was but she was younger than you watching over her because we're year apart.
00:10:51
Speaker
No one cared what I was doing, but that playground was very important to us. And it was right down the street from your cabin. yeah So it wasn't like our cabin when we were growing up the yellow cabin, we'd have to walk all the way down the hill, which means you had to walk up the hill. Right down Samuelson right there. And it was about two minutes away, but I was covered in mud. That was the story. Okay.
00:11:12
Speaker
Mom, what was your first memory of Mission Springs? Well, we moved to California from Ohio when I was three. And I don't have this memory, but I have a picture of myself in 1951 at the 4th of July celebration where they took this big, long picture. Lovely.
00:11:29
Speaker
My first memory was actually with the church, our church, San Jose First Covenant. would come to Mission Springs every year on Memorial Day and have a Sunday school picnic.
00:11:42
Speaker
And it was just something I looked forward to all year long. It was a potluck. The women would make things and put them out in the dining hall for lunchtime. But in the morning, we had games.
00:11:55
Speaker
And they always had the same games, but we looked forward to them. And I remember the... game for my age was they would create a circle with a rope and then they would throw peanuts in it and
Camps, Traditions, and Romantic Customs at Mission Springs
00:12:10
Speaker
then give us little bags and we would pick up the peanuts.
00:12:13
Speaker
Off the grass? Yeah, but they they were in the shell. Okay, okay. So it was like baseball peanuts. but okay And as I got older, it just boggled my mind that those kids didn't always pick up the peanuts. Why would they not just grab handfuls of peanuts? But they they were like two and three years three years of age. So I guess, and they didn't care about it. Now you could peanuts. I was going to say, nut allergies must not be a concern. No peanut allergies back in the The thought about peanuts has changed.
00:12:46
Speaker
But, you know, then you would see adults sort of doing funny things like um there was one where they'd park all these cars on the grass and then they would blindfold two men and the two men between them would be carrying a woman. oh gosh. boy And she would direct them from one end of the grass to the other, which was around Fireside Hall. without touching any of the cars.
00:13:17
Speaker
Oh, but if you touch the car, holy cow, you could get hurt. It's an obstacle course of course. It's medal, a medal. you know, then there was the egg toss to see who could, you know, keep throwing the egg before it broke. And it was in the three-legged race. Pie eating contest.
00:13:34
Speaker
Well, and that was my father who could eat very quickly. i had two brothers and they kind of fought over food, so they all learned to eat very quickly. um Nobody even could compete with my father. He could have, you know, he would, they would be, the men would be laying, and no women, laying on their tummies with their hands tied behind their back. And the the pie was on the ground and they didn't get a spoon or a fork or anything and they would just eat it.
00:14:01
Speaker
and It was always funny. With lots of pictures, pie all over there. He won every single year. That big picture with you and o when you were three, that's the in the yellow cabin? Yeah. oh Okay, so anybody listening the podcast, if you want to see that picture, what year was that?
00:14:18
Speaker
Yeah. 1951? It was 1951, 4th of July. And the really special thing, and Arnold Johnson gave it to us and we had it framed. I think there's another one, know, hanging up someplace in Washington Oh, I'm sure.
00:14:32
Speaker
that I am in that picture along with, ah I could see my younger brother and my parents, all of whom have passed away. And in the background, I could see Mike's father holding who was his sister.
00:14:49
Speaker
And he was probably at home taking a nap because... Or washing his clothes from falling off the swing. And then his sister was just about four people down from me. And to think that, yes, we were together back in 1951. We didn't know each other, but then all these years later, yeah hey, we're still married. So if anyone is wondering, if they're in that picture, you can come up to the yellow cabin when Mike and Kathy are there and find yourself.
00:15:17
Speaker
I think you should really come when they're taking a nap. That would be great. I was just going to say, don't come between one and three. right Okay. So when did you two meet each other?
00:15:30
Speaker
We met each other when, when, when I was 13 years old and Kathy and had come up from San Jose and with a friend of hers and we my my friend my friend and and i walked around with them, just met them for the first time.
00:15:53
Speaker
And I was actually paired up with her friend. Who was the, can we say, or is this going to cause a scandal forever? Patty Kim McKellen. Oh, okay. from from Your friend from San Jose. she okay Yeah, she was not a church friend. Okay.
00:16:07
Speaker
So we walked around, and that was the first time I had met your mother. And, you know, we had a nice nice time. Had an ice cream or something afterwards, and that was it. That was the first time. Okay. Can I back up for a second? So, Dad, your family had a cabin at Mission Springs for a long time. Right. So when you came up as a baby, you had already you already had a cabin. Yes, we were there. We stayed in cabin. Okay, so let me back up for a second. So...
00:16:31
Speaker
you When did your parents buy the cabin at Mission Springs? They didn't buy it. My grandparents bought it. Okay. It was... Oh gosh, I couldn't tell you when they bought it. Okay.
00:16:43
Speaker
You know, but we were there, like I said, I've been there since 1948. forty eight Okay. So sometime before that. Okay. But mom, your family didn't have a cabin when you were so first coming up. No. When did they buy their cabin? They bought the cabin in 1960. So I was just about almost 13. Okay, so you were coming up just kind of visiting camp because you were in San Jose. It's not very far away. Did you stay in Laurel or?
00:17:09
Speaker
No, we had good friends. that The cabin on the corner right as you round after, the first cabin after Cathedral Grove as you rounded And it went down in the earthquake, belonged to Claude and Ruth Neugren. we would come up for church when it was family camp on Sunday and just sort of hang out and go to the pool. And then every year i came to camp.
00:17:39
Speaker
from the time I was going into third grade until I was sophomore in high school. Okay. And the summer camp was down on the flat because Frontier Ranch wasn't thing. Frontier Ranch was not a thing, and it was down on the flat, and Mission Springs kind of was only covenant people from before family camp was high school camp, family general family conference over Fourth of July every year.
00:18:08
Speaker
And then there would be junior high camp, junior girls camp, and junior boys camp. The girls and the boys did not mix until they got to junior high, which at this point in my life seems like a sort of a silly way to handle things.
00:18:23
Speaker
i think this sounds like now the people listening from the Midwest or other parts of the country that have been to other covenant camps, that sounds like what they do at covenant camps still now, like in the Midwest covenant, covenant point and covenant Harbor. I think it was like that for Josh's at Portage Lake where they just, they have covenant camps all summer long. yeah Yes. But then once, yeah. When, I wonder when that changed.
00:18:46
Speaker
Oh, that's a good question. I'll have to ask the centennial task force. We can look that information up. Yeah, because it was and then different camps would rent it for different weeks, usually starting in August. But I think through the month of July, it was pretty much covenant covenant oriented. And then there and it was this summer wasn't all year round so much.
00:19:10
Speaker
I feel like the swing incident, though, happened not in the summer. Because water underneath the swing is not a summer thing. No, it wasn't a summer thing. So we were we were up there, and and maybe just early.
00:19:21
Speaker
Got it. for you know But so my parents, who we came from San Francisco. Kathy came from San Jose, so it was a little bit longer drive for us. And they didn't have the freeways then.
00:19:32
Speaker
You know, to get there, you it it took longer. And coming over Highway 17, remember that as a young person. There was no divider between north and south, and it was windy and kind of treacherous, and but you'd see people on the weekends in particular.
00:19:50
Speaker
A lot of people came over the hill. You'd go to the beach, you know, get in good weather, San Francisco. It can be a little foggy at times. And so, yeah, it was, I would say that was earlier, you know, and not not in the summertime.
00:20:06
Speaker
I will say, though, I actually noticed, Mike, before we bought a cabin, because I went to junior girls camp, and it's very funny. Here you are, just all girls.
00:20:17
Speaker
And I was staying in Laurel, the Laurel that burned down. The one that burned down, the first Laurel. the burnr Where the worship center was. Which apparently I learned in reading some of the things. They had a big debate about where they were going to put the the new worship center. the The new tab is what we called it. And they didn't know. And then when Laurel burned down, it was almost like, well, God wants the new worship center there. so That's true. it was It was a big deal. But I was there, and I think I was in sixth grade before junior high camp. And all of us girls, and there were no boys at camp at all except these two.
00:20:56
Speaker
These two, they weren't Gulchies that people lived on Lockhart-Culch Road, but they were summer boys. okay And one of them was Neil Anderson, but he was there all the time because his father was the grounds...
00:21:10
Speaker
Was head administrator. Yeah, he he he took care of everything. So he lived at Mission Springs. And then this other boy, Mike Holmgren, was there in the summer too because one of the reasons they had a cabin, well, if you've been to San Francisco in July, it's not a place you want to be. So his mother brought the kids over to Mission Springs almost every summer from at least family camp until Labor Day.
00:21:37
Speaker
and to get them out of the fog of San Francisco. So these two boys They were just kind of basking in the glow of all of these girls who were watching them because they were the only boys and there were all of these girls. There were no other boys around? Really? Well, maybe it's Little Brother. This sounded like a John Hughes movie.
00:21:57
Speaker
I know. And so every day after lunch, you know, we didn't have a lot of activities. in and Wait a minute. At camp, you didn't have a lot of activities? Well, we went to a lot of meetings. Church. They went to church, Shay.
00:22:11
Speaker
All the time, church. It's church camp. We went to church. it's good It's good to go all the way to the woods to go to church. some Well, we had the missionary hour and the story hour and the Bible hour. And then sometimes in the afternoon, we had some crafts and then you could go swimming at the pool. But after lunch,
00:22:30
Speaker
It was the flat-on bunk time where you just had to lay around and maybe read the scripture verses that you were studying you know during the week of camp. And we were all just looking out the window at the grass because these two boys were playing football. Well, the other reason there weren't a lot of you know what would happen typically...
00:22:51
Speaker
is that you go to family camp. And then that's when all the covenant churches and all there are a lot of people there and a lot of kids our age. Okay. Then when that ended, if you didn't own a cabin there, they'd go home. Everyone went home.
00:23:08
Speaker
Now my grandparents had a cabin. Neil worked, lived there. And that's why we oftentimes we were the only two left after the family camp. And presumably the other boys would come back for junior boys week. Yeah. yeah So they maybe, if they had intended for the boys and the girls to be it there at the same time, the boys would be there. right. But they didn't really want the boys there at the same time. No, no. It would have be harder to to pray and read the Bible.
00:23:35
Speaker
That was their motive. Little did know it was going to be thwarted by Dad and Neil Anderson. Oh, boy. So you saw him out the window, and then later on you came back with your friend Patty, and then who was your friend? Was it still Neil? Neil? Yes. Yeah, Neil. Oh, okay. He's getting around. We were the two feet and we're the two guys there. Okay, so then at what point did you decide, oh I don't like Kathy's friend, I like Kathy?
00:24:03
Speaker
Well, it was probably the next year, and, you know, again, the group around that came at... for this family camp, you had a large group from Oakland Covenant Church, you had a large group from Turlock, the Covenant Church there, you had a smaller group from San Francisco, where I was, but I was i was already there at at the grounds.
00:24:28
Speaker
You had a large group from San Jose, and then you, so as you start going again, 13, 14, 15, you started looking at the girls, and I always, I always had a crush on your mother, and But so did and other guys. No. there I think i yeah I have the microphone now. I think, you know, but ah maybe not. But there were a lot of guys that thought she she was cute. she was cute and But then there were there were... So that's how things were kind of going. And then the big thing was if you wanted to really try and get a little serious, you would...
00:25:08
Speaker
ask the girl would you like to walk around the mountain with me okay so this looms large in mission springs lore huge so maybe describe what is involved with that i don't know not the whole not the whole thing but you know what i mean like the process of yeah it was just that you know if you want to and and you know some guys were swarthy and kind of knew how to do that. I didn't. I, you know, some, there it was just kind of natural how they'd do that with girls. I would, I didn't know. And so I'd watch.
00:25:41
Speaker
And then I had friends that I was always just a little bit younger than the rest of the guys there, just a little bit. And so they'd counsel me. They'd say, you got to do this. You know, you go up and you say, would you like to go around, walk around the mountain with me?
00:25:57
Speaker
And then I was scared to death that they'd say no. And then I'd go back and play ping pong or do whatever. you know so that's that's how it that's how that was set up. And that was a big deal. So you inherited that tradition from other older kids. That didn't start with you guys. No. We don't know where it started? No. That hasn't come up at the meetings. Okay, well, we're going to have to find out.
00:26:17
Speaker
I don't think anybody knows. If they're they know, they're not saying. Okay. Just saying. Okay. But I remember as an example, you talk about the Nelson girls every once in a while. So you had Carol, Rosemary, and Peggy.
00:26:29
Speaker
and And they're older, a few years older than me. But I said, boy, they're really cute. you know they're And so then the older guys... Yeah, the older guys and those girls and girls their age would do that. put on the mountain that's That was the start got it of any sort of relationship. How did the older Swedish people feel, a Swedish American people, feel about these young people doing that at Mission Springs? Were they aware?
00:26:59
Speaker
I think they knew about walking around the mountain. I don't think they wanted to think beyond that. So they started. But there was there was something about meeting a good Christian covenant girl, and they were all for that. Got it, got it.
00:27:16
Speaker
So then you would ask somebody to walk around the mountain, and you asked mom, and she said yes? Well, the first time, when I finally got up enough courage, Because the guys are the guys are kind of teasing me. They're going, she's right over there. Ask her.
00:27:31
Speaker
you know And we'd all kind of gather around where where the ping pong tables were. Now they're not there anymore. The sport court's there, yeah. not No, even more towards towards the road. behind it. or Where the horseshoes used to be. We're now where the swings are, where the kids are. In there. It's part of the playground. okay And so they'd go, she's over there. and Go ask her.
00:27:53
Speaker
I finally said... Okay, I'll ask her. And I took two steps and I saw her starting her walk up the hill with someone else. oh I was crushed.
00:28:07
Speaker
crushed So I said, Do you know who that person is? Oh, yeah. Who is it? It was Eddie Hulker. Oh, okay. okay Eddie and I, we're friends. you know We're all friends. Everyone in the group was friends. Yeah. but So that I was crushed. And I said, okay, it's never going to happen.
00:28:23
Speaker
Okay. and then they they you know But it it happened, so. Oh, that's good. Now, I've heard also on this walk, there are people that would kind of drift off to ocean view, which now I think, you know, people now don't actually know what that is because i don't think you can actually see the ocean there anymore because nobody cut down any trees. But it's kind of just as you start coming up the hill right past the 11 speed limit sign, and then you kind of there's a trail that goes up a hill.
00:28:54
Speaker
That was a popular point on this walk. Yes. There there might have been a cross there that day. Where'd the cross go? I don't know. Maybe they took it down because you were growing up. There were benches. There were benches up there. Okay. And you could see the ocean sitting on the benches? I don't know. never saw the ocean, but I liked the place. I think most people went back at night. Not at Oh, at night. Oh, right. People didn't go there during the day. Somebody There were benches.
00:29:22
Speaker
Who put the benches? And where'd they go? I don't know. that was So that was a spot, but there were there were two or three spots on the walk that if you maybe wasn't on the first walk, but maybe after the third walk or fourth walk, you'd like to sit down and chat. I think there's a lot of unspoken rules at Mission Springs. Third walk. So the other one was ocean view. You had the pool. People go up to the pool. They benches there outside.
00:29:52
Speaker
And then, you know, a couple spots. What role did the pool play? Now that since you brought up the pool, um I know that the pool was built. Okay, now not going to quite get this right. I think it's like in 1954 or around then. Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah right in there So do you remember a time there wasn't a pool and then there was a pool? And what was that like?
00:30:11
Speaker
I remember them talking about the pool. And I always had it in my head that they would put the pool where the The grass was. oh I don't know why. Right the middle of camp? black yeah Right in the middle of camp. well That would have been awesome. I love swimming pools. Go to the dining hall stop by the pool.
00:30:30
Speaker
No, to have a swimming pool was like to have it all. And I... Couldn't believe they were going to make you walk
Owning a Cabin and Evolving Living Experiences
00:30:38
Speaker
up that mountain. So far. And then they made this decision. And then I guess there were more decisions as to whether or not the pool would be open on Sundays. Because, yeah, Sundays was the day of rest. And, you know, there were a lot of lot of kids in our Our church in San jose that they they had to keep their church clothes on all day Sunday. And, you know, we would be in church for much of the day. you'd have Sunday school at 945, second hour at 11 o'clock. You'd go home, have lunch, take a nap.
00:31:13
Speaker
And then you come back at six o'clock for a youth group and seven o'clock for Sunday evening service. So, you know, it stood to reason when they had a summer camp that we would maintain the schedule and no playing on Sunday afternoon. Interesting.
00:31:29
Speaker
So they made a good decision where they put the pool though, I think. I think so. So did they originally have, was the, it was the big pool and the baby pool? Yes. Okay. And the baby pool used to be on the side by the parking lot and it was ah the rectangle, a very shallow rectangle. Okay.
00:31:43
Speaker
So I looked it up. It's, it's, the pool was, they decided to start removing things to make room for the pool in 1952. And They were going to construct the swimming pool, a wading pool, and fencing. And so it opened in February 1954. They decided to put it there. i don't I haven't looked and seen exactly why they decided to put there. My guess is that they kind of needed it far away from and it's a sunny location where the worship was happening. Yeah, think that makes sense. a relatively flat spot.
00:32:16
Speaker
But I know that it was kind of an issue to figure out Sundays. And eventually I think they decided that it might be easier if it was open on Sundays because it would keep people at Mission Springs instead of going to the beach. And I think that there was some sense that the beach was a place that Maybe. We're monsters like. Well, Jaws. Filled with sin. Well, I don't know. But I mean, it was like, okay, we're going to open it up so that people can.
00:32:41
Speaker
Very worldly. Right. So. So Mission Springs was how old when they built the pool. Well, okay. Do the math. I know. Okay. So they opened in 1926. 28 years. ninety eight years So it was 26 to 1954. That's a long time.
00:32:57
Speaker
Because we've been to Sweden and pools are very important to Swedish people. I think so. And so I think it's in kind of, and they were in California, which I feel like people in California are also very attached to their pools. So I think it took a long time. It was also like a lot of things that happened during that time.
00:33:12
Speaker
there was a financial element okay to, can we afford to do this? yeah It's a big pool. yeah The same thing when, if we you know, Frontier Ranch or any of the things that they eventually did, you'd have to figure out if you could afford to do it. And, you know, I think the Swedes, generally speaking, are kind of frugal. ye And so that was part of it. And if you can remember, the old locker rooms and the snack bar, it was bare bones. Yeah.
00:33:42
Speaker
And there was no pool. The only pool furniture were the benches around, you know, no umbrellas, no little tables, nothing like that. And well, and it cost apparently it cost $30,000 to get the pool done.
00:33:58
Speaker
It's really interesting when you start to look at the history of Mission Springs. It's a very rare occurrence where the history is not tied to some kind of dollar amount for how it was, like how much it was going to cost and who was going to be raising the money, which often was covenant women a lot of the times. So this says they called it Mission Springs $25 a year club.
00:34:21
Speaker
And the goal was to have 250 members promise to contribute a total of $125, $25 for five years. And that's what helped to open the pool. cool And we also had people, we had people in the San Jose church that were in the swimming pool business. And I think they might have helped out a little.
00:34:42
Speaker
But the maintenance and was much different back in the day. They used to drain the pool every year and repaint it. yeah because it turned green during the winter time. That was exciting. So fast forward.
00:34:54
Speaker
you get married at Mission Springs. Yes. So we don't need to go through your entire dating history. But at some point, you decided to get married. Why you get married at Mission Springs? That's where our history was. That's where we met.
00:35:06
Speaker
And also, I always felt in in my spiritual life, in my Christian life, But the important decisions I made seemed to just not revolve around Mission Springs, but they took place there. You know, as a place of retreat, you'd start thinking about other things, eternal things, spiritual things. And I thought, you know, the wedding, the whole ceremony, you know,
00:35:33
Speaker
vows, being together, you know, all that should take place there. Yeah, that that's why it was so important because you think of our history. Kathy grew up in San Jose, was in San Francisco. Now, today, you don't think, well, that's not very far.
00:35:48
Speaker
But in those days, when we were younger, that's a long drive to go out on a date. you know, so you didn't do that that much. So where did I see her? Where do we, where do, where were we together a lot during the summer at Mission Springs?
00:36:03
Speaker
Then she goes to school, college in Chicago. I go to school in Los Angeles. There's, there's, there's another time period there where we're pretty far apart. And then after in the summer, here we are back at Mission Springs. So when it was an easy decision to make, to have the wedding there.
00:36:20
Speaker
And then the reception at Frontier Ranch? Yeah, I was on a budget. Wait a minute, back up. So, Cathedral Grove, when was Cathedral Grove built? I don't know. It was always there that I could remember. It was remember. Yes, I think there was kind of an old, crummy cathedral-type situation, and then they, you know, they used concrete and really nice redwood. and And so what decision, was there ever a decision about getting married there versus in like the tabernacle?
00:36:52
Speaker
I just, that was my dream. I guess I didn't realize I thought about weddings and getting married and all of that because at times in my life that wasn't going to be my future. But I thought that would be the most beautiful place to be married. And it turned out to be a beautiful day. No, it is. I think it's popular for people to get married outside now, but I don't know if that was the trend back in the and 70s.
00:37:15
Speaker
It was near San Francisco. Yeah. A lot of hippie culture. They probably got married outside. We didn't, I don't think we, it even dawned on us because Cathedral Grove was always a church to us. You know, it seemed like a church and we really didn't have much. My mother was a widow school teacher and I'd finished college and you know, he'd finished college, but we were coming in with pretty much nothing and I needed to pay for part of it. And,
00:37:44
Speaker
I mean, how do you improve on nature? That setting was so beautiful that we had flowers from someone's garden arranged by his Auntie Eva, you know, had two bridesmaids and somebody else did their bouquets. We had flowers in our hair. It was Quite simple, but still beautiful.
00:38:04
Speaker
Sort of the kicker was, and I don't think they'd had many, if any, I think Wren and Carolyn Lanier were married they weren't there before we were. But I wanted to walk down an aisle, and I was pretty convinced that I could make it down on the trail.
00:38:21
Speaker
And that was a little bit of a first. I don't think you can do that anymore. It'd be hard. There's a big tree that fell down. Yeah, but you know what? It was right after Memorial Day weekend, and the Boy Scouts were there doing some projects, and they worked on the trail.
00:38:38
Speaker
That was very special, walking down the trail. It is pretty unique to have. i mean, there are not that many churches that are outside. and just And I looked it up. um So when Mission Springs first got started, like in 1926, the original church, place where people would gather was actually up the other hill at the top of what is the heritage drive is that right uh yes up up where yes past yeah um where they go yes yeah that was where the original one was and they'd have a conference it felt very campy like it was like there was benches and a fire and a tent yeah then they said that was kind of a strenuous walk and it was chilly in the evening so They decided to, there was a, this is so, I don't know if this is also kind of a Swedish virtue, but there lot committees. And so the conference grounds committee was asked to investigate the possibility of building tabernacle on the lower grounds.
00:39:38
Speaker
But they had four different proposals and they decided to build it at Cathedral Grove. because it was a place for a large outdoor meeting place. And so that was as early as 1929. Wow. So pretty early on. It wasn't the way it looks now, because that was eventually, they all of the concrete stuff and the benches and stuff came later. But that's where they decided to put it. And in the keeping of good Christian values, the church way predated the swimming pool. Way predated the swimming pool. got go to church. We'll get to the pool a later. Yeah.
00:40:10
Speaker
Yeah. It might have predated... The dining hall. I don't know. I've got to ask the people that are better with the history about that than me. But yeah, so it's been there for a while. That would be typical as well. yeah yeah Yeah, no, and that's kind of nice. I mean. Yes. Well, and then we have this friend who was in the wallpaper business, and he had all this wallpaper that he put on the benches so ladies wouldn't get their dresses dirty.
00:40:31
Speaker
Okay, so then then you had your reception at Frontier Ranch, so that was nice. And then, forward, we had the cabin that we stayed in, but that was Grandma Jane's cabin. What made you decide to get your own cabin at Mission Springs?
00:40:46
Speaker
Well, when my father passed away, the cabin that I grew up in down on the flat, and we needed to sell that because there was no money for anything. And my mom needed the money to survive.
00:41:01
Speaker
And I think we sold it for $9,000. You know what you're thinking about it. So I didn't, I no longer had a place to go except... my wife's cabin up on the top of the hill.
00:41:16
Speaker
So it was
Impact of Mission Springs Community
00:41:17
Speaker
always in the back of our minds, I think, that if it ever became available, we'd try and get a cabin. It's I had two brothers and we had to share. yeah Sharing is hard. Sharing is hard. So we had to do that. And then but we really couldn't afford to do that, you know, until until I left high school teaching and got into, you know, coaching at a different level.
00:41:45
Speaker
And that's when we can afford to buy the cabin. Thank you. Thank you, 49ers, for winning the Super Bowl. took We took the bonus. You get a bonus for winning the Super Bowl and bought the Brown Cabin.
00:41:56
Speaker
And the earthquake hit. Yes, 1989. Right after you guys got it, right? Right after we bought Yeah, the earthquake. Never even stayed, know, When you were thinking about that, was there a decision about where you wanted the cabin to be? Because Dad, his cabin was on the flat.
00:42:12
Speaker
Your cabin was on the hill. Did that play a role in anything? It was... At the time it was all about availability and what what was for sale. And we didn't want to take advantage of someone else's adversity, but we knew the owner of the Brown Cabin, Doris Erickson. She had been a friend of our family's for many years and her husband passed away and we knew then at that point in time she would make a move to the Chicago area and said, if anything, if you ever are interested in selling your cabin, we would be interested.
00:42:49
Speaker
Cliff passed away and and I didn't want bug her. I thought she probably still knew. And she phoned and said, it's available. This is how much it costs. And i said, well, we'll make an offer. And she said, no, we just, this is how much it will cost. And that will be that. And I said, okay, you can count on us because I knew this, this was the fulfillment of a very long dream of ours. Mm-hmm.
00:43:16
Speaker
Well, it's funny because now cabins at Mission Springs, not all cabins, but a lot of cabins look different. I remember when we got that cabin, we had walked past that cabin zillion times. How old were you then? We were in high school. And we used to joke because the cabin itself had in the window some...
00:43:38
Speaker
some decorative bottles that were filled with multi-colored liquids. And i I guess it was supposed to be decorative. It was decorative, but we used to make up stories poor ah more people like one of the liquids was red you can say it and we're like you thought it was blood i thought it was alcohol and i was like i'm just not sure how that fits into this whole thing here but then it wasn't really it's just they had a different decorating style but the everything was a little bit more rustic but the thing is you know you when you think about the cabins and the cabins we have now the cabins we've had the yellow cabin
00:44:15
Speaker
You know, Kathy and her brothers and her mom, that we were there. That's where we'd go when you guys were younger. Then Len Jacobson and I built the shed right behind it with the four, there were two sets of bunks, right?
00:44:28
Speaker
There was one set of bunks and then a fold-down thing. three where Where the, you guys, how old were you then? Elementary school? Yeah, that was your place. That was your place to sleep. Well, until the Bowmans came from Minnesota, then it wasn't our place anymore. But that was your place to sleep. So as you were growing up, then the yellow cabin got pretty crowded because it wasn't a big, big cabin.
00:44:51
Speaker
And then Kathy's brothers and their families and, you know, so so the opportunity and the idea of purchasing our own, we thought about it for a long time and we were able to do it But the brown cabin was not huge. It had two small bedrooms and one bathroom and then a nice living area and a nice kitchen, maybe 900 square feet.
00:45:14
Speaker
I was able to do some redecorating. We threw the bottle of red water out. And all that wrought iron stuff. There was a lot of wrought iron. in that cabin the lady who came up to measure for the carpet said i can't wait to see you a family of six sharing that one bathroom although you know what to be honest we were well practiced for it being in the yellow cabin because that only had one bathroom too and i just remember and i still find myself saying this to the kids today sometimes every day
00:45:46
Speaker
At some point, I'd say, I'm going to take a shower. And the first thing dad would say was, make it a short shower. No, it short shower. You couldn't do anything without, like, short showers. Make it a short one. Because it's like, everybody has to use it. But that was better when he was growing up at his cabin. and They had to shower at the pool. Because I don't think they even had a shower. They didn't shower.
00:46:06
Speaker
Then they finally built something underneath the house. It was called a shower, but it was creepy. Were there spiders? Oh, there was all sorts of stuff. so I never went in the yellow cabin bathroom that I didn't look. You do a spider check first. But it was very good because a lot of it was white. So you see it very easily. When you think about the cabins, it's really fun for me because you have the history of it When I was at the my grandparents' cabin down on the flat.
00:46:29
Speaker
Okay, really the sleeping arrangement, we had a porch. And there were twin beds, five or six of them lined up with no room between them. And so you had to, if you had, if you in the bed at the far end, you had to go to first. You had to go to bed first. Otherwise you'd crawl over. You'd have to crawl over all these people to get to that bed.
00:46:51
Speaker
I mean, was the weirdest And
Episode Reflection and Future Podcast Plans
00:46:52
Speaker
everybody just slept outside? Everyone slept outside except for my mom and my older sister. There was an adjacent room that was also closets and everything just off off this that had a bedhead. But mainly everyone slept out there, yes. And then there was the other piece that one brother-in-law, his older sister Bobby's husband Ray, was a snorer. So everyone needed to fall asleep before he did.
00:47:18
Speaker
it was going to be tough. I was taken there as a young bride, and I really didn't appreciate having to share my living space with all those people. Think of the cabins in those days. Think of the time, then and now. There was no phone.
00:47:30
Speaker
There was no, well, we had an oven, but you you burned stuff in the in the oven to heat the kitchen. eat the kitchen There was one dining, and one table in the kitchen, small kitchen dining room area.
00:47:44
Speaker
That was where we had ah you know dinner and and breakfast and so on. No television. No one. We were the only ones up the hill when I was... you know None of those things. No one had a TV. yeah yeah It was camping, but with a building around you. Okay. um What would you say your favorite place is at Mission Springs?
00:48:06
Speaker
And that's probably changed over time. Yeah. i think I think growing up, it was at the Yellow Cabin on the front porch. I just really loved that front porch. And when we...
00:48:17
Speaker
rebuilt or tore down the old cabin and built the new yellow cabin we made sure that a porch was included and i still love sitting on that front porch even though you get better sun on the back deck which is my second favorite yeah the cabin those are there's a lot of places it's hard to pick a favorite but i like the pool and i like the pool for as growing up and then ah was just teasing my grandchildren and my children about all the games I would play with them in the pool.
00:48:53
Speaker
So there's a lot of, wasn't just going swimming at the pool. It was just watching them grow up there, being able to play with their grandpa and do stuff there and take advantage of the beautiful weather in the summer.
00:49:06
Speaker
Yeah, so that's that's one of my favorite places. It is great. Thank goodness they built it. Well, no, right. They raised all that $25 a year stuff. So a lot of the cabins at Mission Springs have names, you know, whether it's, I think Haven of Rest was one of the names, Bray de Blick. There's a lot of Stugas, Whispering Pines.
00:49:28
Speaker
Why was the Yellow Cabin called the Yellow Cabin? Was that something we decided to call it or did Grandma call it that? It just, it differentiated between, especially,
00:49:39
Speaker
when we bought our own cabin which was the brown cabin right i think that's how that came about but and then also to differentiate create our cabin from yours down the hill it was it was always yellow yellow and white and pretty and then there's not a lot of those up there but you're right i think the swedish you guys have been to sweden there's they name things Yeah, they like to name things. yeah And it's funny because like in the Midwest, they call these things cottages. I don't think they call them cabins as much.
00:50:10
Speaker
But yeah, I was just because every once in a while, the kids will be like, we have to come up with a more creative name for our cabin. And I'm like, I think that institutional memory is working against you. One of the things I was struck by when we went to Sweden and went to the big park. Wisconsin. Yeah, and they have a big tower in the middle and it's called Breda Blick. And when we were kids, Breda Blick was the tallest. It was the highest cabin at Mission Springs. It was before they built any of those cabins up on Frontier Ranch Circle.
00:50:45
Speaker
Oh my goodness, I know another Breda Blick. Is that somebody's name? What does that mean It means like high tower or something. Oh, don't know. You should look it up. it does Ask Isabel. She went Sweden. know. Isabel went to Sweden. Somebody speaks Swedish. show Okay. So um is there somebody at Mission Springs that you would say made a lasting impact on your life?
00:51:05
Speaker
Or is it just more the place? When we were kids with family camp, and it started on a Thursday evening, and it went and to two Sundays. So it was a 10-day long event. Wow, that's long.
00:51:18
Speaker
And... I was in seventh grade about when we bought our cabin and I got to be there for the whole week. And the speaker at Family Camp always made an impression. It's like, who's coming this year? And over the years, those speakers, we remember. And and we remember the powerful messages that we used to get.
00:51:43
Speaker
i remember a little. Clarence Nelson was the president of the Covenant at for a time and and he was the speaker and then we had Dr. Roddy and all these different people. Louis Evans came. He was, I think he'd been the chaplain of Congress, but he was also from Bel Air, Kevin and one of those, no, Bel Air Presbyterian from Los Angeles. He spoke for a few years and then our in our later years, we were very much impacted by
00:52:18
Speaker
Gary Burge, who had been on the faculty at North Park and then at Wheaton, and also when David Nystrom spoke. Those were very special times for us as well. The the speakers had a lot of impact.
00:52:31
Speaker
did Do you remember the speakers, Dad? I don't remember the speakers like your mother does, especially the ones ah at the girls camp. But David Nystrom and... and you know, was, was, I remember him and he he did a great job. But I think what I would say is the growing up there on every summer participating. i like to participate in sports and outdoor stuff.
00:53:00
Speaker
There were people on the, on the staff there, Bob Bach, Ted Nordland, who were working there for summers and And they were older. I was 10 or 11 and they were 20, know what I mean, or whatever.
00:53:13
Speaker
Ted wasn't that much older than me, but he was older. And they were the lifeguard or they were this. But then they'd play sports and they all played, went on to play football and different things in college. But they were good guys and they treated young men Beautifully. And they set a good example. They really set a beautiful example. So those those are two of the guys. And there were more.
00:53:35
Speaker
You know, Ted Ecker, therere Mel Soderstrom. There were more that I looked up to. They kind of helped me. They set a really good example for me try and do that also with younger people as as I was growing up.
00:53:51
Speaker
Okay. Well, I think this is a good time to do um what we're going to call for this podcast, Shooting the Gulch. Now, do you guys know what that is? i do now.
00:54:03
Speaker
Just a listener, we discussed this at dinner the other night, so. Right. So for those of people who don't know what shooting the Gulch is, it's when you're on Lockhart Gulch and you're driving your car, i think there's some variation to it, either as fast as possible or without any brakes. Is that right? Have you done that? Yes, exactly. You have? Okay.
00:54:21
Speaker
Okay. So these are our rapid fire questions just to kind of end our interview. And the first one is this. Have you ever participated in shooting the Gulch? No. I've always been a very cautious person. And I think we should say for our listeners, please, we don't endorse shooting the Gulch. No. No. never I would not do that now.
00:54:41
Speaker
Someone you should talk to and we'll talk to as part of a podcast, region John Norman, who races cars. He's also has a BMW. He's had this car place in Oakland for Oakland Covenant Church forever. Alfa Romeo. Yeah, don't say that. And he was a race car driver and kind of taught us how to do those things. Oh, see. Like accelerating into the curve. Yeah. And you, you, the drift. Out of the curve. Out of the curve. And the drift and how you do stuff.
00:55:08
Speaker
So. Lockhart Gulch, Tokyo Drift. Okay. Physics is hard too. Physics is hard. Okay. If you ran the mountain goat run, where would you place? Now?
00:55:19
Speaker
Anytime. Well, we were we were in this first we were in the first mountain goat run, but I just ran for for pleasure, so I never tried to be first. Do you remember where you placed in the first mountain goat run?
00:55:34
Speaker
I finished. No, I think there were probably 15 people that ran in that. And I, being a competitor, i didn't want to finish with your mother. I wanted to finish ahead of your mother.
00:55:44
Speaker
We had some runners in the group. But just hoping to be able to do it because it's changed just a little bit. But we... it's it's ah It's a challenge. No, it's hard. If I were in the 75 and older class, I think I could win. Okay. All right. Well, that's okay. Okay. Yeah. Now, yeah. For people who don't know, the mountain goat run used to be different, but it's still hard. Yeah. yeah It used to be Frontier Ranch and then down to Nelson Road and things like well the worst part of it was that it was at 4 o'clock in the afternoon and you didn't get to have any ice cream during the ice cream social. That would be a deterrent. Okay. That's true. Which is the best part of the 4th of July.
00:56:21
Speaker
I mean, all apologies to our country's independence. we We're there for the ice cream. We need ice cream. Next question. If you're at the pool, what do you order at the snack bar? At any time in history...
00:56:34
Speaker
You could pick, because the snack bar also has gone through different iterations of treats. Ice cream sandwich. Popsicles. Popsicles? Like a creamsicle or a fudge?
00:56:44
Speaker
Like a fudgeticle? No, just a popsicle. Oh, all right. Okay. So this might be a little controversial, but have you broken a Mission Springs quote unquote rule? We all know there are probably unwritten, unspoken rules at Mission Springs.
00:56:59
Speaker
Have you broken one? And which one have you broken? I think I put a battery in the garbage. I think that's just a rule.
00:57:09
Speaker
That's not a Mission Springs rule. I think that's when it's a rule for everywhere. It's a garbage rule. i think But technically, Mission Springs does have communal garbage, so I guess it is a Mission Springs rule. I think it has to be specific to Mission Springs, though. Let's see, oh, you know when we were kids, we jumped over the fence at the pool and went swimming at night. That's legit. Lawrence Anderson caught us. Very embarrassing. That's what I was going to say. Very embarrassing. Yeah, we were together. So you weren't being sneaky? Were you being too loud? Was he just patrolling? No, he was was patrolling. and we said,
00:57:43
Speaker
We're going to hide behind where the women, women will walk out there. There's a wall. Yeah, yeah. No, that's, that's it. So we're there. Mike and Kathy, I saw you. We walked out. He laughed a little bit. You weren't skinny-jumping or anything, though. No. Okay, just checking. Okay. You were like 16. Not that.
00:58:04
Speaker
Now, i don't think we should be skinny dipping listeners. No skinny dipping at the Mission Springs pool regardless. Cal is very anti-skinny dipping. anti-s skin More clothes is the better. Okay. Last question. What is the best kissing spot at Mission Springs?
00:58:18
Speaker
Listeners, Cal fought me on this question, but I think it's a good one. What's the best kissing spot at Mission Springs? There is one cabin, I won't say which one. It's not too far from the stump on the way down from the swimming pool.
00:58:31
Speaker
But if you climb the stairs and they have a little patio, there was a porch swing and it was so dark. You couldn't see the hand in front of your face. The problem was you never knew if it was going to be empty. Yes, was somebody at the cabin? Oh, no, no. no other people kissing. other people.
00:58:51
Speaker
You couldn't But what about the people in the cabin? No, no. If the cabin was dark and you knew the people weren't there. Okay, good. Because not everybody stayed in the cabin. I think the owner of the cabin died. was gone through a few.
00:59:03
Speaker
But I remember walking up the stairs there and trying to get the cabin and seeing the swing rocking. There were people there. Oh, okay. But really, if you really wanted to guarantee spot, the swimming pool. Okay. Again, I cannot say enough. Thank goodness they built that swimming pool. There were a few, yes, there were a few matches. They had to build a church, but thank goodness the pool happened. be honest, we might not, none of us might be here. We would not here.
00:59:29
Speaker
ah All right. Well, that ends our interview. Thank you so much for taking the time. Thank you. And I hope you edit this properly so none of the secrets get out. Well, yeah, we'll see. We'll see. We'll see.
00:59:45
Speaker
Okay, so there was our interview with Mike and Kathy. How do you think that went? i think it went okay. Her first interview? i think the, um yeah, I think it went just fine. It's hard because, you know, there's just a lot of things you could cover. Well, and they came up with a lot of stuff once we stopped recording that you guys didn't hear about. And we'll have to ask some other people about, specifically some soda machines that were located near, like, ah Fireside Hall. Yeah, Mike was not very forthcoming about the rule breaking. Apparently, there were some soda machines at the the flat that you could open with a bottle opener and then drink the sodas out with a straw.
01:00:20
Speaker
That sounds like rule breaking. Okay, so for the ending part of this podcast, we are just going to end with a final question. I'm going to ask Calla the final question. And then I'm kind of curious about how all of you who are listening might answer these same questions. Or if you have any other questions you would like her to answer on this podcast.
01:00:36
Speaker
The first question is, Calla, what is your favorite 4th of July tradition? My favorite 4th of July tradition got to go with the ice cream.
01:00:50
Speaker
You mentioned that during the podcast. know. really, like when they asked for the favorite food, I'm just, I'm just, I think the ice cream, ice cream is really great. I'm not a big pie eater. I like pie, but ice cream on the 4th of July just was always kind of.
01:01:03
Speaker
Even if it was it kind of melted? Because sometimes when the time. Melted ice cream is delicious. I know, but by the time we got to the ice cream, it's like, is it melted? Is it not? As little kid, somebody handing you that's that true frozen bowl of goodness that you could put chocolate, caramel, and nuts on, that is just great. And forget the running of the race. I mean, the race versus ice cream? No, you go for the ice cream.
01:01:24
Speaker
I think it is a testament to how few treats we had in our house as children. Well, a lot of the questions were about treats at the swimming pool, too. I'm, like, thinking, I would have a hard time narrowing that down. I like slushes. I like red vines. I like lots of stuff.
01:01:39
Speaker
Right. i like the treats at the gift shop. I'm all about the treats. I don't remember the treats at the gift shop. There were treats. There were candy bars and but it was the same thing that was at the snack bar at the pool. I remember there were other things. or like, very breakable Yeah.
01:01:55
Speaker
Like, I never bought that, but that's what was in them. Well, no, there were treats. I remember. So your favorite tradition was? I should say church, but it wasn't church. In fact, remember that one time? Well, I guess somebody could say church. Remember that one time that I went to church? We were in high school. We were in high school because I remember not knowing. And Bob Stromberg had come out to do the 4th of July. He was the worship leader. We were in junior high.
01:02:17
Speaker
Maybe junior high. Yes, he was doing the high school stuff, and we weren't quite in high school yet. And he was, i don't know, what he was doing the worship or whatever. He was. he They hired him because he's really a talented worship leader. Yeah, okay, well, whatever. And so we were... he We were putting together the float and then Heather Carlson and I were like, oh, we're gonna go to church.
01:02:35
Speaker
And everyone else, you know, we're not going to church. We're already late. And we're like, oh that's okay. We were definitely late. There was some sense that if we walked in, we would be late. Yeah, but it wasn't, they were still singing, which brings me to my point. was like, if you don't grow on the 4th of July and we're trying to carefully walk up and you because they're all the lower seats were full. And he's like, look at those girls late for church.
01:02:57
Speaker
So it's not church. I mean, I like church on the 4th of July, but that, that was damaging. Well, it is kind of funny because sometimes people, I think it's weird sometimes to equate going to church with the 4th of July because it's not a religious holiday. It's a patriotic holiday, but we've always gone to church on the 4th of July. So i mean, it's nice, but of all like the parade, not the parade,
01:03:19
Speaker
No. always thought the parade is a lot of work for people. Not me, but other people. like I mean, I liked watching the parade, but no, the ice cream is great. It is great. The ice cream is pretty great. So if there are people out there who have a favorite 4th of July tradition Mission Springs and want to write those, you are welcome to contact us through these podcasts, contact information, and we will talk about them in our next episode. Because the nice thing about having conversations about the centennial is that everybody has a different perspective and the different lens through which they view Mission Springs. And it's fun when it's the same. And it's fun when it's different. So let us know your favorite 4th of July tradition and we will happily share that with others. So that was our podcast. We hope you liked it. We'll talk to you next time.