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I've just come back from my first experience at Camp, and I have to say, I quite enjoyed it. (This was a christian camp by the way).
Part One. Mild Talk about Personal Faith
Usually I don't talk about my faith because I don't like to bother people with my highs or lows or random stuff inbetween when it comes to me and God, but this experience at Camp was just so spiritually good for me.
My life, as a Christian, is rather boring, the usual blahs, nothing happens to me, and nothing was happening with my growth as a spiritual being.
I guess, while I didn't have the amazing visions and voice talking to me, and enormous miracles and stuff that tends to happens to other christians, I had a quiet experience that was good...
so yeah...
But I did have something rather exciting and cool happen to me!
Part Two. I could bee a Cowgirl! ... or not....
I did a special activity at camp of horseback riding.
I have ridden before, but that was years ago when I was beyond terrified of horses, hating riding and eventual fell and ended up with a broken limb.
But I wanted to get over my fear and horses I have always loved to look at and pat and do things with them while being safely on the ground, so I figured, I'm older, wiser, more mature, and I can do anything! :)
So The first few days I suffered from the inability to walk straight or move my legs without wincing, but riding my horse Zeus (adorable palomino that was so slow and I'm-too-sleepy-to-walk-right and half blind, but when he realized that there was plenty of space between him and the horse in front of him, he would sneak the opportunity to trot. Very fun, very bumpy trot. :)) was excellent.
Then there was an opportunity to ride out to a lake, I thought "Whee! Fun!" and bought a camera to take pictures of the pretty lake. My horse for this ride was Black Ice, a little guy, with a very round top, rounder then Zeus, but very loveable and more sturdy in a way.
The ride was pretty uneventful, we walked through the trails at camp to the road and walked carefully at the side till we reached the trail to the lake. I was in the front of the pack, three horses (including the leaders) in front of me, my friend Katy behind me along with another girl and another woman on staff. There were perhaps six horses or so more behind the staff leader including the woman who was in charge of the horses in the camp, her name is Gloria and she was at the very back of the whole pack.
So me and my horse are just moosing along when Black Ice starts stamping, at first I didn't realize what was happening other then the horse in front of me had just suddenly stopped, and my horse was beginning to act a bit skittish. Immediately I hear my friend Katy say in a frightened voice "Oh no, It's Bees!"
Her horse and my horse had stopped moving forward, being stuck behind the horse in front of us, and we were side by side with bucking horses that were trying to stamp and scatter away from the enourmous pack of bees that had begin to descend upon us.
All I can remember really is just trying to hold on to my horse, who was bucking harder then any of the other horses (we later found out that there was a bee that was stinging my horse just on the inside of the super tender part between the back legs.), along with trying to swat away the bees that were buzzing by my face.
Suddenly there was space in front and our horses half skittered away from the nest, my horse in the meantime desperately trying to kick/stamp the bee away from it's tender regions. (This bucking was later refered to as "Carmen's Dance" as my horse appeared to be dancing and I was just trying to stay on.)
Amazingly enough, I wasn't stung, even through my horse was one of the most stung horses from the three horses that were caught in the bees. My friend Katy had three stings on her back, and another girl had a bee stuck in her shoe constantly stinging her.
Well, the horses behind us stopped just before the hive, so they weren't affected, and the horses in front of me were the ones who stirred up the hive so they weren't affected either. Gloria came from the back through the bees to get to us, and she quickly wiped down the horses, removing any remaining stinging bees and then ran with the horses back through to safety. The other leader bushwhacked a way around the trail where the bees were so that we could get to safety and the girls to camp where they would be treated.
So this was my main adventure from camp. :) I've never been on a bucking horse before, and even though everyone said I should be in the rodeo and I looked calm and easy staying on my bucking horse, I don't ever want to be on a horse surrounded with bees again. Though I still like riding. :)