Camping in New Hampshire
This past weekend was the big New England YSA camp out. I have never been much an EFY or church camp out kind of girl but I decided to give this one a shot. Juliet, my roommate, and I packed up our stuff and headed out the door at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday. Sitting at the train station I seriously felt like I was in the Runaway Train video. We looked like we were taking off and never coming back. Okay, not really . . . but kind of.
(Sarah)
(Juliet)
We caught a ride with some of the coolest people. Our car was packed full but was so much fun. We talked about all kinds of interesting and crazy things. We were all coming form different backgrounds (marketing, medicine, social work and legal) which made it all the more fun.
About half way there, Jason, the driver, asked if we minded taking a detour to get some ice cream. Of course we were all for it. Who doesn't love ice cream! Two hours later, with our stomachs full we hit the road again.
(Juliet, Jason, Bequis, Brad and Sarah)
We ended up getting to the camp ground a little late to help with the service project so we ran straight for the water.
We originally planned to take two canoes and split up a group of us who wanted to go, but a bigger boat opened up, so we all jumped in. There were 6 girls and 1 guy (lucky guy right)! It was the funniest thing ever. We had canoe paddles instead of rowing paddles, so we spun in circles around the lake for quite a while. It was hilarious.
(Ali, Chen Ying, Juliet, Sarah, Kara lee, Katherine, Sean and Emily(in another boat))
We ran into lots of friends out on the water. They were coming to check out the packed boat that didn't know what they were doing.
(Emily and Claire)
When we ran into this big group of people, we found ourselves in a bit of trouble. Ami, the one standing, decided that he wanted to join the fun in our boat, so he jumped right in almost completely dumping us over. I think he just wanted to hear all of us scream, and scream we did!
Ami soon returned to his own boat and we were on our way. We stopped off at a little island to explore a little and with some new paddles, we had a nice enjoyable ride back. The girls sat in the front and the back while Sean paddled us the whole way. It's so nice to be a girl sometimes!
(Ami, Carolina and Christine)
(Sarah and Ali)
After proving my strength to Ali we were off to try our hand at Archery
(Adrienne, Chris, Ashley and Juliet)
Juliet was a natural! She hit the target every time! I on the other hand need some serious practice. I think I maybe hit the top of the target once.
On our way back from Archery we ran into our carpooling buddy Brad. He took us back to his platform (they looked like world war II hospitals to me) for some much needed bug spray and some sleeping gear.
(Silvia, Jason, Brad and Joann)
When we arrived at camp, Juliet, Bequis and I were assigned to sleep clear out in China. We were about a mile from the rest of the camp right by the road! We needed to go build our tent, so that's where we were headed next, when Brad and Jason offered to help. They were so awesome! They took care of us the whole time we were there.
(Jason and Brad)
After the tent was secure we were off for some food and a talent show. I just want to stop here and let you all know that the food was not good. We ended up skipping lunch because #1. we were late and #2. It was a big bowl of tuna fish that you had to spoon on a piece of bread YUCK! For dinner we had sloppy joes which weren't too bad but still weren't great. I know that camping is a roughing it kind of thing but seriously people tuna fish in a huge popcorn bowl!
There were so many people that they ran out of space in the mess hall, so we found a place to eat out side.
After dinner we went to a talent show right next to the lake. It was beautiful! I would have enjoyed it a whole lot more however, if I wasn't swiping daddy long legs off of everyone in front of me. I am not sure what was going on but they were everywhere!
(Back row: Emily, Casey and Meg / Front row: Juliet, Justin and Liz) When the talent show finished up, we hung out around the campfire for a few hours. I met some of the most interesting people. I had no idea that my ward was so diverse. I met people from all over the world and really had a great time.
That night was not so fun. Bequis, Juliet and I walked the mile to our camp site completely freaking out. The tree coverage was so good that without your flashlight you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. So, with your flashlight it looked like you were walking into endless darkness. We kept freaking ourselves out.
We tried to sleep, but at 3 in the morning when we all started stirring because we were either way to cold or way too uncomfortable we realized that sleep was just not going to be an option. We got up, re-situated and tried once more. Once we said goodnight and the tent got quiet again, we heard a strange sound. It was an owl hooting (is that what you call it?) out side our tent. It went on and on and on. Then suddenly, we heard another one. Yep, that's right folks, we found ourselves right in the center of an animal planet special! Bequis said it best when she said, "I'm not a hunter, but I would shoot those birds!"
The next morning we looked like THIS! Any cute boys that we met the night before didn't have a clue who we were the next day we looked so mangled and sleep deprived.
Oh well, we had a great time and can't wait for next years camp out!
(This is what one fun filled day and no sleep will do to you!)
