BOTSWANA!

okay here comes my next adventure....

I, Sarah Ward, am leaving on January 13th to spend 5 months in BOTSWANA, AFRICA.  I did it. I'm going.

I don't really know anything about the trip yet except that I will be in Africa, living in the dorms, doing humanitarian work, playing soccer and going to school.

More to come, just thought I would share my excitement. I'm going to Africa.

woot.

no one knows where botswana is. now, you do.

this is the university!

Sibs and Glacier.

Man Alive! I am on a roll with this blogging thing today, guess that's what you get for having pink eye and being stuck in isolation for 24 hours huh? dang it.  butttt I drove to deer lodge and got myself some special eye drops and I will be back with my girlies tomorrow!

I'm getting ahead of myself though,  I need to cover last week!!!  So, last week was Sibling camp.  It is specifically for kids ages 6-17 that have a sibling or parent that had/has cancer and even though the campers don't have cancer, this is one of our most important camps because a lot of the time, the focus is on the person in the family that is sick, so the other siblings and kids sort of take a back seat and this week at camp is for them.  This week is all about them, what they want and how they feel.  Its actually the most insane week here at camp too because on average we have about 40-50 campers... we had 62 this week. They seem to have unlimited amounts of energy and it never runs out.  I was back in Pintler and will be there for the rest of the summer, I had 16 girls ranging from my littlest which was 6 to my oldest which was 14..... quite the age rage you say? yes. yes it was.  It was pretty intense trying to entertain a 6 year old, a 10 year old and a 14 year old all at the same time but some how, we managed.  I had 4 volunteers again, one of which had been at camp for the two weeks prior to sibs camp as well and became a really great friend and lifesaver because shocker shocker, I was down for about 36 hours last week with some kind of fever/flu/stomach issues where I was stuck in the Health Center laying on the floor trying not to throw up, one of the little camper boys was sick too so we watched Despicable Me and played some slap jack.  Everyone was really sweet when I was sick though, I woke up to cute notes from all the girls in my cabin and had tons of visitors including one of my new really good friends that came by to read me some ab work outs from the Men's Health Magazine during his break. super nice!  besides being sick and not eating anything for about 72 hours, the week was just as awesome as every other week so far this summer!  Run down of activities... first of all I am just saying that we won the Golden Plunger for the cleanest cabin on the first day... Go Pintler!  I spent some time with the older girls doing the high ropes course and actually got to go up and help guide them around from the post I was on for most of last summer, it was fun to be back up there!  My girlies loved the horses like always and I actually got to zipline with my little 6 year old, pretty neat.  We volunteered at the marathon in Missoula and then spent the day at the water park called Splash Montana and I spent the majority of my day on the lazy river with some crazy campers that made sure I went directly under every single waterfall (they thought it was pretty funny) and going down some pretty legit water slides.    Of course it rained on camp out night which is totally a bummer so I let all my girls sleep in the common room of our cabin only to discover they were planning a farting war.  side note: one thing I cannot control my laughter with is farting, needless to say this was not only my highlight of the week but I may have been egging them on just a little bit.  let me tell you, there was quite a bit of talent in my cabin.  Tons of other awesome experiences this week including an epic water fight, getting pie thrown in my face, dance party, early morning fishing (still no fish. lame. need your help dad!), getting chased and tackled by the entire little boys cabin only to get dog piled on over and over again, and playing some ultimate go fish and poker games.  I will leave it there because this is getting pretty long, I will end this one with a quote that may not mean much to anyone but me... there was a girl in my cabin that was very very home sick all week and informed me on day one that she was planning on being sad all week and not having any fun- before she left, she gave me a hug and said "even though I probably won't come back next year, I actually had fun today."

After all those crazy cats left, staff packed up their stuff and headed to Glacier National Park for the most amazing camping trip I have been on in a long time.  Glacier is the most beautiful place in the entire world, I have never seen anything like it!  So we showed up and went on three of the best hikes I have ever been on in my life.  The first one was completely snow covered so we had to trek through snow the whole way and we got in a very intense snowball fight.  We also got super close to some mountain goats- I probably could have reached out and slapped its butt but it had a baby with it and real sharp horns so I resisted the urge.  Also on our trip, we got about 15 feet away from both a moose and a black bear, super amazing! Then we went on a 10 mile hike (yeah sounds long and miserable) that took us to the coolest glacier I have ever seen in my life! Totally worth every mile.  Then on the last day, it was pouring rain and on the way back to camp, Blake, Amy and I stopped and did some mini cliff jumping. another really great break with great friends.

welcome to glacier! and pouring rain

hidden lake hike!

ice burg lake hike...10 whole miles!

me and a moose

core staff in glacier

Pintler Cabin... SIBS 2012 :)

karaoke night with BAM

we volunteered at the marathon... if you can't tell, it was a lot of work.

zipline with Ellena!

it became a game to get me very wet at splash montana

lunch game...throw pie in Sarah's face. neat.

videos!

Random small blog.... I have three videos that I really want to share and save so that I can come back and watch them whenever I want.  These are my inspiration.  The one first one is actually filmed at camp this year, during HUC we had all the campers split into groups and make PSA's and this one turned out spectacular!

The next one is filmed at the Seattle Children's Hospital, it is a music video based off of the song Stronger by Kelly Clarkson.  After watching it, I just think, how cool are people?  pretty neat.

The last video is a tribute to someone very special to me: my dad!  Yay Bott for such great service with the APTA over the past many many years, this video really does encompass some of the best things about my dad...although there are soooooo many more that I have been lucky enough to experience because I live with him.  They probably have not seen him throw his first snowball of the year, or mess with you by standing in your way or tickling you till you can't breathe from laughing. They probably haven't seen him shovel the whole entire street after a newly fallen snow without being asked and they probably haven't seen how much mayo he puts on his tuna fish sandwiches.  I have. He is pretty much amazing.  One day, I hope to be just like him, minus the mayo.

Teen and Flathead!

Well its been two weeks since my last post and I swear I have not had a second to breathe and type anything out... until today... when i woke up to find my eyes bloodshot and gooey. pink eye. go figure. So here is the deal, I am stuck at camp by myself while the rest of the group spent the day at the water park in Missoula.  bummer.  But anyways done with the poor me story. but seriously, kinda poor me man. 

Two weeks ago was our teen camp for people ages 14-18 that have had any diagnosis and either are in remission or are currently undergoing treatment.  My lovely group of 16 campers, four volunteers and I had the most amazing week ever!  Started out with arrival day where I saw so many old buddies from last year and met some of the most amazing people in the entire world.  We switched cabins for the week and I found myself in Bitterwhat? Bitterroot! (used to call it bitter-stupid but now its bitter-awesome).  Got everyone settled in and got started with memories that will last me a lifetime. ha one thing I did forget was just how dramatic teenagers are, this week tested my patience and my ability to lead a group of girls that are stronger and braver and more emotional than I could have imagined.  These girls had some unreal stories to tell and just when I though cancer was more than enough for one person to handle, I found that these girls have more issues in a day than I have had in my entire life.  Three things:  1.  I am so grateful that they trusted me enough to confide in me. 2.  I am grateful that my mom always taught me to keep secrets with the saying "not mine to share" and 3.  seriously... what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.  my campers are a living testimony of that phrase.   This week was a chance for all of my girlies to get out of their comfort zones, I had girls terrified of heights conquering the high ropes course, I had a girl that had just had a major surgery on her hip ride a horse... over and over and over again she loved the horses and wanted to take one home in her suitcase, needless to say it didn't fit but she made a pretty good effort anyways.  I had campers hike to the top of the butte even though they never imagined in 100 years their bodies would have the strength to climb a mountain, I had a camper that had very little use of one side of her body that made it up the climbing wall and did high ropes... she was awesome and kept saying "I got this, I can do this", not sure if she was talking to me or herself but I hope to take that message with me whenever I face a challenge. I had girls that realized their full potential and to watch that transformation was an experience that I will keep to myself.  But it was awesome.  We had more than just serious times though, we had some pretty crazy dance parties (I can now sort of dougie and apparently the weird dance move I like to pretend is the jerk-actually pretty close, awwwhhhh yeahh), had some breakfast skits and lunch times games where I ended up getting drenched with water. Bed time stories were also a highlight of mine where campers names got changed to Queen Flava-Flave and Kierstanky-leg on adventures in the land of Oz. Got some of the best soccer games ever going on!  Sometimes I forget who I am playing with and get pretty competitive but soccer is my game and it is one of the few things I really miss when I'm up here. Overall, teens will be teens... and I LOVE THEM.  

After teen camp, we spent the fourth of july weekend in a cabin on the beach of Flathead Lake, an amazing staff member named Blake hooked us up with two night literally in heaven.  We had a boat, a jet ski, paddle boards and lots and lots of BIG fireworks that are not legal in Utah but hooray for Montana, they are legal here!!! whoooo!  Love Fireworks!  I spent my fourth of july with my second family tubing, wakeboarding, blowing off gigantic fireworks, going full speed on a jet ski over too big of waves and watching fireworks from the middle of the lake on our boat blasting country music and taking shots of chocolate milk.  and... I may have pulled a prank or two that I am pretty proud of including a book and a freaky owl.   Hands down, the best fourth of july in the history of fourth of julys.  One for the books.

watching fireworks from our boat on the 4th of July!

flathead lake with the gang!

yes i drove the boat. it was awesome.

lunch game: kid on balcony, dump water into jug on staffs head.

my rachel can do anything.

line dancing!

horses! gotta love rusty...he loves me.

aloha from dance party!

breakfast skit!

Teen Camp, Bitterroot Cabin 2012 <3

YAC and RATPOD

So I am really really not in the mood to blog buttttt this last week and a half have been amazing! So June 10th we went to the airport, did the whole "hello campers that are older than me, I am your cabin leader... OBEY ME." okay not really but I sort of feel that way some times, or that was how I felt a little bit because most of the campers this week are, in fact, older than me.  But turns out this week was really just seven days of hanging out with buddies.  I met some of the most hilarious and inspiring people in the entire world.   

Run down of YAC: yac stands for young adults conference and it is a week long "conference/camp" where people from the ages of 18-40 get to come and get away for a week with a combination of campy things and educational sessions.  I had 16 campers and one amazing volunteer in my cabin this week.  It was a pretty heavy week this week because two of the greatest campers passed away over the last year.... quick shout out to Jordan and Cassie... Really missed you this week, camp is not the same without you but I'm glad to know that you are in a better place (side note on how grateful I am for the church I am a part of, knowing that I will see my friends again makes it so much easier to deal with their passing) anywhooooooo this week we went bowling and I actually got to do the crazy curving way and I got like seven strikes! amazing.  We went to the saturday market in Missoula as well and I got to spend my time with the most hilarious lady ever who sang a song called sardines and told more blonde jokes than anyone I have ever met.  Spent a day P-buring in P-burg and I got married. in the thrift store. to a hilarious camper. lucky me!  We also had a spectacular day on rope courses, swam, did lots of horses, another really awesome Butte hiking, fishing (no we did not catch anything but my dear friend jack says that is why its called fishing and not catching).  One night I spent the evening in my cabin with my pants pulled up to my armpits- a bunch of girls got a really great laugh out of that.  Dance party was just about the coolest thing ever, we did all sorts of crazy dancing and karaoke, even learned a dance from a camper that will one day own her own dance studio- she taught us some pretty legit break dancing moves. and yes. I pulled out the tye-dye jump suit. Of course talent show and slide show are the most amazing way to end the week- so many crazy talents (singing voices, dancers, and even people that can touch their tongue to their nose (me being one of them. proud moment)) and some memories that will last forever.  We talked about things we were grateful for on the last night of cabin chat and I will end my blog on YAC with one thing that I am grateful for:  I have never had cancer, none of my immediate family or friends have ever had cancer but some how I had the opportunity to come to this amazing camp and what I am grateful for is that all of these amazing people have been and are willing to open up and let me into their circle, their joys, fears, struggles and life lessons.  I am thankful for them.

RATPOD- Ride Around The Pioneer In One Day. 137 mile bike ride. raises over a quarter of the annual Camp Mak-A Dream budget and is an amazing party weekend following a bike race.  This was this last weekend and everyone on core staff got to go to the middle of no where Dillon, Montana with over 600 riders all with the joint goal of raising money for camp- probably one of the longest and hottest days ever but also one of the most inspiring.  One day, I will ride in this race.

Other things: over break we went to Helena and did some karaoke at an Irish Pub- and we sang My Heart Will Go On by my dear friend Celine Dion and hiked to the top of Mount Helena, had a really fun hotel party night and now are showered and ready to go for TEEN CAMP... starts tomorrow!

part of core staff in Helena!

my dear rachael and me before banquet

dance party! jump suit trio

Pinter Cabin- YAC 2012 <3

karaoke with the cabin.

early morning fishing!

Adult HUC.

June 4-10:  Adult Heads Up Conference.
        - For people over the age of 18 that are currently undergoing treatment for or have survived one or more brain tumors.
This week was amazing.  Its hard to put into the words all of the amazing people I have met in the last week and how many great friendships that have come as a result of just a few days, I feel like I have known every single camper from this camp for years.

Run down for the week... so we went to the airport to pick up all the campers and I am pretty sure when the first campers came off the plane I had the weird dear in the head lights--awkward don't talk to me look on my face but that went away quickly because the first camper of mine that came off the plane was quite the talker!  By the time we had made it to pick up her luggage, I knew pretty much everything there was to know about her, and had been serenaded all the words to "under the sea" from the one and only little mermaid.  yes. my campers were awesome.  Within the hour I had met 10 of the most amazing girls in the entire world that I spent getting to know on a super personal basis, like family.  Within the hour I had my hair french braided (this was a common thing during the week- thanks to Amy I never had to worry about my hair), I had been told all of the best cruise spots to go to, said hello to many great old friends from last year and had completely overcome any fear of having to talk to strangers.  I don't think going through every single day is a great idea because it would take way too long so highlights!!
            - cabin chats- a time for all the campers to just talk, not only was this the ultimate struggle for me because it was a discussion and I had to lead it, meaning I had to be able to think on my feet and come up with smart sounding things to say on the fly (lets just say I still have work in the area) but I got a very special perspective of people that have literally looked death in the face and have come back stronger than ever. pretty neat.
           - the butte hike... we climbed a mountain, many of the campers never thought they would be able to get to the top but they made it.  I was inspired by one of my hiking buddies who I never thought would make it to the top and actually made it in true fashion!
         - high ropes, this is the day where everyone from having balance issues to visual problems to being terrified of high places, over comes their individual challenge in a ropes course 30 ft in the air, last year I was able to be a part of the team waiting at the top to help campers along, this year I was at the bottom ready to congratulate them on however much they accomplished.
          - art barn- almost every one of my campers could have spent their entire week in the art barn and would have been completely satisfied.  I had a cabin of artists! I got a self portrait, bracelets, posters and origami lessons ha! yes....
         - dance party/ karaoke-   this was my favorite night because everyone dressed up in their Hollywood costumes, another staff member named Ellen and I were Reeses candy bars.  Pretty awesome.  But three hours of dancing and singing is an excellent way to get people out of their shells, for some people to show off their talent but for others of us (cough me cough) to look like a complete lunatic. good thing I don't care if people think I'm weird... its not like I have never heard that before.
        - everything else!  we did horses, drum circle with smiley eyes, fireside chat, videos, late night fun, p-burging in P-burg and more stuff. oh and my birthday (i got presents and packages and sung to, couldn't have picked a better place to celebrate) and I also got to spend my birthday with michelle.... haha in spirit...

just blowing out some birthday candles with my bestie.

I'll leave it with one other story... I left camp a day early to meet my family in Florida (congrats Bott on 6 amazing years with the APTA) and as I was leaving, one of my sweet campers ran after me as I was leaving yelling about how I better be sorry I was leaving early and that it was too hot in Florida and that she was going to miss me.  she was right. I was sad to leave early, it was boiling in Florida and I already miss every single one of those campers!

hiking the butte... "Sarah sandwich" with Tom

staff day on the ropes course

Olay! Taco Tuesday!

dance party reeses

My Girlies <3  PINTLER ADULT HUC 2012!!

I also had a really great 2 day trip to Florida with most of the fam, minus Kristin who has a big girl job these days.  But we went to Magic Kingdom and Universal Studios which has... wait for it... HARRY POTTER WORLD. pretty sweet. best break ever! best family ever. i love roller coasters. i love camp. i love flying by myself. i love talking to my best friends on the phone. i love sun dresses.  i hate blogging.

Training... and my bestie

Well I am proud to say that training and our first break is DONE. and it went better than I could have hoped.  Everyone on staff is amazing and adds a different bit of flavor to this place. 

I'll start with the run down of training... so we got here and I got assigned my cabin, I am officially the PINTLER cabin leader.  Facts about pintler: It is the furthest cabin from everything and anything so I am gonna get a work out every time I go to my cabin.  It has been know to smell like sulfur (good thing I am armed with smell good sprays and a big coconut candle) and I have already killed about 8 spiders, including one that was in the hat that I put on my head before I realized it was there. I had to take a shower. AND most importantly I couldn't be happier to be there and get this opportunity. Anywhooo, got assigned to my cabin and we spent the next two days going over every single little detail of camp that we could ever need to know and too bad for me, I still feel like I have absolutely no idea what I am supposed to do when I go to the airport to pick up campers tomorrow.  I will cross that bridge when I come to it, tomorrow morning, ha. shoot.  We finished training and headed to Missoula, went to dinner and stayed up till way to late playing temple run and trying to figure out how to make pudding because apparently you have to boil the stuff before you cool it down and eat it.  This is why they invented instant pudding and that will be my purchase from NOW ON.  Oh and I swam laps today. about three of them. then I pooped out. but I will work on that.   Summary of my time so far, my second family is up here and I couldn't be more excited to get to know old friends better and make new friends---how lucky am I that I get to be around such strong and kind people all summer? I would say pretty dang lucky.

We start our first camp this week... Adult H.U.C. which is the Heads Up Conference for people that are living with or have survived a brain tumor. More to come on that once it happens but I really think these people are going to change me for the better.

This picture describes the two of us more than anything I could write... this is us.

Michelle Price. my best friend since 5th grade.  the year we both turned 11, the year we were stuck together blue people for Halloween because why not of course, the year that I found a friend that would be there for me through every little thing for more than 8 years and many more to come.  It's her birthday today, my birthday is tomorrow (awhh so cute. meant to be best friends) This girl knows every thing there is to know about me and more.  She is the one I go to when I have a really lame story to tell like how I watched some guy trip up the stairs, or how someone passed gas in class (hehe passed gas...) and I had to leave to room, I don't think people really need to appreciate those stories, but she always does. People have this thing where they like to sit back and just watch michelle and I while we do whatever it is we do...I am not quite sure what we do but people really get a kick out of our conversations, facial expressions and rants about really pointless stuff.  Vent sessions at three in the morning keep me sane, laughing attacks are the only reason I have any kind of abs, and having someone to come everywhere with me is super convenient.  I really could write an entire book about all of the crazy things that michelle and I have experienced and it is very likely that at some point we will both die because of a really stupid spur of the moment idea that we decide would be fun.  yay for my LBC, dont know how I would sit down, stand up or walk with out her.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY WOMAN!

My dear mother... and other things.

Well I am proud to say I figured out how to title posts! yay me. purpose of this blog is two fold.  1. It has been a week and I actually did a few things and 2. It is my beautiful mothers birthday and it seemed only fitting to do some real cheesy and completely embarrassing post about her and all that she means to me.

1.  This week was exciting. Last time I blogged, I mentioned that my aunt gave me a backpack and told me to go hiking so guess what? I did. Just like I said I would, and I actually enjoyed myself.  And I promised Michelle I would take pictures of myself (thank goodness for self timer, even though I felt like such a goober posing by myself at a camera that didn't even having a person pushing a button saying the traditional 'say cheese' (what does that even mean? why cheese?) I did it) so for some visual memory, here are a few of my favorites.

yay for self timer

guess where i found this?? a wildlife refuge.

super pretty

I found a bridge!

my day hike trail.

this is stitch. he was my hiking buddy.

Okay! So I went on two day hikes, one with the cute doggy to the right and one long day hike by myself which was actually real fun. [I would like to take this time to also thank my mother for teaching me how to pee in the woods, not easy to do, but thanks to a cabin property with no bathroom, I have learned how to use the woods.]  Ummm so yeah those were fun and I saw a couple animals, like birds. Besides hiking I am proud to say I spent multiple hours on the phone with Michelle, we had a lot to talk about after 3 weeks. I read the entire Hunger Game series which is a really big deal for me cuz I don't really like reading but I read three whole LONG books.  I did henna, on myself, it looks ugly, but I was bored and I wanted to try it.  I now appreciate the artistic skills of people and will leave it to them from now on.  I also helped my dear Kathleen Cotter from camp move to Helena, met Chef Erin's husband to be and ate dinner with a few other people from camp.  Plus more sleep, more tv and TOO MUCH caramel popcorn.  I was eating all healthy and now, I have consumed a lifetime supply of sugar. but it tasted real good.
 I'm actually heading to camp in about 15 minutes to face the awkward first dinner with core staff where everyone is sizing each other up and deciding whether or not to be nice to them, lucky for me I already know people so I get to watch other people try and fit in.  I'm so excited though! Here's to three days of super intense staff training before diving into camp!

2.  My MOTHER.  diane. thats her name. and to put it simply, she is cooler than any other mom. I could go off on a huge rant listing all the things I love about her but I would have to theme it off her age and the last thing I want to do is give away the fact that my mother is turning 53 today. So I will leave at this: I love my mom so much and am so grateful for the advice, experience and comfort she provides me with every day.  She puts up with so much from me and has never done anything but support and encourage my dreams.  She has taught me to work hard and play hard and enjoy even the little things in life.  I love the way she always smells like flowers and that her idea of fun in pulling weeds and doing science experiments.  She is so passionate about every thing anyone in my family is involved in.  I can't count the number of snowy and rainy soccer games, terrible concerts, and parent teacher conferences she has been to for me and my sisters.  I hope one day to be just like her. 

my mom is cooler than your mom.

HA! who knew I would write one blog and then not want to write any more?  Oh, I guess I knew but decided to try anyways. So here is my second blog straight from the cutest little coffee shop I could find in Missoula that actually has super amazing chocolate raspberry truffle frappuccinos and free wifi. yay!

I'll start with a quick run down of the past 5 days that have been spent crashing at my darling aunt and uncles house in Huson MT.  Not a very big place.  Their whole entire community is about 20 houses and dogs.  But they have been great to put up with me waking up at noon and eating the entire kitchen.  My aunt and uncle are super into healthy food, only problem with that: healthy food tastes gross. But what can I do? NOTHING. So besides secretly feeling myself loose weight because I'm actually eating food that is good for me, I'm enjoying myself. ( i am really not loosing weight, that is something my body is incapable of, but i like to think that way, it makes me feel better about eating dirt and trees).  Enough on that, haha I have literally spent like three of the five days so far in a cave in the basement of their house watching t.v. sleeping and reading.  Finally my aunt brought me a backpack and a map and told me to go on some hiking adventures (i think she was getting worried about me becoming a hermit) so i said "thank you, i will!" (thinking in my head...'tomorrow' heh heh) but i really am going to! I have some trails picked out and I am ready to go... tomorrow! So I have a backpack, a map that i have no idea how to read, a water bottle and a sandwich.  Hopefully I don't die.  And hopefully I wont get lost (way less probable for anyone who knows me, getting lost is a daily routine).  But I am doing it anyways because I have eight days left and I would feel pretty lame if all I did was sit and watch movies on HBO.   Besides doing that, my cousins who are just about as "BA" as they come have taken me rock climbing (i regret to say i am still a little nervous bouldering because of falling last year. dang it.) and then this weird game called folfing.... pretty much you go into the woods and throw mini frisbees twice as far as you would ever dream of throwing a normal frisbee and get them in a basket on the other side of the woods. (see video below for people folfing here in missoula... ignore the dog at the beginning... the basket is the yellow thing... and you have to throw it way farther than it looks to begin with) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61rWZpkIAtU

Needless to say I was REALLY BAD at it.  I ended up just chucking it as hard as I could and being proud of it moving twenty feet.  I like to pretend I am a natural Olympic athlete the first time I try anything but this was a "no. you are not." moment... (teen girl squad reference.) 


That's about it for me today.  A few other side notes... criminal minds is still my favorite tv show thanks to the crazy amount of channels offered at my temporary home. i need to spend zero money in the next eight months because i calculated my semester abroad and once I add everything up, its gonna be like $8,000 dollars (who can say lawn mowing and babysitting??).  Scholarships. cross my fingers one or two of those pull through. 


oh, and mom don't worry about me hiking alone, I know self defense.  and if I get lost I will just find a horse and shoot its face off thanks to the instruction of my friend Joe that eats horses.

Montana-
     One of the biggest states in the United States with one of the smallest populations... in the entire state there are 998,199 people. Compare that to the amount of people living just in salt lake city: 183,018 people--> okay so we have less but we are all smooshed into one city, they have a whole state. Total in Utah there are about three million people.  Point of all this:  i am going to a state that is arguably more populated by cows, buffalo, and red necks than people. ( side note: nothing against red necks- one of the best memories i have from last summer is having a jam session with a bunch of them at a local bar, they are awesome and i like them)

Gold Creek, Montana:
- a small town in south west montana...baha wikipedia calls it a ghost town.
        -population 227. men women and children.
        -86 houses. total.
       - there is one post office that is open once a week for a 3 hour window.
- apparently way back in the day it was sort of a big deal because of gold... but now, what puts this little "ghost town" on the map is an amazing place called Camp Mak-A Dream.

Camp Mak- A Dream-  I think the best way to describe this little piece of heaven is to start with the text book answer to the question "what is camp mak- a dream?"

  It is a medically supervised, cost-free Montana experience, in an intimate community setting, for children, young adults and families affected by cancer. 

In a little bit more detail, this is a camp that brings people from all over the country together under a common condition of being effected by cancer.  There are 6 camps over the summer where different age groups ranging from about 6 years old to 30 years old get the chance to come and get away.  For a week they get to push limits by doing ropes courses, horse back riding, swimming, fishing, dancing, singing, doing crafts and making friends. 


whooooooohhh dont be jealous that i am spending the summer there. more on what i am doing up there later but i will start the count down to montana---- 4 days!