Day 1…We got here, we unpacked, we ate and we fell into bed
By Jemi Cain, mother of famed equestrian, Amy Tryon and mother-in-law of Greg, renowned blogger and husband of Amy
With my computer FINALLY working at the same time I’m awake, alert AND energetic (more about that later) I’ll attempt to provide some updates from the Olympic Experience Event Camp in Kalispell, Montana. I must warn the readers that because of other commitments (more about that later as well) I’ll be neither timely nor organized. As I tend to be a rather disorganized person to begin with, getting all my random thoughts on paper in an orderly fashion would be next to impossible.
Never one to try to fill the (somewhat large?) footsteps of the master of the holy grail of bloggers (Greg), I will nonetheless try to give a bit of an update to parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren and friends of the happy campers in Kalispell, Montana.
Until Sunday night...the day before I planned to leave Seattle for Kalispell, I was blissfully unaware of a necessary change in plans. Two of Amy’s young students were relatively inexperienced driving horses on a long trip, so instead of the leisurely two-day trip I had planned, I got up at 2:00 am to leave at 3…evidently Amy’s preferred time to travel. Bryn Hamel and Lauren Boriotti were delightful travel companions, sleeping blissfully in the back seat while Buster, son of Razzle the Magnificent Mother (Amy’s dog) kept the lonely vigil in the front passenger seat. Once he was satisfied that the girls were safely asleep, he too curled up on his pillow and began snoring. Oh well! They say contemplating the beauty of the night sky on I-90 is restorative.
As
dawn broke in Idaho, the girls awoke refreshed and eager to continue, and Buster
and I traded for the back seat where I immediately fell into coma. The picture
is meant to assure those family members whose daughters I accompanied that I
had everything in hand, my mind was fully alert during our entire 12-hour
journey, and their trust in Amy’s judgment to include me was unassailable.My original plan was to arrive at camp fully rested from a night on a comfy motel bed, ready to assume my job as an assistant to Kathi Michel, camp participant as well as meal planner, caterer and the person most responsible for the campers being happy with their meals. Instead, as we arrived at Rebecca Farms only a few hours before the opening dinner was to begin, Kathy met a tired, bedraggled old bag worth not much of anything. But as an EVENT PLANNER extraordinaire, she brought out her coping skills, put a permanent smile on her face and charged through the preparations for the meal, dragging me behind. You know that old saying, “the spirit may be willing, but the body ain’t”…or something like that…surely did apply. But Kathy had planned a magnificent catered meal, and ALL we had to do was set up, provide a festive table setting and act like we were really glad to welcome all 50 campers, Olympic instructors, auditors and parents. Fortunately for Kathi and me, all the horses remained in the barn, happily munching on their own catered dinners.
Buster was no help…he was back in the camp, hanging out with the Terrible Terriers…his mother, brother, sister, cousin…and various other dogs… trying to grab some sleep between runs around the pasture terrorizing all the arriving campers.
Even considering the condition of the culinary assistant, our first meal was a success. Give a caterer 50 hungry people, most of them sleep deprived from long journeys to Kalispell, and a festive Mexican buffet will restore all sagging spirits.
Even the dogs all went to bed early, as if they, too, were excited to finally get to THE OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE Event Camp.