I don't know about anyone else, but I am definitely not an outdoorsy type person. If you tell me you are spending your day outside, I know who I will NOT see that day. This is probably because I have no tolerance to heat, and because I am pathologically afraid of flying insects. Therefore, it can be considered unfortunate that the majority of my family loves it outside! Well, late last week, my dad told me I had to go on this hike. Of course, I was not too happy about that.
Well, this morning, (and I am not a morning person either) all of my siblings jumped on me to get me out of bed. I wore my hiking boots, and some ankle socks (don't ever mix the two). I had a windbreaker, a short sleeved shirt, and jeans. The boots, I knew, would be uncomfortable. I had tied them pretty tight, but not tight enough, apparently. Within an hour, I knew I had about four billion blisters (minus the billion part). But I didn't want anyone else to think I was a big sissy, which I am. So I said nothing.
We came to this log about five feet off the ground. I'm pretty short, but I was just a little bit taller than this log. Like a genius, I decided to get on and cross this little creek. Well, I'm scared of certain heights. Ten feet is one of them. Completely terrified that I would fall, I literally could not move backwards or forwards. My dad had to help me across, but I started enjoying it. Then I tried to be a monkey, like Lillianna. She was laying on the log, scooching up with her feet, catching up with her hands. It seemed pretty effective. I looked over the slight detail that she is only five, therefore a good bit shorter and lighter than I am. I scratched myself pretty badly.
I was trying to jump off, but I stepped on a thick branch. It wasn't solid, so it cracked. I got a really bad cut on my leg, and it hurts. After I took my boots off a few minutes ago, I have like a solid ring of bruises around both of my legs.
We crossed about 25 bridges, which was kind of fun. Halfway done, we saw some friends from my class. That was really embarrassing, because my hair was totally wacky. They didn't seem to notice though. I felt a little sorry for them, because they were wearing sweatshirts. I guess they are more tolerant to heat.
We found about 10 logs, and of course, we just had to cross every single one of them. My youngest sister, Cameron, fell off and hit her head on another log. Ouch! But, hey, kids are resilient. As soon as dad said she would be okay, she said, "I want to get back on." It's a little ironic to me that kids have a lot more to fear, but they face it a lot better than other people do.
After we ate a nice lunch with a lake view (sandwiches a la dad), my three younger sisters decided they needed a little girl's room. No such luck. Half the fun of hiking is to find your own place to go. I don't really think it's fun, but it's definitely an interesting experience. They disappeared down this little ravine, and I thought, "Cool! No one could see you under there!" Because the plan was that they would go under the bridge. Well, turns out that it was nothing but a hole. Anyone could have seen. That wasn't as embarrassing as it was when I finally came out, and saw two people walking down the trail. I could have died!
The best part of the day for me, was when Cameron, only four years old, said to me, her sixteen year old sister, "It's okay. Let me hold your hand so I can protect you." It was adorable.
I guess the moral for the day is: enjoy yourself while it lasts, no matter if you're falling off a log, or hiding from hikers. I ended up enjoying myself, even though I didn't really want to go at first.
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