Shady Brook YMCA Family Camp

Our family has been fortunate to enjoy YMCA camp a couple of times and this year's trip lived up to the high expectations we have of camp.

Shady Brook is near Deckers, Colorado and has a history dating back to 1948.  It is well maintained and has several new buildings constructed in the last 20 years including the Loo Lodge where we stayed for 2 nights.

Overall the food was pretty good.  They can accommodate any and all dietary restrictions.

• Friday dinner - Pasta
• Saturday breakfast - Pancakes
• Saturday lunch - BLT sandwiches
• Saturday dinner - Pork tenderloin, portobella mushrooms, chicken nuggets
• Sunday breakfast - French toast

The activities are always the highlight of the trip

• Opening Campfire - Two camp songs and smores.  The perfect amount of activity.
• Climbing Wall - While only about 25 feet high, this was challenging and Diya was the only one to complete both routes
• Tomahawk Throwing and Sling Shot - This was new to all of us, but very entertaining.  It was really difficult to aim the sling shot, but I still managed to hit the long distance target
• Boating and Swimming - We skipped the canoe, but enjoyed kayaks and stand up paddleboards.  The swimming lane was chilly, but refreshing.
• Archery - This was fun for me on a 10 yard range.  I did well and the bows were brand new.  I wish I would have brought a finger tab.
• High Ropes - This was very challenging for everybody except Diya who made all of the lengths seem like a cake walk.  I was excited to complete 4 of the 6 lengths and thought they were difficult.
• Saturday Campfire - I skipped this one, but they did smores again
• Nature Hike - We skipped this, but took advantage of the disc golf course instead.

Overall it was a lot of fun.  The only thing that was missing was arts and crafts which are usually fun.  The activities were just right for our family, but a little much for families with younger kids.