BlackAcre

Black Acre

Dancing queen young and sweet... "Umm can you turn that down please?" I asked, "It's rattling my eardrums." My friend said, "Sure sorry it's so loud." I sighed, and looked out the window letting the scenery make me drift closer and closer to sleep when suddenly, Buzz, RIIIIINNNNNGGGGG! My phone rang shrilly shocking everyone. Annoyed at myself for not turning it on silence, I sat on it after turning it on silence. Bouncing in my seat, I asked, "Can we stop somewhere?" my friend's dad said, "Sure we could all use the chance to stretch our legs." After we stretched our legs and paid for snacks, we started out again. Finally we were at Black Acre, a beautiful acre of land owned by my friend's friend. The acre part of the name I got, but I didn't get the black part. I found out soon enough though, for at Black acre are several herds of black cows. I found out later that people pay the owners to keep the cows on their land. We set up the tents, then I went out to the zip line. Around dinner time, I said "What's for dinner?" My friend's dad said," Hot dogs though we don't have any sticks, so you have to go find one." After I found a stick, I started peeling the bark off. My friend came over to watch me make pitiful progress, then shrugged and pulled out her knife to make her own stick. Scowling to myself, I asked her, "Can I borrow that?" Finally when my stick was whittled, I stuck a raw hot dog onto a stick and stuck it over the flames. Sadly my hot dog fell into the sand, causing it to transform from a hot dog into a sandy dog (we all laughed about that). After we had dinner and it got dark, we started using a telescope. After stargazing for a while, we crawled into our sleeping bags. Well I tried to sleep, but my friend kept trying to plead with me, "PLEASE can we switch?!" I always said, "No thank you." After a while, some coyotes started howling and I finally fell asleep. The next morning after breakfast, we put on our swim suites and headed down to the river. When we got there, we got into a massive mud fight where SPLAT! an enormous handful of thick, black, sticky mud hit me in the back of the head drying in my hair(I could have cared less that it was in my hair, but MAN! It was itchy!), on my face, in my eyes, all down my swimsuit (and inside it too!), and on my earrings. After I chased my friend and tried unsucessfully to wash the mud out in the river, I gave up and climbed into a raft to go rafting. Though alas while we were rafting, our raft got a hole in it, we had no idea where we were, we were floating away (though thankfully I managed to grab onto a weeping willow branch which stopped us momentarily allowing us to get out and fight the current back to shore). When we got back to shore however, it got dicey. Neither one of us had shoes, and to get where you didn't have to go through tall grass where snakes lurk, we had to climb a cliff made of sand(which was difficult cuz we were dragging the deflated raft along).After we got up, we came to another obstacle. Now that we had cleared the cliff, the only way to get to the easiest way to get back to the group was to go under an electric fence. While crawling under it however, I stepped on something with my knee, so I jerked up resulting in a very loud, "ZZZZZTTT!!" Therefore shocking my butt very badly. Finally we got back to the group, then I went to swing on the tire swing. After that (I must've fallen asleep) they said it was time for bed. The next morning, I dragged myself to the shower and started trying to scrub the hardened mud out of my hair. While I was doing that however, I looked down and saw a SCORPION about to crawl onto my foot! I freaked out, yelling, jumping, and throwing the bar of soap I'd been using, grabbed my towel and crawled out and got dressed after I finally got all the mud out of my hair. That was fun except for the scorpion, so I hope I can go back someday.  

Martin Dies State Park

Martin Dies State Park
Like always I am in a car but for once I was not with my brother because I was going to Martin Dies State Park with my girl scout troop. After a while I was bored, so I started digging through my bag looking for something to do. I had read all my books and I really wanted to watch a movie, but had forgotten to grab any. Luckily my fingers hit the hard edge of a movie case, so we watched the movie as the sun continued to sink behind the horizon. When we got to the park, it was dark and trust me setting up a tent is not so easy I mean I have gone camping before, but never had to set up a tent in the dark. It is hard, so when a tent pole whacked me  in the face with a loud (and painful for me) WHACK! I was pretty mad. After the tent got set up we changed and went to bed though I had a hard time falling asleep because I had no pillow only my suitcase and a mummy bag , the wind was howling, and the other girls in my troop wouldn't stop talking. I finally fell asleep but when I woke up there was an enormous puddle of sweat at my feet, yeah it was MEGA-GROSS! The other girls woke up, and we started talking. First thing I asked was why the girl next to me kept rolling on me, which she protested by saying, "It was cold your feet were warm!" Then one of the moms came over to say goodbye and asked if we slept well. All the girls except me said, "It was too cold!" I said, "Really? Because I was sweating all night!" After that we were going to go canoeing, so we rented the canoes, paired up, got the boats in the water, and headed out. The first thing we came across was not our favorite, for the first thing we came across was an invasive species of grass known to us as The Hissing Grass. When we went through it the first time, I thought it was a Water Moccasin, so we sped up. As I stuck my paddle in it got stuck, when I pulled it up what I saw made me shriek, "EEWW!" for sticking to my paddle was a dark, sticky, mess of weeds and grass. Then DISASTER STRUCK! We were going on a trail called Walnut Trail, but the only way to do that was to go through an enormous patch of the dreaded hissing grass. When we were trying to clear it, some people came by, so I said "Kids don't try this at home!" After we cleared that I was getting hot, so I rolled up the pant legs on my jeans and took off my shoes. When we finished canoeing and got back to the campsite, we had lunch then a couple of my friends and I headed out on one of the trails. Having taken a map, we were looking at things and found a swimming area. After taking a loop and heading back towards camp we decided to ask my mom if we could go swimming. At the swimming area I dipped my toe in, and slowly started to edge my way in. Once it reached my thighs, I started hopping around then ran back to shore. My other friends came in so we started playing tag but while running I tripped over my cursed shoelaces unfortunately going completely under getting very wet and I had no towel. Oh Well. It was fun and when we got back to camp, we ate dinner then roasted marsh mellows (strictly prohibited to me cuz I recently got braces, but I ate anyways it's a secret so Shhhh!). After that, we packed up and left. That was fun!        
   

The Best Day

The Best Day

Like always I was in a car but for once I was happy. Because for one thing, my family and I were going to my cousin's house to spend some time with my other cousin's from Michigan, for another thing it was the middle of the week (an added bonus if you ask me). When we got there everyone was already out on the boat, so we decided to wait and watch when they got back we got on the boat and headed out again. We were going to go tubing, so I volunteered to go first because tubing is my favorite aquatic sport but my cousin's wanted to go too. For some reason (I couldn't understand why at the time) I was the only girl brave enough to go with them...trust me as soon as we got out there I found out why. My cousin's,like me love going what some people call reckless and insane speeds when we go tubing, so we were going really fast then they turned us to the wakes the boats would make to try and flip us while trying to jump at the same time. Petrified at first as I was, after a while I had to admit this was a lot of fun I was actually enjoying the reckless speed and stunts... something I had not been expecting, so while we tubed I balanced on my knees and flashed the Hook-em-Horns sign for my dad's benefit. While I doing that, my uncle pulled an extremely sharp turn left, but luckily I grabbed the handle right when I almost fell off. Eventually everyone but me fell off( I am really good at shifting my weight so that is probably why I even managed to stay on when they successfully flipped us over by scrambling onto the back)  so they brought me in so someone else could have a turn. After they finished I went again, but this time I was so bored I almost died! Because my younger cousin's were with me(remember how I said I like reckless speeds and stunts? well my cousin likes slow and steady :(, so there would be no reckless speeds and stunts) bored I made the sign to go faster (thumbs up waving up)a little bit. My uncle sped up like only 1 mph, but my cousin wailed, "WE ARE GOING TOO FAST!( we were only going 10 mph) so I said, "We are barley going fast this is slow!"my other cousin reacted to that by saying I was selfish (offending me I mean we were going so slow if we had a race with a turtle the turtle would win by a landslide) so she made us slower. I was mad because no one calls me selfish and gets away with it, so intent on winning this battle I flipped the sign to go faster behind my cousin's back because the pace we were going we were likely to be there all night so we went a little faster.I got bored again( I get bored easily),so I flipped off purposely then waited till my other cousins' were going again yearning for the reckless speed and stunts. Finally when we were about to head in I wanted to go alone, but my cousin wanted to go too, so they came along on another LONG slow trip on the way back I flipped the faster sign again then let my body trail in the water cuz the water was warm and the air was starting to feel like winter,(in summer I mean it was MAY for crying out loud!) but my cousin yelled at me not to tip the boat(even though it wasn't tipping or even leaning for that matter) that tubing was so boring but the rest of the ride was fun. That's my story.

St. Francis Wolf Sanctuary

St. Francis Wolf Sanctuary

For my birthday present, my friends were taking me somewhere but here is the catch, I didn't know where we were going and that irritated me cuz first they told me they were taking me to a water park, then it was this place that they made up called Wolf Tails where everything is related to wolves(my absolute favorite animal), then another made up place a restaurant in Nashville Tennessee where solid food is a drink and drinks are solid food, then to a ranch. Finally in the car, I said,"Not that I don't like a surprise but can you tell me where we are going?" They said "NO!" Now just relax we will be there soon, so amuse yourself." I followed her advice and turned on some music on my phone letting the speakers blare it to the whole car then sitting on it when it wouldn't shut up. Around the end of the drive they told me they would have to blindfold me so I couldn't see where we were going. First they tried this tiny thing that fell off, next they tied a shirt around my eyes but (I get uncomfortable when I can't see so I was trying in vain to get it off) it started to droop and I started to peek, then they dug around till they found a pair of jeans(which they used to tie my arms to my side) they put a bag over my head but it had a rotten raisin in it so with a shriek of EEWWWW! I flung it off my head(I had to shake my head HARD to get it off), so they finally tied a scarf around my head where I couldn't reach it. Defeated I sat grumbling. When we got there, they led me to a sign took a picture (with me looking like an idiot with a severe case of bedhead and a blindfold) Finally I was allowed to see and almost passed out for we were at St. Francis Wolf Sanctuary where they take care of non releasable wolves and wolf dogs (the wolves and their mates are Apache and Lakota, Luke and Olowan,Tracker and Sable,Shy-Shy and Mwitu, Yoda and Mystery, Romules and Rafiki,Remus and Tala,and Duchess and Koa) telling us why they were there and then they brought them out and I got to touch a real wolf. The first one they brought out was a really pretty one named Tala(Ta-lah) who looked like she was wearing eyeliner. When she walked past I stuck out my hand to feel the smooth texture of her fur, it was like no other dogs fur rough, but soft. While she paced up and down the line they told us how you could tell if a wolf was a dog or a wolf. For example Wolves single file their feet, have a narrower chest, and tend to have soft golden eyes. While Tala was pacing, Mystery the wolf founder(brought in because she was caught in a trap and unnaturally skinny)raised her head and bayed, and all the wolves followed. It was eerie, I felt my hair stand on end, but I loved it for I have always wanted to hear the soothing sweet( well sweet to me) melody of howling wolves. Next they brought out Koa another wolf dog. When they brought him out, the first thing they said was,"Please don't call him fat he's fluffy!" Everyone laughed. Koa was quit different from Tala because he was fluffier so his fur was rougher(and thicker...and a bit dirty due to dirt!). As he walked past I stuck out my hand but he stuck his head on my lap instead leaving me happy to be covered in fur grateful I had chosen to wear black that day (call me weird but I love wolves so much, but my friend won the battle between us to see who could get more involved because Koa drooled on her pants but she was wearing blue jeans, me yoga pants) then before we left I paid a visit to the wolf store and bought a wolf dream catcher, a wolf shield (which the dream catcher and shield hang above my bed), a shirt that said our wild child, several pieces of bubblegum, several Lollipops, a book on all the wolves, and a key chain that hangs on my school lanyard (my friend got a stuffed animal and a hat). That was the best birthday present ever.

Guadelupe River

Rapid Disaster at Guadelupe River

I was sitting with my head perched on my hand, waiting for my friends to get there so we could go to the river and go swimming. I asked my mom again,"Can we go now?" She sighed and said ,"No not yet we have to wait for the others." Grumbling about that, I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs settling to wait again, but fell asleep. I woke up and everyone was there, so we put on our swimsuites and headed down to to the water each of us clutching an inner tube. When we got there we headed straight for the rapids tubing down lazily, but on my second time around I went down with a kayak, got thrown out of my tube, went down the sharp solid rocks rapid slide on my butt (ow), got sucked under to where I couldn't breathe, got pulled up by my friend, retrieved the shorts I had been wearing over my swimsuit but fell off on the rapids, got out shaking, then went to retrieve my shoe. After that I stuck to a rope swing for a while, but went back to the rapids clutching my tube so hard I thought it would pop! When we got back to camp, I was tired and went to sleep, but when I woke up I vomited. I was sick, due to all the water I had swallowed and had to stay in the trailer. I slept for a couple hours and when I woke up I felt completely normal so I started to ease my stiff muscles by moving around. That was fun except for almost dying, so I asked my mom if we could come back sometime.

Lake House in Louisiana

Lake House in Louisiana
Well, like my other stories this one starts with me being stuck in a small extremely humid car with horrible music blasting on the radio. I said, "Mom, can you turn the music off I am trying to sleep?!" She said,"Sure I will turn off the music." Just like my other car trips,I put on my headphones and engrossed myself in the movie that was playing then eventually fell asleep. I must have crashed for a few hours cuz when I woke up we were at our destination, and my mom had warned it would be at least a 4 hr. drive! Since it was dark, and since I was still tired, I walked into my grandparent's lake house, flopped onto the couch, and crashed till morning. When I woke up, my cousins were there laughing loudly, so I decided I should wake up. Wanting to run down to the lake I pleaded with my cousin to go with me, while we were running down to the lake to get a paddle for the paddle boat, there was this broken gate. I was barefooted and didn't want to step on anything, so I vaulted over it (reflex reaction). My younger brother on the other hand was not so lucky (yeah his reflexes are a little slower), he tripped over the broken part of the gate at a full run while the gate unfortunately was barbed wire, so he cut his ankle pretty bad. Then we went back to the house for lunch and to silence my brother's blubbering, after lunch I put on my swimsuit and a life jacket(I know how to swim really well but unfortunately the lake is REALLY deep so the rule is no swimming without a life jacket I grumbled about it but wanted to swim so I silenced myself from the grumbling) then jumped in. My cousin came down to the dock, and was talking to me then threw a canoe oar right at me by accident where SMACK! It hit me right in the eye! I admit I can scream really loud, but I have never screamed as loud as I screamed at that moment. I screamed so loud my aunt heard me when she was 500 meters away! Later, my older cousin asked if I wanted to go for a ride on a four wheeler. Bored I said yes. I put on a helmet, crawled on the four wheeler behind him, and held on really tightly. The ride was bumpy but fun because I got to see the scenery, feel the wind on my face as it blew my hair back behind us, and get to see Louisiana from a whole new level... well from through a four wheeler helmet. That night we had hamburgers that took forever to cook, went to bed(I had a hard time sleeping due to my brother's snoring), and the next morning we saw the friendliest, cutest puppy ever! Then we went out on a boat to go tubing with my cousin. My cousin claimed 2 handles, so I had 1 handle and this little poorly connected smiley face that was connected with 3 stitches and Velcro that we called Mr. Happy (which on a very sharp turn I accidentally ripped off and since that was my only other handle my cousin wrapped his arm around me and held me on, we laughed about that later though). Then my uncle decided to put me behind the wheel of the boat. Turns out when it comes to reckless driving to get people off a tube I am the best cuz I got my cousins off with a sharp jerk forward and several sharp turns left when they were leaning right to stay on. That was the best spring break.