My youth pastor planned a winter retreat to give us a fun way to start off the new year. Pastor Nick named the trip S.N.O.W retreat - Shout "No Other Way!" We left New Years Day early in the morning. Eleven 7th-12th graders, (me included) 2 chaperones, and my youth pastor and his wife, made up the group. Our destination was Lion's Ridge, located a little bit out of Bozeman, MT. The drive took 7 hrs and on the way up we had a little scavenger hunt. We were split up into 2 teams, and had a list to complete by the time we got there.
One of the things on the list was take a team picture with us all in the air. This picture being the result.
Once we reached Lion's Ridge, we took a hay ride up the mountain. It took about 15 minutes.
The weather was clear and the scenery breathtaking (because of the beauty but also due to the cold mountain air the higher we got up)
I absolutely love trees so was excited to be surrounded by huge ones!
Jessica and I on the hay ride. We were trying to get the trees in the picture but just ended up getting snow :)
The inside of the lodge was SO cool. It immediately felt like home. This is the area where we would dish up our food (pot luck style) They also had tea, cider, coffee, and hot chocolate available 24/7, which is what my friend Missy is getting in this picture.
This is one of the corners in the main room. They had windows everywhere and awesome homemade furniture.
The fireplace wasn't quite finished - they needed to put stones where the grey boards are. It was so cozy and nice sitting on these couches.
Downstairs is where our rooms were located as well as the bathrooms and 'hangout' area. This picture is taken from the girls bedroom door, the boys room is white door by the coaches.
The first day was very relaxed, mostly unpacking and getting to know the place. We had a delicious supper and our team cleaned up afterwards (each team got 4 turns the whole trip) We had our first 'service' which was basically Pastor Nick reading us a few verses and telling us what he wanted this trip to be about. He said it was about forming our own 'clique' (the good kind!) and getting closer to one another, forming bonds with people we maybe don't know as well. He said there are times to expand our clique (youth group, inviting people there, ect) and times to protect it (like taking this small group trip)
This is a panoramic picture Pastor Nick took of us all after the service. 3 people got cut out somewhere in the process of taking 3 different pictures but the people shown are left to right: Alex, Grayson, Michael, (behind Grayson) Me, Jessica, Alex, Missy, Nick, Uranna, Kayla, and Lindsey (pastor Nick's wife) Missing are Hailey, John, and Johhny.
