A Soul Food Weekend at Empower Summer Camp

Life is about making choices, setting priorities, embracing adventures, and rolling with the flow. As much as I try to embrace adventure, many times obligations take precedence. When the opportunity arose to attend Fit Approach’s Empower Summer Camp, I was excited…but at the same time I was hesitant because at this time of year I’m virtually consumed by all things back to school….or am I?

Turns out Thing 1 was spending 4 days in the city for Lolapalooza, Thing 2 was away at Music Camp located just 1-1/2 hours North of Empower Summer Camp. In other words, logistics were PERFECT for me to attend. What are the chances?

What is Empower Summer Camp?

It’s summer camp Sweatpink style. A long weekend spent out in nature, doing our favorite things. Sweaty workouts, healthy eats and connecting with our community under a sky full of stars. Sounds good? It was SO good!

We all received sweet sunnies from Goodr. I couldn’t love mine more. The sides are metallic gold. 

On Friday Wendy and I road-tripped to Watervliet Michigan to the Ronora Lodge. The Lodge sits on 400 stunning acres of natural habitat, including forest trails, a lake, horse farm, gardens and more. We arrived just in time to jump into a pre-dinner yoga session led by Jamie from Fit Approach. The fresh air and cool grass were amazing and the yoga was the perfect antidote to those long hours in the car.

After a delicious taco-bar dinner complete with the biggest bowl of guac I’d ever seen, an enormous bonfire was lit and we enjoyed s’mores featuring Dandies all-natural marshmallows, camp songs and plenty of crazy shenanigans. What happens at summer camp, stays at summer camp.

The weekend schedule was jam packed with fun activities. inspiring talks, delicious, garden-fresh meals and did I say s’mores?

Ronora Lodge

Ronora Lodge is a family-owned camp perfect for retreats and weekend fun. There are a variety of rustic cottages. Wendy and I shared a room in the Trilogy.

All toiletries were courtesy of Now Foods. If you haven’t tried their shampoos/conditioners, deoderant, moisturizers, toothpaste and facial oils, you NEED to! Save $10 off your $40 purchase with MARCIANOW10.

Erica, Wendy, Rachel and me ready to hit the trails!

Saturday started off bright and early with a sunrise trail run sponsored by Aftershokz.

But first coffee. We got revved up with Grass Fed Butter Coffee. It’s a cold brew that tastes like a buttery caramel. So good.

On our trail run, we tested out Aftershokz’ latest and greatest Air model. It’s the newest generation of their bone conduction headphones. I still love my Aftershokz Titaniums but the Air are lighter, fit around the back of my head better and the sound is amazing as always.

Gorgeous does not begin to cover the scenery. We even had horses cheering us on. The trails were lush and inviting.

After a delicious breakfast, there was a panel discussion featuring the inspiring personal stories of several Sweatpink sisters.

There was also a very informative seminar on Content Creation led by Christine.

Later that morning we attended a booty busting Tabata workout lead by Kasey and sponsored by Now Foods. We kept energized and hydrated by Big 6 BCAA’s, which is a favorite of mine. Oh mama was this ever a sweatfest!

Afterward, we refueled with smoothie bowls assembled under the expert guidance of Annmarie. Salted Caramel Nut Butter from Now Foods is insanely good in a smoothie…just saying.

Later there was more yoga, water sports at the lake, another killer HIIT workout, and…wait for it…

Meditation was held in a “treehouse” like cottage overlooking the lake. The entire wall was screened so you could hear the whisper of the wind in the trees. Divine. 

…a much-needed and super-serene guided meditation session.

If that wasn’t enough we also learned how to make our own Momentum bracelets.

We enjoyed a pre-dinner “happy hour” sponsored by Great Lakes Gelatin, Jade Leaf Matcha, and Suja Juice. The collagen infused mint iced tea was so refreshing. We had a variety of snacks to choose from too, including Matcha Fruit Bites (omg delish!) and Raw Energy Mix from Now Foods.

Clockwise from top left: Betsy, Wendy, Rachel, Erica and me. 

After another delicious dinner, we headed down to the lake to relax and watch the sunset.

It did not disappoint. In fact it just kept giving.

Sunday morning I had to leave right after breakfast so I could make it up to Thing 2’s music camp in time for her performances. Not without one last pic though.

L to R: Missy, Linda, Sandra, me, Erica, Wendy, Rachel, Annmarie

All the wonderful activities, food and goodies aside, the very best part of the weekend for me was the connections I made. Old friends, new friends, kindred spirits, the opportunity to connect in person after sometimes YEARS sitting behind a computer screen cheering them on from afar was truly priceless. That was the real food that fed my soul.

Huge hugs of gratitude go out to the Sweatpink girls for putting together this amazing weekend, and to Ronora Lodge for being SO very gracious, and also to the sponsors, without whom a weekend like this would not be possible. My heart and spirit is so very full and I can’t wait do it again!

For the live weekend play-by-play check out the highlights on my Insta Stories titled Summer Camp.

Have you been to summer camp? Are you interested in joining us next summer?