Imagine a sunset.

Vivid colors are visible from the beach where you sit. The sun lies on the Lake Michigan horizon line. All you can see is bright blue open water.

It is a beautiful sight. It is one shared with people who have only been close to you for a short time, but are important to you regardless.

Quinn Perkins is a sophomore at Community High School. Every summer, they sit on this beach. They experience this sunset.

Each year, they attend Camp Storer. Each year, all members of Pathfinder and Outback, the teen branch of Storer Camps, pile in a bus and drive 4 hours up north. They take a trip to Empire, Michigan, close to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

“The trip is very special to me,” Perkins said. “It’s just this incredibly special atmosphere.”

Perkins attends Camp Storer for two weeks each summer. The trip is four days out of these weeks, toward the end of the session. They like the timing because “it’s after I’ve become closer to everyone who is there with me.”

This trip is memorable for them in the way only rare experiences are. They recalled it fondly, in hushed, thoughtful terms.

“It feels very special and rare because I only go once a year… it’s one of my favorite parts of [the] year,” Perkins explains.

Of course, they enjoyed the entire trip. It is what first comes to mind when asked, what is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?, and beautiful things are memorable for a reason.

But the best part?
“The sunset over the lake is probably my favorite thing.”