Camping

So this past weekend, M and I went camping with some friends of ours. The main goal of this little camping adventure was to attend a local festival in hopes of making some new friends. At this point I will interject that the friends we went camping with were in fact all males and all American. This is an important fact to understand the story. I will also say that if asked, these three individuals whom will call Larry, Curly, and Moe will probably tell a totally different account of our adventure.

Tuesday a.m. M and I were ready to go. Layers of clothes...check, hiking shoes...check,

d.o....check, a little bit of makeup (cause who really wants to look that rough?)...check, sleeping bag, bug spray, homemade brownies and snacks...check, check, check, and check. So Larry, M and I headed off on a 6 hour bus ride to another town so that we could meet Curly and Moe in their town and go from there. Curly and Moe had successfully rented an SUV which was a big deal to us due to the fact a. we never get to drive here, b. our usual mode of transportation is taking the bus and they are often horrible, and c. I had made an awesome Road Trip 2010 CD. So we arrive on Tuesday, met up with some old friends for dinner and then headed off bright and early Wednesday morning...by bright and early I mean.... 9 A.M.

After only 45 minutes of driving and one pitstop at the gas station for drinks, we found ourselves stuck on a dirt road waiting out construction. At this point several things had been realized. #1. Curly, who was driving had driven a stick shift

only a handful of times in his life...and we already had a few stall outs and one pull over by the police. I upped the prying!! #2 The SUV, that we named Jorge had no CD player, but we had located a cassette tape of Avril Lavigne and a couple of O.J. Simpson looking black gloves...SHADY! #3. The boys I think realized that this trip was not going to be as quiet as their others because they had girls along and lets face it, we talk....alot.

What was supposed to be a 3 hour car ride turned into more like 6 due to the construction and the road of dirt that I was positive I was going to meet my Maker on. After lunch we finally arrived at the location of the festival...the stall outs had gotten less frequent, good job Curly. However upon arriving at the location of the festival, a quick realization was made that for some reason, there was NO FESTIVAL. What?!!! No, festival...are you kidding me!?

We found out later that the guy who had informed the guys of the dates had in fact been wrong. So here we were in what felt like the middle of nowhere and no place to go...lol. We did roam around the town, and finally settled on driving/hiking up into a reserve area to camp for the night. I say driving/hiking because our faithful SUV Jorge wasn't so faithful in the area of horsepower or any kind of power for that matter so at one point we had to all get out except for Larry who was driving at this point and hike the rest of the way.

Let me say this too....Girls, if you are hiking with boys, men, whatever, you better be prepared...they are pretty intent on getting to their destination and quickly!

Good thing I brought the brownies along because there was no restaurants anywhere on top of the mountain, but the "rangers" invited us over to their lodging area and they fixed us two black chickens..head, feet, and all. Yummm.

The next day we hiked up to a pagoda on top of one of the peaks...I personally thought I was going to slide down the mountain. Love hikes, not a big fan of sliding rocks next to ledges in third world countries where I know if I break something or gash my head open...uh medical care isn't really the best option. I will say the view from the top was gorgeous and an awesome reminder of the Father's creation.

We spent the next couple of days hiking, sightseeing, talking with folks, and camping. All in all it was a really fun trip although I like to over dramatize and make things sound much more complicated than they really were. As I stated before, Larry, Curly, and Moe might have a totally different take on things.

Highlights of the trip:

Traveling on the road of dirt and death with zero visibility because of the dirt as Curly decided to pass a semi.

Traveling on another road as Curly decided to pass a semi and we came head on with another car. Both us and the car had to come to a complete stop.

Freezing in the tent with M and asking if that was the wind and M replying no it was just her...take that for what its worth.

Getting the giggles at 11 pm at night while everyone else was trying to go to sleep and being told to "quit being female." I think that's guy code for shut up.

Bravest boy's awesome driving and hiking skills. As well as the ability to fashion a Fred Flintstonish golf club out of a wooden branch....in which he formed a weird attachment to.

M and I starting a fire the second night...on our own. Whooohoooo!

Attempting to Avoid cows the whole trip and then playing in the stream where I noticed a cow paddy next to my foot.

Eating brownies, singing Kumbaya by the fire, not being eaten alive by any wild animals, and enjoying fellowship time.

And being reminded that even though my plans fail, even though there wasn't a festival, He always has a plan.....even if I don't ever get to see what it is.

Beautiful Feet