That's The Way It Begins

If you drive north out of Pittsburgh on Interstate 79, you will make it to the city of Erie after about two hours. (One, if you drive the way I do...but I digress.) Head west on Interstate 90 for a half-hour. Eventually, you will come to the small lakeside town of Conneaut, Ohio. Take Broad Street north as far as you can, and then make a left onto Lake Road. Otherwise known as State Route 531, it runs along the Lake Erie shoreline, with only a few vacation houses between it and the steep cliffs that lead down to the waterfront. If you stay on Lake Road, you will pass a harbor, a park, a hospital and a gas station before finally approaching a slight bend in the road. On your right is a long slatted fence, through which, if you drive by at speed, you can see a large field with a massive tree growing in the middle of it. A baseball diamond and swimming pool sit on the right side of the field, and one oddly-shaped building resides at the base of the tree. Along the left side and back of this field are 22 tiny, low-slung white buildings with green-shingled roofs.

This little piece of land on the Lake Erie shore is, with the exception of my house, my favorite place on earth. Harry E. Sheldon Calvary Camp. Calvary. SCC. My home. I have been coming to Calvary since 1998; seven years as a camper, and two as a member of staff. This year, 2008, will mark only the second summer since then that I have not made the journey to the Erie coastline. The other was the summer of 2005, between my time as a camper and the start of my employment on staff.

At first glance, Calvary doesn't look that impressive. You can walk from the easternmost spot on campus to the westernmost in about five minutes. Some of the buildings are almost 80 years old, and they show it. The view, though, is spectacular. Not ten feet behind the female cabin line, the ground ends and the cliff drops a hundred feet to the waterfront below. The lake stretches out to the horizon, and on clear, windy days the whitecaps look spectacular. None of this, however, compares to the sunsets. From the clifftop, you have a perfect view of the sun as it sinks down into the lake. I challenge you to find a better place to watch the spectacle.

The location, the history and the facilities are impressive. What really makes Calvary unlike any other place on earth, though, is the people. For some reason, this little plot of land in Ohio attracts some of the greatest people I've ever met. The friendships you make up there are different than any others, because of that element you share with the other person; that indefinable Calvary spirit. It is impossible to put into words, but if you've spent any time up there, you know what I'm talking about. Several of the guys that I worked with up there were in my first cabin with me, ten years ago. That's what this place can do. It's amazing.

And I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be at the moment.