Summertime Madness - Part Three

      

     A new school year is quickly approaching, and I'm almost an official 7th grader! However, before the summer ends, we had to go on one last trip: our annual family camping trip. 

     This year, we headed up to the campsite early on a Thursday. Upon arriving at Hickory Run State Park, we "partially" unloaded. By that, I mean we took the cooler out of the car and immediately started snacking. After stuffing our faces with jalapeno popcorn, we set up camp and went out to look for firewood. As you can see from the picture below, we were pretty successful!

Keeping myself busy while waiting for dinner.

    For the rest of the night, we just enjoyed the heat of the fire together before retiring early and heading to bed.

     The next morning, we slept in. Alright, alright, I slept in. Mommy and Daddy were up waaaayyyy before me! I woke up to A LOT of complaints about me stinking up the tent. If you don't want me to pass gas, why’d you feed me cheese the night before?

     That Friday, we decided to go on a loooooooonnnnnngggggg hike. Our family friends would be coming that night and we were hoping to get some exercise in before they arrived. So, off we went on a grueling, steep, rocky, blister-filled, annoying-horseflies-that-only-seemed-to-be-going-for-me, hike. Okay, maybe I’m being a little dramatic. We ended the trek at a distance of 8.5 miles in a little over 4 hours. After that, Mommy and Daddy went even further to go collect more firewood. Let’s just say I was absolutely NO help with that! J

Mommy taking a picture of Daddy taking a picture of me taking a picture of a giant spider.

     When we got back to the campsite, I napped in the car for a good hour before dragging my smelly, sweaty butt to the shower.

     We proceeded to set up the fire, waiting for Auntie Alice, Uncle Mike, and Aidan to arrive. After a few hours, we started making bets on when they would appear. Long story short, we didn't eat dinner until 8:30.

     When we finished stuffing our faces with hotdogs, bratwursts, pork chops and potatoes, it was bedtime. WARNING: SLEEPING BAGS ARE NOT SMELLPROOF!!! BEWARE ANGRY PARENTS WHO DO NOT APPRECIATE IT WHEN YOU FART IN THE TENT!!!!

Whitewater rafting on the Lehigh Gorge River

      Saturday morning, we got ready for a fun day ahead of whitewater rafting. The trip was great! Aidan was unanimously voted as our raft captain, and he did a great job! The rapids were absolutely thrilling (it was Class II/III rapids) and due to it being a dam release day, it was even more fun than usual! A fun twist to rafting; there were big, white buckets in our raft, used for the sole purpose of emptying out the water in our rafts. Of course, where you put that water is up to you… Let’s just say, that was the biggest splash fight I’ve ever been involved in. Some kids even brought their own water guns!!!!!! We paddled down the river until our arms were sore and our butts hurt. We witnessed at least 3 people fell overboard, but they all got pulled back into their raft safely. I can now cross whitewater rafting off my bucket list!

     That night, we all stayed up late by the ginormous fire, enjoying our steaks and s'mores.

    Before heading back the next morning, we decided to go fishing at the beach. I mainly waded around catching tadpoles and frogs. The fish just weren’t biting! 

After a BIG lunch of hotdogs, hamburgers, and sausages. Mommy said she wasn't going to make dinner that night, so we’d better stuff our bellies. Also because we didn't want to take any leftovers home since we were running super low on ice. Finally, it was time to say goodbye to Hickory Run State Park!

Thanks for a great camping trip, Mommy and Daddy! 

Thank you Auntie Alice, Uncle Mike & Aidan for joining us and help make this another memorable end-of-the summer adventure!