For 4th of July, I went home to Cincinnati. The view of fireworks from my mom's condo was amazing! We could literally see fireworks from 3 states: Kentucky (these were the best), Ohio, and Indiana. The day after the holiday, I finally got to see my best friend Caiti! Ray and I went to her house on our way back to Athens for a cookout/pool party. We had a great time!
This past week at camp was so amazing! On Sunday night and Monday we did some standard camp activities: initiative games, swimming, playing in the mud pit (they played, I hosed them off: not a fan of getting mud in every crevice of my body and eyes), and making fires. Our group clicked really well right from the start!
On Tuesday, we had our kayaking trip down the Hocking River. We saw some really cool wildlife, including several softshell turtles, a huge flock of geese, and a kingfisher! A storm started to roll in, so we didn't get to the whitewater portion of the trip. That night, we hiked (led by our awesome camp director, Scott) to a part of camp called the North Woods. We were going to build shelters to sleep in, but ran out of time, daylight, and patience. It ended up being a gorgeous night, so we just slept out on garbage bags and emergency blankets. The serenity and stillness of the forest as I drifted to sleep (once I finally found an almost comfortable position) was wonderful!
On Wednesday, we returned to the Hocking River to do our whitewater kayaking. Everyone went down the falls and no one even tipped over! We had a blast! That night was the communion service at camp. There was some self reflection time and my thoughts drifted to gratitude. After many years of searching, I finally found the right path. Recreation is truly my calling and I'm so happy that I finally figured it out! During the small group reflection/discussion the campers said some really outstanding things. I love it when campers have such amazing breakthrough moments and are willing to share!
On Thursday, we did a rock climbing/ rappelling trip in Hocking Hills. We started with some climbing on a very large rock called Gear Shift. It got its name because it is actually shaped like a gear shift.
Then we moved on to an awesome small cave that us Camp Otterbein people call the Otterbox. We were lowered by the primary trip leader, Kevin, (I was the secondary), into a narrow crevice in the ground. At the bottom, it opens up a bit into a chamber. Beyond that chamber is an even bigger one. I was lowered first, so I could talk people through it at the bottom and assist them if necessary. It was pretty scary at first: it got extremely narrow and there was no one below to help guide me. I found the way I was supposed to go though and made it to the bottom. The cave was awesome as usual! As people came down one at a time I talked them through it.
We ended the trip with a breathtaking 130 foot rappelling site called Big Springs. The waterfall wasn't as big as last year, but there was a little bit of a trickle and it was still gorgeous! For my first time on a rappelling trip, I was the first one down. Another trip leader has always gone down before me and done the backup belaying or a counselor has just been at the bottom to do it for me. I was on my own. There was a backup knot, a prussic, so it was just as safe. However, not having someone below on backup belay made it a whole new terrifying and awesome experience altogether. The view from about halfway down (where the rock face goes away and it just opens up) was such a beautiful sight! At the bottom, I backup belayed for everyone else as they rappelled down.
Friday seemed to come so fast! It was sad saying goodbye to the campers (except one is coming back next week-yay!). My very sore body was ready for some time to relax though. Today, I've been enjoying the time off relaxing with my wonderful fiancé.
