"Hazardous Journeys" Mountain Rendezvous, continued

~ posted by Ben

 

Day 2

 

We woke up around 7 this morning, packed up and had breakfast at a local café. Then we drove to the “Georgetown loop” railroad station. We had bought tickets for this train tour through Georgetown. We saw some breathtaking views!



The train station.

The beautiful Colorado Mountains.

Going across a bridge.

The train made a stop at a goldmine visitor’s center; we got off the train since we had purchased tickets for an extended gold mine tour.

 

An abandoned gold mine on the verge of collapsing. Not going in there!

The inside of the mine.

“Dragons blood.”

The tour was really neat and educational! One thing I found particularly interesting was the story behind “Tommy knockers.” Have you ever wondered why in history books, you only see pictures of 19^th century miners right outside the entrance to a mine but never inside of it? It was not uncommon for miners to die while working in a mine. The superstitious miners believed that when a miner died, his spirit lived on in the mine. They called these spirits “Tommy knockers.” They believed that the Tommy knockers watched over them and kept them safe while they mined. But they also believed that it was a curse to upset these spirits, so there were a few things they never did. One was taking pictures. In the old days a camera was a large and complicated setup that made a small explosion when you took the pictures. The explosion echoed, making a large rumble throughout the mines. We now know that this was from the picture, but the miners thought that this rumble was the wrath of the Tommy knockers who apparently did not like their picture being taken!

 

After the train returned to the station we drove to the “Crooked Creek Ranch”, a Young Life Christian camp near Fraser, Colorado. This was where the Father/Son retreat was going to be held. We checked in and settled into our dorms. I then did some rock climbing that I signed up for earlier that afternoon.

 

The welcome sign.

Our cabin.

Our dorm room.

The view of the pool from the front of our cabin.

Looking the other direction.

Me climbing the rock wall.

That evening we had the official opening of the conference with a delicious dinner. The dinner, along with all the meals at the conference, was served by wives and daughters of the staff running the event. These gracious women did it on a completely voluntary basis, for no pay at all. We were very grateful!

 

That evening, Doug Phillips (Founder and CEO of Vision Forum ministries) gave an inspiring sermon on manhood. He is an incredibly enthusiastic, engaging and inspiring speaker!

 

Sorry for the blur, but this is Mr. Doug Phillips, Founder and CEO of Vision Forum Ministries.

After the opening service, my Dad and I enjoyed a late night Ice cream at the camp café and then had a good night’s sleep. We are excited for the day tomorrow!

 

To learn more about Vision Forum and the Hazardous Journey’s Society visit http://www.hazardousjourneys.org/

 

To be continued. . .