El Burro Volador

Something I’m reflecting on in the aftermath of my DMing gig at the retreat is how beautiful the surroundings were.  We were at a place called Glen Eyrie, this, well, campus is almost a good word for it set among the trees and rocks in a part of Colorado called “garden of the gods” (Whenever I say or write that phrase I hear the beginning of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song”, with “hammer” replaced by “garden”).  There is a castle-like main building surrounded by a sprawling array of cabins.  All kinds of wildlife were present, though probably the coolest thing I saw was a couple of wild turkeys.  Last year, apparently, the place was just lousy with big horn sheep.

In addition to the simple pleasures afforded by the natural beauty of the place, I was able to enjoy a more civilized and less innocent delicacy: irony.  You see, Glen Eyrie is owned by Christians, and consecrated by them as a place of spiritual retreat for the faithful – although the group I was working for was there with the understanding that it was a secular organization, its family focus, combined with possibly a boatload of money (30 pieces of silver?) and/or the foreknowledge that many of these children may be in the rocket command someday seems to have opened the doors.

In any case, while my own spiritual leanings are at the very least harmonious with Christianity, I am unlikely to ever be part of a church retreat.  In addition, my vocation for the weekend was teaching children to play Dungeons & Dragons, which not so long ago was reviled by most of Christendom as a sort of “gateway drug” leading to witchcraft and Satanism.  An unlikely steed on which to storm the ramparts of this particular bastion of the faith, to be sure.