A Global Weekend Getaway
Twenty students from around the world enjoyed a relaxing weekend on a FIUTS trip to Frog Creek Lodge.
Guest post by FIUTS Facilitators Minhtu Nguyen, Joslyn Cal and and Jacky Chen
Our adventure started with 1.5 hour car ride from campus. For many participants, this was their first time passing the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, the fifth-longest twin suspension bridge in the US. The Frog Creek Lodge is a beautiful wooden lodge surrounded by a green grass lawn, forest, and hiking trails. Inside the lodge are a big cozy living rooms with fireplaces, a piano, guitars, rocking chairs, board games, a CD selection from timeless artists, etc., a large and fully equipped kitchen, and well-decorated bedrooms.
We arrived at the lodge right at lunch time. With a team of 20 people, we quickly made a delicious lunch in about 30 minutes including hot dogs, chili, fries, and salad. Even though it was chilly, we still decided to have lunch outside to enjoy the food, the beautiful sunny day, and the breeze. French fries and spicy sweet potato fries took longer to prepare and were perfect to warm us up at the end of an outdoor lunch in late fall.
After lunch, we went for a walk on the trails around the lodge. We occasionally encountered funny little frog statues along the way. Half way through the trail was a labyrinth. Charlie, one of the participants, led the whole group through the labyrinth and accompanied us with music from his guitar. It was such a nice and relaxing time for the group to escape the city life with school stress and feel the fresh air and quietness of the forests.
Back to the lodge, some of us spent time gathering around the fireplace while some were playing sports games. Ultimate frisbee was a good bonding time for the group. The lawn was quite slippery from the rain the day before but it didn’t prevent our two teams from playing hard. We ran, fell, laughed, supported each other, and had so much fun.
Following the sweating time with sports games, we gathered in the living room to play board games. It was very interesting to try different versions of UNO or different card games from different countries.
After fun and games in the afternoon, it’s time for dinner! Volunteers broke into two different stations, a pizza station and a spaghetti station. Within a house of vegetarians, a vegan and meat lovers combined, there were a lot of options to prepare. An upbeat group of 10 or so people in a hot, somewhat crowded, kitchen produced a Canadian bacon and pineapple, pepperoni, veggie and two cheese pizzas as well as veggie and meat spaghetti sauces and salad…delicious!
A clean up crew was swift and efficient in order to move on to our evening activities of chilling out, listening to music, a campfire, s’mores and enjoying Jacuzzi time. Under the (nearly) full moon, a campfire by the Jacuzzi was the perfect spot for making s’mores and passing around the popcorn bowl while chatting. It was some of the participants’ first time making s’mores. We all enjoyed them, even with our sticky marshmallow covered fingers and faces.
People spread out throughout the night, rotating between different groups and activities. Inside, a small group was playing quite an intense game of “Risk”, while a few of us played card games and chatted. Some remained in the Jacuzzi and others participated in sharing music, singing and talking around the fire-pit. Games and conversations inside the house lasted all through the night, some until early in the morning. A few of us night owls may or may not have been up until 3am… some of us may or may not have been up until 5am…but either way, it was a great day and night (and morning) of talking, laughing and lounging. The restful night’s sleep, which some of us may or may not have gotten, was complemented by early risers ready to prepare a spectacular breakfast on a beautiful sunny, Sunday morning.
The breakfast was awesome! We prepared a typical American style breakfast with pancakes, eggs, sausages, oatmeal, juice, milk and fruit. Similarly to what we had done for other meals, we divided into several groups to cook different dishes. Everything went on very well; we enjoyed the time of cooking and talking to new friends together.
More people woke up and joined the team of cooking, and some helped clean up afterward. Big thanks to everyone for their great help!
After the breakfast we wrapped up everything and prepared our own sandwiches for lunch. We said goodbye to the lovely lodge and the friendly owner, Mike, and then headed to the Penrose State Park near by. The view was nice as the sun came out, peaceful and warm.
Crescent Lake Park was our next visit. We did a short hike through the forest next to the lake. The air in the forest was cool and fresh. Exploring the unknown area with a group of new friends is a great experience for everyone of us. Then we headed to downtown Gig Harbor and had our picnic lunch at a small park. It is a small lovely town, with many beautiful houses and interesting shops.
As the sunset came, we headed back to campus, ending our fantastic weekend getaway to Frog Creek Lodge with new friendships and good memories.
******Photo credits: Sascha Krause, Yili Chen, and Minhtu Nguyen.