It's been a while since the summers I worked here. It's been even longer since I was a camper…read more I remember the drive: a friend in the backseat with me, little sister up front, and my mom navigating Big Basin Highway. I'll never forget the weeks I spent at camp. Even though it wasn't cheap, my parents worked hard so that they could afford to send my sister and I each for two weeks instead of just one (I believe there were three weeks of each age group). Worth every penny. I'll never forget my summer experiences. I honestly think that this was also the time I first decided I liked to write. I had the opportunity to write letters home and every night I sent one. Years later as a staff person, lots of campers wanted to write to me. I wrote back endless letters for years. I remember the death of a camper (not at camp) who I had been very close to. She called herself Little Frosty. (My camp name was Frosty - see my review of Wendy's and it'll explain my camp name :)). It was very difficult to lose a friend I felt like I'd had so much influence on. I can't review the camp in much detail because I'm sure it's changed tremendously, but there were hiking trails, a "flying squirrel" zip line, a pond to fish, a pool to swim, a meadow to play.... cabins, nearby bathrooms, a room for worship and a huge cafeteria hall. We played games and competed. Learned about each other, taught one another. I've always wanted to return. It'd be impossible with work I think - but not one summer of my life has gone by that I have'nt thought about quitting my jobs and trying to work there for 8 weeks. I think the pay was $250/wk when I was there last... perhaps less. But the rewards were everlasting. My eyes water every time I think about camp. The most amazing people I can remember: Thumper, and Sprocket are the two counselors I remember most from my time as a camper. Thumper was my counselor more than once. Sprocket worked with the kids who rode mountain bikes. I remember the Bruner family all lived there and helped with cooking and maintenance. I believe they're in Oregon now. Soleil was a coworker when I was staff. She was from the same City as me and we had a mutual friend at home. We still keep in touch. I remember Albacore during pool competitions. For some reason I remember his wet hair the most! xoxxox

As a music leader for my church, I have had the opportunity to provide music at many youth…read moreministries and churches in the Santa Clara Valley. From my particular locale, that usually means the retreat centers are in the Santa Cruz Mountains - and there are LOTS! This past weekend, I provided praise and worship and Mass music (it was a Catholic youth retreat) at Camp Hammer. In all the years I've been doing music for retreats, I had never done a retreat at Camp Hammer. Admittedly, on the way up the hill, I was a little doubtful of the place as I had heard mixed reviews from folks at my church. But as soon as we got to the facility, all my doubts were erased. The grounds are GORGEOUS! The facility is tucked within the redwoods along the Big Basin Highway. It's lush with vegetation which really promotes an incredible peacefulness - just what I needed! I knew then that this was a very special place. My first stop was the central hall to unload my gear. When I walked in, I was absolutely amazed to see sub-woofers on each side of the stage! No other facility where I've provided music has had that. I turned to the guy who was running sound for the weekend and said, "SUBS?!!! Oh wow! This is gonna be great!" The reason this was so good is that subs provide that low bottom end that gives a band's sound a much deeper texture. Not only that, the room had two HUGE ceiling-mounted mains and the stage was equipped with big monitors, so hearing ourselves while we were performing was going to be great! As a musician, the sound quality of a venue is very important to me, and Camp Hammer really hits the marks on that note. People have complained that the facility doesn't have that much equipment like mics and mic stands. But to be honest, any performing musician worth their salt should have those items. I brought up three mics of my own - my vocal mic is A LOT better than the standard Shure or Sennheisers most venues use. So if you read this and you're a musician, you'll be in for a real treat! As far as amenities are concerned, my room, which I shared with my wife (we both are very involved with the youth ministry at our church), was the best room I've ever stayed in at a retreat center. I thought Mount Hermon's was pretty good, but this room was ten times better! The food was also VERY good. It's not extravagant. But it's healthy, and more importantly, the cooks make it delicious. What was really impressive was the Sunday lunch, which is the last meal of the weekend. They provided homemade pizza! Lots of different varieties as well. Other facilities usually do a build-your-own sandwich bar with kind of cheap cold cuts and cheese. Not Camp Hammer. They go all out. All the staff at Camp Hammer are incredibly engaging and friendly. They go out of their way to ask if everything's going well or if there are any issues that need to be addressed. They want to get feedback! Admittedly, the staff at Mount Hermon do that as well, but I did feel that Camp Hammer's staff goes just a bit further with their support. In a word, the staff is AWESOME! All things considered, I will make sure other people know about this wonderful retreat facility. Oh! Before I forget, here's a really awesome thing that actually has nothing to do with the facility, but it's a big factor: Cell phones don't work there - no network will connect, unless you have a satellite phone. When you're up there, you're disconnected. And that's great. They do have WiFi available, and even as a leader, I probably should've connected just in case, but I didn't bother because I figured that since I didn't have a direct operational role, the likelihood that I'd need to utilize an internet connection would be minimal. So I disconnected from the outside world the entire weekend! That was SO refreshing.