Travelers land at Lake Creek Lodge

A family feeling has welcomed world travelers into the fold at Lake Creek Lodge this summer.

"The girls," as the travelers are referred to at the lodge, are four young women whose treks and nationalities span six continents.

Students Viktorija Sciukina, age 22, of Lithuania and Milce da Silva, age 21, of Guinea-Bissau are new to Central Oregon. Their co-workers, Amber Householder, age 24, and Rachel Jins, age 22, who have traveled extensively with mission work, are return-employees to Lake Creek Lodge.

"I didn't expect it to be so nice here," said Sciukina, adding that most of her friends who study abroad have chosen the east coast and work at larger, more corporate businesses.

An English-language student studying at the University of Salamanca in Spain, she appreciates being immersed in American Culture and the language. She hopes to be an interpreter working in the business sector but is keeping her options open.

"I'd love to come back here," she said, adding "They make it feel just like home."

All the girls say the Lake Creek Lodge community is a family.

"Jennifer is like our mom," said Jins, refering to Lake Creek Lodge manager Jennifer Severeide.

Jins, who is based with her husband in Kerala, India, has worked at the lodge before. She is back for the summer, earning some money as she hopes to return to India and start a program with her husband to help widows in that country.

"All the guests remember us and are really nice to us," said Jins. "They sometimes invite us to their cabins to visit."

"Many of the customers travel a lot. It's good to talk with them," said da Silva.

Da Silva is now based in the Portland area where she recently graduated from the hospitality and tourist management program at Mt. Hood Community College. She is currently finishing up her internship credit at Lake Creek Lodge. After this summer she hopes to work in different areas in the industry to gain experience.

"My dream is to own a resort back in my country," said da Silva

This is da Silva's first experience living in a rural area and her first time having roommates. It has been a good experience, she says, as all the girls share an apartment on the property and are given access to a company car.

Traveling around Central Oregon, da Silva says that it's slower-paced than where she's lived before, and she appreciates that there are less opportunities to spend money. She and the girls have enjoyed the quaintness of walking through the streets and shops of Sisters and the Camp Sherman store, where they are known as the "Lake Creek Girls."

The closeness of living and working together seems to have been a good thing for the girls, whose jobs range from cleaning cabins and doing laundry in the day to serving dinner at night.

"We have a lot of fun doing dinner," said Householder, "a lot of laughter, a lot of craziness."

Householder started working at Lake Creek in 2000 and has enjoyed returning to Camp Sherman ever since.

"I consider it my home now," she says. "I just keep coming back. It gets into your blood."

Householder, who is trained as a caregiver, has traveled throughout the world preparing for and doing missions, working with Youth With a Mission off and on since the age of 17. She plans to leave in October to do healthcare outreach in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand.

She hopes to come back and work at Lake Creek Lodge in the future. For all the girls this seems to be a possibility as they disperse back into the breadth of the world. Quality relationships with management, the community and the customers all seem to have bolstered this sentiment.

Dinner is open to the public six nights a week into the fall at 7 p.m. More information on Lake Creek Lodge is available at http://www.lakecreeklodge.com.