From the Past: The "Man Trip" (August 2 - 8)

Before heading to Denver, I was blessed to be able to take the youth guys on one last trip. We went up to the North Carolina mountains for a week to do anything and everything that is manly. After a long drive and a good night of sleep, we headed out the next morning for a full day of whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River in eastern Tennessee. We got to take on some level 3 and 4 rapids, which was pretty manly. Some of the guys wore some very, uh, interesting (and not so manly) shorts for the rafting day.During our "Day of Rest", we just chilled around the cabin all day. Here, some brave souls worked on a puzzle, which ended up getting finished at 1:30 AM.

Throughout the week we had some "Man Lessons" in which we taught the guys some basic things that real men need to know, like how to shave, grill, and skin a deer. Here, the guys are learning some basic car maintenance.

An afternoon in downtown Murphy led us to some Cheerwine, which you can only get in certain parts of the country. It's basically Cherry Coke, but some people think it tastes better.

After our "Day of Rest", we set out early again for a day-long hike in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. We did 15 miles up and down, and up and down, a very large mountain. At the end of the day, we were all pretty tired, but we felt pretty manly as well.The next day was a little more relaxing and consisted of a surprise day on Like Hiwassee. We did some tubing, eating, and cliff jumping. Again, very manly.Finally, we had a couple of poker tournaments. The high school guys still have a lot to learn about poker as I won the first tournament, and my youth director replacement, Chris, won the second tournament.

Overall, it was a great final trip with the youth guys and one that I will always remember.