A Trip To Our Favorite Neck Of The Woods

Thursday, July 14th, Paul and I departed to our favorite “neck of the woods” along the north coast of California. We have been making this same expedition for the past twenty-five years. In 1975, when Paul was a student at Pacific Union College in Angwin, he was assigned to attend Redwood Camp Meeting to promote the college and recruit students. The college graciously allowed the entire family to go along, which included at that time, myself and our four children, ages ten, six, five, and two. We were provided a motel in Fortuna, not far from the Pamplin Grove, which was (and still is) situated by highway 36 and the Eel River, the location at that time for Redwood Camp Meeting. Having never been there before, we found ourselves in an awe-inspiring, primeval stand of towering, majestic redwoods that seemed to reach up as far as the naked eye could see. I soon realized these were one of the natural wonders that defy capturing accurately with a mere, man-made camera. There was truly a sense of sacredness about the place.

Meals were prepared in a large, outdoor, mobile camp kitchen and all the campers would gather together at picnic tables in a rustic, open cafeteria-like setting among the tall, giant trees. While Paul promoted and recruited, the rest of us planted ourselves on the front row seats of every meeting we could attend. During the ten day event, we soaked up as many inspirational and biblical messages through the spoken word and song, as possible. That was my first introduction to an “old fashioned,” church, tent camp meeting, and I‘ve been “hooked“ ever since!!.