On June 22nd, a group of 15 left for an adventure at Holden Village. Holden is the kind of place that you have to plan to get there. Actually, our plans began before Christmas in 2017.
The 22nd was our travel day to Wenatchee, WA. It was an 8 hour drive or so and we were glad to have made it that far on day 1. On the morning of the 23rd, we drove to Field’s Point Landing on Lake Chelan. This is where our vehicles would be parked while we were at Holden. There was a lot of nervous excitement as we finally got to board the boat to head up lake. There are a variety of landscapes to see on the hour and a half boat ride up lake: a bunch of mountain streams, a barge carrying vehicles and equipment, and finally the dock at Lucerne. We left the boat behind and made our way to the school busses that would take us the rest of the way to Holden.
You might think that this is where the journey gets easier but the buses climb 1000 ft of elevation over the first two miles of the road which includes traversing 9 switchbacks. And another 1000 ft over the remaining nine miles. We were welcomed to the village by people holding signs and waving, we got a quick orientation on the bus before we got to go have lunch and make our way to our rooms.
Every person on the trip had a different experience from this moment forward. I gave the group one rule for their time at Holden. This was the rule: “Whatever you choose to do today is the right thing to do. You can read a book, take a nap, go for a hike, play games, whatever you do, it’s the right thing.”
This rule was meant to help everyone relax and I think it did just that. Our group enjoyed hikes, playing in the creek, bowling and shooting pool in the pool hall, reading, attending classes, worship, eating ice cream, napping, playing games of many kinds, looking for wildlife, and much more.
It’s hard to describe Holden Village because the experience is so much richer. There are many sayings that have been attached to Holden over the years, the one I like is, “The ride up is free, but the trip down is costly.” This means something different for each person who visits the village but what I have learned during my trips to Holden is that time in the Village changes your heart and I leave each time challenged and stretched in new ways. But, whenever I have left the village, I always wonder when I will get to go back.
I’ve had a few people already mention that they might be interested in a trip to Holden. If you are curious or interested, please talk to me or someone else on the trip. We would all be glad to share a story or two or ten. The ten might just be me.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Steve
