We Made It!

After three days and 1800 miles of driving, we made it last night to the Northern Pines Campground in Park Rapids, MN. The interfaith contingent is staying here, in a summer camp next to one of Minnesota’s thousands of beautiful lakes.

We were greeted with a warm meal followed by a talk by Winona LaDuke. She spoke with us about treaty rights, and the Ashinaabe people, and about the absurd economics of continuing to prop up the fossil fuel industry. “It’s really the end of the party,” she said. “Enbridge just didn’t get the memo.”

Afterwards, we all went down to the lakeside, where Winona performed a pipe ceremony and invited us to pray in our own ways.

We sang some songs, which really felt like prayer after not singing with people for 16 months! And then- once we’d seen three stars in the sky- the Jewish contingent led us in a ritual to end Shabbat. It was a wonderful, grounding way to embark on the next phase of this adventure.