Alumni Reunion

Wow, we had a great reunion in September. Mostly people from the 1980's attended with a smattering of1990's folks sprinkled in. We spent 3 days enjoying each other's company, sharing stories and creating some new ones. The highlight of the weekend was the performance by the renowned Coppercreek airband (not so much air anymore), "Johnny Destructo and the Baseball Bats", during our Saturday night campfire program. Members, Marc Friedman, Peter Conheim and Joel Hoffman, wowed the crowd with real instruments and lots of laughs. We brought back a few old favorites such as The Titantic, Johnny Verbeck and The Birdie Song. The group did some wakeboarding, waterskiing, horseback riding, star gazing and concluded the weekend with a special Vespers celebration. Everyone agreed we needed to have a repeat soon.

COPPERCREEK CAMP REUNION!

Open to anyone who attended or worked at Coppercreek Camp, their significant others and little ones.

Relive summer memories, stay in the same cabins (well almost the same), swim in the pool (it is definitely the same), sneak out..(there will be no Rat Patrol!) ...visit Vespers, sit at campfire and sing Country Roads one more time or just relax on the back deck and toast Keddie Peak. The "Sleeping Indian" is still beautiful.

$50.00 per person per day
Children ages 5-10 are $25.00 per person per day
Children 4 and under are free.

This covers all meals and appetizers during Happy Hour- please bring your choice of beverage or alcohol. Iced tea, lemonade and wonderful, "ole Kool Aid" will be provided. We have refrigerator space and an ice machine now!

Horseback riding must be booked in advance and is $35.00/hour for a private session and $25.00/hour for a group.

Other activities available:
Pool, archery, riflery, mountain bikes, BMX, Skate ramp, canoes, fishing, frisbee golf, ping pong, tetherball, sand court volleyball, driving range, hiking.

We are planning evening campfire programs so come prepared to share your favorite camp song and put on a skit or two. Please bring any musical instruments you might...or might not...play.

You can reserve a cabin or bunk. The old metal, army bunks have been upgraded to built-in bunks so when the person above you gets up to visit the Shower House at 1:00 am, the entire bunk doesn't wobble. You are also welcome to pitch a tent or bring an RV. There is plenty of space. We can accommodate around 150 people so get your name on the list soon!

Please contact Marc Friedman (circa early 1980's) at phi68@aol.com to reserve a spot and get more details.

We can't wait to see you again!

Barn News

We have one day left of full lessons. The campers have shown so much improvement! Every camper is at least trotting now and many are jumping small cross rails for the first time! Mackenzie, Taylor W., and Molly will finish up their two weeks with cross rails on Friday after working some quirks out today over trotting poles. Evie, who got on a horse for the first time at the beginning of the session, is now learning to two point at the trot. Along with her are Curtis, Kyle, Andrea, Teal, Agnes, Grace, Michael, Alex B., and Ellen D., all trotting in their lessons. Caitlin H., did her first cross rails today on Caro while Gabby and Jayne continued perfecting their jumping position in the other half of the arena. Out in the jump arena, Amy has been having fun with Donnie, Chloe, Marissa, and Emma working on cantering and jumping as well as some synchronized jumping...sort of...when the horses cooperate and stay together. Laura has been working with Daisy to slow down and not charge fences. They look spectacular together! The Barn Rats are extremely useful, helping get horses out, groomed, tacked up, helping in lessons, untacking and sponging horses off. We couldn't run the barn without them! What are we going to do on Saturday?

Tidbits

There is an 80's reunion brewing...details to come in the next couple of weeks.

We want to welcome Mathew, Dylan, and Mikayla Craghead, the children of Mike Craghead and Dawn (Goudy) Craghead to camp next session. Mike was a Trekker and employee at camp for years where he met Dawn, the Art Instructor. See what happens when you meet your significant other at camp!

Also, we just said good-bye today to Gretel Pollock, the daughter of David Pollock who attended in the early 1970's! Gretel just spent the last week with us and we very much enjoyed having her!

Alumni children attending camp

We are fortunate to welcome our 44th summer which means more and more children of alumnus are attending camp. We enjoy having these campers in camp and sharing stories of their parents from years ago. This summer, we welcome Meagan Krug- daughter of Danny Krug (the infamous creator of "Recon"!), Taylor Krug- daughter of Michah Krug, Samuel and Nicole Seibold- son and daughter of Scott Seibold, Lily Cabot- daughter of Kate (Ballard) and John Cabot, Isabel and Sophia McGoldrick- daughters of Bernie McGoldrick, Zach Lusby- son of Karly (Eichner) Drake-Lusby, Coupe and Emma Goodman- son and daughter of Ford Goodman, and William Burford- son of Katherine (Horton) Burford. We have more to come....

On staff for the first time this year: Kate Hagan- daughter of Scott Hagan and Adelaide Baber- former camper, CIT, Trekker, and JC.

ACA- The Benefits of Camp!

The American Camping Association just launched a new campaign to familiarize the non-camp, general population with the benefits of camp. Check it out!

Willow and Jada take a walk!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szDy5_Zu3aA

Wonderful Spring Break

What is Spring Break like at Coppercreek? Usually the mornings were spent working- cutting wood, raking, cleaning pens, thinning trees with the backhoe, general maintenance...etc...but on a few afternoons, Sutter and I pulled the horses out and had some fun. Sutter spent all of Wednesday raking the pine needles off the sand in the jump arena and moving jumps. She sat next to me on the tractor while I disced up the sand. (We don't use the jump arena in the winter) and planned her jump course. What a lucky mother I am. My 16 year old daughter actually likes hanging out with me and we had "catch up time" while toodling around on the John Deer. After the course was set, Sutter jumped Christy and I took a spin on Valor and Caro. We always give each other tips, exchange horses, teach each other and talk about possible upcoming shows. For any campers following the blog, Caro was a perfect gentleman and packed me like a champ!

170 Alumni Registrants!

The 170th person just registered on Coppercreek's Alumni Site! Welcome Chrisana Des Jardin Andrus. She taught Art (among all the other tasks every counselor gets assigned) for us for at least 5 years back in the mid 1990's. She is now married, with two beautiful daughters and teaches 4th grade.

"Pursuit of Happyness" - AKA "Willow"

Willow is growing quickly. She had outdoor time yesterday in between rain showers. She is sporting a trendy, blue fleece sweatshirt since the weather is so blustery. She is very friendly and inquisitive. Jada keeps a close eye on her but is happy to have people come and love on the baby. Willow is particularly proud of her ability to race around her mother, throwing in a few bucks and sliding stops.

New baby at Coppercreek!

Yesterday afternoon welcomed a new miniature filly to the Coppercreek barn. She is the daughter of Jiggy and Jada, our two mini driving horses. The alumni connection comes in as Jiggy was named by one of our counselors, John Washington, years ago. John taught dance here and for our opening counselor skit, we all danced to Will Smith's "Gettin Jiggy Wit It". That started a line of miniature horses named after something to do with Will Smith. Jiggy's first colt was dubbed "Wicked Wild Wild West" but his barn name is JJ. Now we have this beautiful little girl and we are searching the database for a good name. So far the going choice is "Willow" after Will and Jada Pinkette Smith's daughter. I will post photos as soon as I get them. The new little girl kept her Momma busy all night as she test drove her legs. The long delicate legs run and buck like champions already! For those who haven't seen a mini baby, this girl is about a foot and a half tall. So cute!

FACEBOOK Raffle Winners!

The winner of a two week session at camp is Pat McNeil!! He was a counselor at CCC for 3 years. The winner of a one week session at camp is Jenie Wall! Jenie was a camper/Trekker at camp for years! She was on one of my Treks back in the late 1980's. And the big winner of the a great vintage Coppercreek t-shirt is Marcy Dixon. Marcy was on staff forever as a Trek leader. Thanks to everyone who supported our campership fund. We really appreciate it. With camp just a few months away, we are getting requests from people for financial help to come to camp. It is so wonderful to make the call and let someone know their dream is coming true. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

First ever COPPERCREEK FACEBOOK RAFFLE!

We want to have a little fun and raise money for a great cause- camperships for kids who can't afford camp! For every $100.00 donated to our tax deductible campership fund we will put your name in a hat. At the end of two weeks, we will draw a name out and the winner gets a two week session at Coppercreek for free! Runner-up gets one week of camp for free. And the third prize (maybe the best prize of all) is a camp t-shirt! So donate now for a chance to win camp for your child, your grandchild, or your neighbor's child...and make summer camp a reality for another child out there. We will announce the winner on Facebook and the Alumni Blog on Monday night, March 9th.

For those of you still having trouble finding me on Facebook, I have added my maiden name. Search for "Lauren Lindskog Allen" and I should pop up. I guess there were a lot of "Lauren Allen's"!

More vintage photos on Facebook and other tidbits

Jeff Weit just uploaded some great photos from the 70's to his Facebook page. He has group pictures from 1975 and 1976 as well as others. Neil Rector now has a box of negatives he is scanning and putting on disks for us. He is a saint! I am trying to label all the photos people keep tagging on Facebook to help with completing missing historical data. Please keep spreading the word to any CCC people you know.

Emily Elders Balestrini, Greta Foraker Dedmon, Marc Friedman, Joel Hoffman and Peter Conheim all got together recently for a little alumni social time in the Bay Area. I believe all these alumni came to Coppercreek in the early to mid 80's.

I have to add Emily just had a showing of her linoleum cut blocks as part of The Uptown Art Walk in Sacramento this last weekend. Very cool.

Sarah Bjerklie visited me (Lornie) at a camp fair in Los Angeles, February 8th. She was, as usual, beautiful, fun, funny and helpful!

We will be in Mill Valley March 1st, Roseville March 22nd and Phoenix March 28th and 29th for Home Gatherings. Alumni are always invited! We will send out invitations to those on the alumni database but if you are not signed up yet and want to attend, just let me know. I would love to see you!

Now...back to shoveling...

Coppercreek Home Gatherings

Sunday marks the beginning of our Coppercreek Home Gatherings complete with slideshow, swag, and us! Some of you may remember Papa John coming to your home years ago doing the same thing. We have taken up the torch and are on our way. February 8th, this Sunday, is Los Angeles; then we have; Sacramento and Reno the end of February; Mill Valley first week of March; Las Vegas March 7th; other Bay Area locations in middle March and Phoenix, Arizona on March 28th and 29th. We love to include alumni but not all of you are signed up on our database so sending out invitations becomes a bit difficult. Get on there and register! If you would like to host a gathering, just let us know and we will come.

P.S. Welcome Mary Wilbourn to the alumni group!

P.S.S. If you would like to come, please email me and let me know. I would love to see you.

Welcome Eric Chaffey and Oleg Mitev! Eric was a camper in the early 1980's. Oleg and his wife, Tatiana came in the early 1990's from Belarus. Oleg was our maintenance man while "Tati" was Sutter's nanny!

Coppercreek Memorial Fund

We want to thank those who have donated to our campership fund!

The Blochers
The Goldberg/King Family
The Horner Family
Tom Sawyer Camps
The Root Family
The Stenovec Family
The Sigal Family

And using our brand new on-line Paypal link are:
Amy Murray
Marcy Kalogiannis Dixon

For more information on our charitable fund, please follow this link:
www.coppercreek.com/scholarship-donations.asp

We are so thankful for all the alumni on Facebook and this blog, who are sharing great photos and wonderful thoughts about their time at Coppercreek. You inspire us to keep on camping!

Comments

I think I fixed the problem with not being able to leave comments. Give it a shot now and let me know you posted a comment and it didn't show up.

Photos from the early years!

I went into the post office yesterday and a nice gentleman asked me if I was a "Lindskog". I kind of laughed and wondered if I really look that much like my Dad. Seeing my little look of surprise, he pointed at my truck with the Coppercreek Camp signs on it and said, "I was in a cabin with Mike Lindskog when we were about 10 years old. We sure did have some adventures in that cabin." Okay folks, that would have been almost 30 years ago. The gentleman's name is Kevin Williams. Ring a bell to anyone? If you are reading this Kevin, thanks for introducing yourself...again!

Welcome Dave Kern and Peter Hanna to the alumni blog!

Alumni Database

I can hardly keep up with the alumni showing up on Facebook and signing in on our database. Right now, Paul Bansen, Amy Murry and Mia (Volpato) Boon hold the record for the longest time at Coppercreek. All three are at 12 years. Paul did all his as a camper. Mia did 11 as a camper and 1 as a counselor and Amy (she has a blog too) spent all 12 as staff beginning as the youngest girls counselor and ending up as the CIT Director and Dean of Campers. Jenny Calvert-Warren came in at 10 years as a camper.

We have quite a few making the 9 year mark; Emily Elders, Alex Grant, Elliot Guber, Hannah and Andy Lord, Kristi (Mulligan) Moreno, Katie Isenberg, and Adelaide Baber. Many people have signed up but haven't listed their history. Ya just gotta do it!

The best part is the years we have represented. David Cann 1967, Scott Cook 1968, Sarah Margolis 1974, Lisa (Engel) Belhage 1976, Kristi (Mulligan) Moreno 1978, Carolyn (Kinsel) Sarantopulos 1978, and Dave Spriggs...??? The dates are the last year they attended.

I recently posted pictures on Facebook of Emily Elders, Sam Grosby, Matt Evarts, Laura Platt, Jeff Weit, Meher Best, Alik Mery-Sanson and others. Those who came to either memorial have witnessed the BOXES of photos we have accumulated over the 43 years of operation. Neil Rector has offered to begin the scanning process and (he doesn't know it yet) I am going to take him up on it!

The Maintenance Men of Coppercreek with the infamous red jeep!

Taken at Lynne's Memorial- May 2004

From the left: Bob Sleppy, Mike Craghead, Jeff Ochs, John Cabot, Craig Hogland, Scott Williams, Matt Evarts.

It has quickly become apparent to me with all of the alumni checking in and sharing information, a Coppercreek Alumni blog is necessary. I have greatly enjoyed hearing from people from the decades past and catching up with their lives. I believe I am now the only person left that spans all the generations of camp. Oh, don't worry! Mike Lindskog is still alive and well, flying jets out of Houston but he hasn't worked at camp in many years now. Matt Evarts is a firefighter/ paramedic in Salinas and still spends quite a bit of time up at camp visiting but he also hasn't worked at camp for the last 10 years or so. So, that leaves me. I am feeling a little dated these days though when campers who were under my care as a counselor are now having children. Yikes! I plan on sharing information here from people who attended Coppercreek as campers, staff and family campers. I will also start to pull out the old photos from the 1960's, 70's, 80's, 90's and the 2000's, scan them and begin to post them. I am looking forward to that task!

If you haven't already done so, please sign up on the alumni page of the website www.coppercreek.com so we can keep track of you, send you newsletters and generally annoy you with correspondence! We have lots of people to track down, so spread the word. For those of you on Facebook, there is quite a Coppercreek presence there. Either research my name or Coppercreek. There are two Coppercreek groups and then lots of us just floating around giving each other grief.