49er Miner

My dad is the Pied Piper of children and teens.

He claims that he likes living alone at camp and that all these kids are loud and obnoxious. He likes to portray himself as a crabby old man in the woods. Except that kids always love him, flock to him and he is always ready with facts about rocks or stories or something interesting in his pocket.

At camp, kids refer to him as "the Handyman."

As in, "we have a problem with bees! Let's get the handyman, he'll know what to do!"

My dad also goes to Alaska every year to pan for gold and will talk to anyone he can about gold mining.

Sometime yesterday, chaperon C decided to hide a medallion somewhere at camp and today he gave the kids their first clue (it was rhyming verses, which makes him a natural camp person!). The kids were mildly excited and spent a little time discussing their theories about where it could be. That is until my dad found out there was a clue. My dad LOVES treasure hunting. When he heard there was something hidden, his eyes lit up and he literally ran to find the clue.

He was sure he knew where it was and went running across camp to figure it out. At which point the kids went from mildly interested to totally captivated. They followed him as he went to several areas of camp and named him 49er- miner.

When C gave out the second clue, my dad was not in the area. The kids looked at the clue, and then said, "we're gonna wait for 49er-miner before we go look! He'll know where it is!" And when he arrived, they rushed to him and eagerly gave him the clue.

No one has found the medallion yet, but he is convinced he knows where it is and all of the kids are sure he is right. We'll see if day light helps their search tomorrow...