YMCA Camp Silver Creek - YMCA Camp Greider - Adventure Camp
Salem, Oregon
December 10, 2012
We went to meet Nick at the Salem Family Y. He has a huge Santa beard and a huge Christmas heart. He sat with us in the office for a while as we swapped camp stories and career experiences. After he shared his career path with us we drove in the big YMCA van to the Greider Day Camp. It has everything a Day Camp in the woods could want including horses a pond and a garden. The coolest thing we learned about the program was how the counselors only have a skeletal outline of a schedule for the day and are encouraged to get excited about adventure trailblazing and to unite their kids on these self proclaimed missions. Basically fostering “ free range kids” a term that Nick shared with us. We then drove to Camp Silver Creek. Both of the camps are rented facilities and Camp Silver Creek especially has an old majestic feel to it. Part of a state park the cabins, dining hall and offices are all very old and rustic. In the middle of camp there is the famous Huckleberry bush. A meeting place for activities, this bush shelters many memories. From the midpoint boundary line during capture the flag games to a night time camp out spot under the stars, yet the best story we hear was how Nick married his wife in front of all of camp at the Huckleberry bush. A surprise to campers and counselors, the event was planned only with the trusty program director. After the event the campers joined in a chant for the newly weds in the lake!
-Laura