yay!

[bandenthusiast]

This weekend has been so great! The V3 Hike-o-Ree (teehee, funny name!) was this weekend, so I was there with some other people from Crew 698 (w00t!) We had a blast. On our way to the campgrounds on Friday we stopped for dinner at a Chinese restuarant. Lauren and I shared a plate of Chicken Lo Mein and fried shrimp. Mr. McLellen found a bug in his egg roll though. Kinda nasty, but that became our joke of the weekend. When we finally go to camp it was really really dark. Learning how to set up a tent in the dark was great fun. After we were done setting up there was a rally down in the Ampitheater. That was lovely amounts of fun. When we got back from that we got to go to bed. Lauren and I were tent mates so we stayed up and talked for a bit. It was funny because you could hear other people talking *coughCameronandAleccough* as well as us. Eventually we started talking through the tents. Finally we all went to sleep. Reville was at 6am, but Lauren and I woke up about ten to fifteen minutes before then and started get our stuff together for the hike. After everyone had gotten up, eaten breakfast and made sure their day packs were completely packed, we set off. The hike up Old Rag was spectacular. The views were indescribably gorgeous. Towards the top it was almost all rocks. Some of them were fairly easy to climb up, but there were a few places where definete teamwork was needed. A few of us got a little scraped up from trying to get up some rocks that we were just a little too short and inexperienced (at least in my case) to climb without help. We ate luch near the top and realized that we didn't know how far David (a guy in our group) had gone. He'd been hiking way ahead of the group so we didn't even see him. Eventually he was found though and after an hour the group set off again. It was truely amazing how much we all helped eachother out. I think that most people in the group were quite surprised with me. I know that at least Cameron and Lauren were because I kept at the front of the group with them the whole time, especially on the way down. Lauren, Cameron, Mercedes and me were so far ahead of everyone else in our group at times we couldn't even see anyone. Once we got down towards the end of the trail Mr. Livingston gave a demonstration of how to use a water pump to purify water. Then the group started off again and once again Lauren, Mercedes, Cameron and me got far ahead of the group. Because we were so far ahead of the group when we crossed this one bridge with mini waterfalls underneath, we went down and stuck our hands in. When the group caught up we asked if when we came to the river/stream again we could stop and stick our feet in. The leaders agreed, so once we came up to the water again some of us stopped and took a break and played in the water. Eventually we made our way back to the cars then back to camp. A bunch of us kids made a massage train and gave eachother back massages, then we all just laid back on eachother and relaxed. We made dinner around 5 which was spaghetti, corn, green beans, and Mr. McLellen made chocolate cream pies for dessert. After dinner a lot of us went to the religious services. I was really surprised that so many people in my crew came with me to the catholic service to see what it was like. After mass there was another rally and we got our shirts. Afterwards we all hung out, met a few new people, and just messed around. At one point we were laying out in the middle of the road and looked up at the stars. It was amazing how many you could see. We all reluctantly went to bed after taps. In the morning we did our service project (picking up trash) and then came home.

I really enjoyed everything about my trip and I can't wait to go camping or hiking again, especially if it's with the people who went this time. =)