July 3, 2003

• Alright . . . let's back up to Saturday . . .
  
  Saturday:
  The trip to Camp Ma-ka-ja-won was long (5 or 6 hours north in Wisconsin). By the end of it I had even gotten a little tired of my own music I know it's shocking . . . I drove down with my Dad, brother (Andrew), and both Adams. Met up with John and some more deacons in the Ivie van at dinner- Pizza Hut. I got to talk to Heather, however broken up the Cell phone was. That was nice.
  
  Sunday:
  I attended one of the most spiritual sacrament meetings I've been to in a long time. There's something about partaking of the sacrament surrounded only by the Aaronic Priesthood in scout uniform.
  
  Megan's brother Scotty gave a well prepared talk. I was also asked to speak, but I didn't feel like writing out a talk a head of time. Instead I just book marked 3 or 4 scripture passages and then just talked. I spoke on Obedience, and Cheerfulness, and the link between the two. One of the things I mentioned to segway into Nephi's murmurless obedience was a carved stick Brother Sessions had made for me in Camp Lowden.
  
  Brother Sessions was another one of the speakers. His message on Reverence was very spiritual from the beginning, but as he too mentioned Lowden it took on an even more powerful, more personal spirit for me. He talked about the importance of being reverent everywhere, even camp, so you could hear and follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit . . . I know now more than ever that the Lord plays an active part in the Salvation of men, of individuals. I know now of the importance of small sacrifices and actions prompted by the Spirit of God.
  
  Sunday afternoon was long. I took a nap, rested in the hammock, watched Johny Lingo, and at like 11 I watched the Singles Ward on Bro. Davis's lap top with Gabe, Jake, Adam, and John.
  
  Monday:
  My dad, Adam, John, and I left Ma-ka-ja-won after breakfast. The road to Bayfield was also long (about 4 hours or so), but it was beautiful. The north woods and all the lakes- gorgeous. We reached Lake Superior and got out to stretch our legs for some scenic pictures. It's like an ocean minus the salt. We got the Apostle Islands just before lunch.
  
  There was a little fiasco with the hotel- not even worth the details.
  Lunch at Maggie's was one of the best meals I've had in a long time. We had a cute waitress too (shut-up, we were girl starved being with just guys for 6 days) . . . spicy chicken sandwich and strawberry shortcake. It tasted like the strawberries were right out of the garden- mmmmmm- they were little, and so fresh, so sweet. Nothing like a bayfield strawberry.
  
  Went back to the hotel where our ward got a whole building to ourselves. Lazed around for a while (is that a word?), and then as most everyone arrived, my dad went out to get pizza. Adam, John, and I waited at the end of the driveway for Andy to come with the Cooks. We waited almost an hour before we gave up and joined the Crystal Lake ward for dinner.
  
  Pizza was boring, so we went back to our room and then Andy came. Everyone then went into town. We all walked around. We went for ice cream at this candy shop. It was good stuff . . . and again, this time two hot girls behind the counter. Such was the cause of much excitement with 21 guys in the shop, but Andy and Adam seemed the most confident in themselves (I'd actually prefer the term cocky). They told us about their plans to go back as the store closed and pick them up. That didn't happen cause "family" home evening took too long. Even so, they ran off and being left out of their efforts, I called Heather. That made my night, and by the time I was done, I was pretty cheerful as we all went back to our room. There was a lot of rough housing- wrestling and tickling and stealing pillows and such. I had fun. Anyway, plans had been made for Andy and Adam to sneak out the window. I tried, wanted to go, but everyone said they needed John and I to stay in the room. As Andy went out the window, though, he fell, and had to climb back up on my bed sheet. That operation was canceled.
  
  Tuesday:
  Got woken up. Showered. And then we all went to breakfast. mmmm Strawbery Pancakes. Good times, and then we arrived on the beach of Lake Superior. We all got into our wet suits, and before long (actually it felt like forever) we were learning how to kayak. Eventually they turned us loose on the water where we got to capsize our kayaks, escape the cockpit, and reenter our boats safely. The water was COLD, but once we were out it was nice.
  
  We returned to shore for lunch, and then we waited for forever while things were wraped up enough for us to go back on the water and actually start our trip. Man, that was really boring. A few like Andy skipped rocks, but most of us just sat around waiting. I listened to Haley (one of the little people) singing Dashboard Confessional in my head. We only kayaked for about 4 miles before we stoped to investigate a sunken ship, and then we raced into the harbor of our first island, BassWood.
  
  Andy and I got on land quickly where we freed ourselves from the wet suits and went up the long, steep trail to our camp site. The bugs were horrible. After a few sprays of bug repellent, we set up our tent, and carried up the rest of our baggage. (again, using the long trail, we didn't discover the much shorter, nicer trail until that night *sigh*)
  Andy went right to sleep. I mended a minor wound while the rest of camp set up their tents (they were all slow pokes). Eventually spagetti got rolling, and a fire was built.
  
  After dinner, I helped out with the dishes- I was bored. We had quite the missionary talk with our guides, Rick and Ed. We covered everything from the nature of God to our premortal existence to baptisms for the dead to our lay ministry to missionarys and our own upcoming missions. They were both very interested, and I particularly felt the planting of a good seed in Rick. He was impressed with how hard working, cheerful, clean-cut, and mature we were- and how much we knew about the gospel.
  
  A few of us, including Andy, Adam, and Trennon, went down to the shore to watch the sunset (which was beautiful). Andy started skipping rocks again. He's really good. I tried, but as Adam was quick to point out, I really suck. I have never learned how to skip rocks. And Luce and Mervin are forcing me to remember Something Corporate lyrics, "Now I'm believing all the words you say that I can't say back to you. And if I fall, I don't want to feel this small, cause you know I just can't handle this, handle this at all . . ."
  
  I left shore to return to camp, where everyone else started up conversations I didn't feel like being a part of. As everyone returned and started talking around the fire, I returned to shore alone. It was getting dark, but by now I had discovered the shorter trail.
  
  I tried to teach myself how to skip rocks, but it didn't go so well. I tell you though, the scenery was beautiful, and there was something cool about being on an island and not having anyone around you and it being really quiet except for all of the nature noises. It was kinda eerie, and it was getting dark. I gave up on the rocks, and returned where we had a prayer and went to our tents.
  
  John, Adam, Andy, and I all crammed into one tent on a slight hill. I didn't like being covered in deet so I decided to go back to shore and wash up a bit. Again I went alone, but this time I had a flash light. Man was it beautiful. I could see the main land across the lake, far away. The lights of a small town were gorgeous relfected in the water which was surprisingly still except for the small waves washing up on the sand. There were a zillion stars out, and so I layed down on the dock and stared up at the sky. The moon was very very thin, and it curled gracefully. The view was priceless. I thought of many things as I stared out at so many shades of blue and the pink and white and gold lights. It wasn't long before the noises and the eeriness pushed me to wash up and return to the tent.
  
  Lori called Andy- who surprisingly got good cell reception. The conversation was brief, and before long he remembered something he had forgotten at the shore. He left to get it, only he got lost.
  
  After helping him find his way again, I sat by the dying embers where the fire had been.
  
  It was almost midnight before I really went to bed, but I didn't even sleep, rather I dwelt in this state of half sleep and half . . . not sleep. The little voices sang "I'd do anything," and I am reminded of some Avril Lavigne lyrics that Adam so kindly pointed out to me . . . "Sometimes I get so weird/I even freak myself out/I laugh myself to sleep/It's my lullaby . . ."
  
  Wensday:
  Pancakes for breakfast with brown sugar instead of syrup. Yeah. It was yucky outside, so we all went back to our tent. It started to rain. Some of us tried to sleep, others talk, others still discovered Andy's ticklish spot in the middle of his foot. Our tent decided to leak, and my sleeping bag was soaked. Andy's got a little wet on the outside, but mine was soaked.
  
  When I woke up from my nap, it stoped raining. My dad was furious that my sleeping bag was wet- which wasn't fair since it didn't hurt him any, so why should he be more upset then me? Oh well, it all worked out in the end, it was dry by the time I went to bed weds. night.
  
  Finally after the lightning and thunder died down and we gobbled down a meager lunch of summer sausage crackers and oreos, we were allowed back on the water. We were anxious to get back in the kayak- we were now plenty rested and the waves looked fun. We kayaked for about 8 miles to the second island, Stockton.
  
  On the way we passed a very cool rock formation that was like its own miny island. Too bad we couldn't go cliff jumping. We took a break on Hermit Island. There were many good water fights- many of us ganged up on my dad (who was kayaking with President Kitchen) who threatened us with stake conference talks and other silly things the Stake Young Men's Presidency has sway over.
  
  The best part of the day's trip, though, was when we got to paddle along Stockton's cliffy coast. Most of the other kayaks stayed in the open bay, but Rick let Andy and I get as close as we dared to the rocks. We went under overhanging cliffs and in the mouths of mini caves and crevices. It was really cool. We saw mangled tree formations and moss and lichen in interesting shapes and old quarried rocks and tools. Andy pulled off some cool steering as we kayaked between tight rocks. It was a lot of fun.
  
  Stockton had a cool beach- in which we burried Trennon and gave him body parts he never had before (to continue a tradition first done on Adam where in he got the nickname "snips"). We set up camp, again amist blankets of flys. It was just like the other camp, blankets of flys on our gear, blankets of mosquitoes on our skin. I saw two snakes, a snake skin, a baby turtle, several adult turtles, and later that night two bald eagles.
  
  We hung around camp and the shore a while. I went on the dock for a while again, this time to watch the clouds. And some distant lightning too. This island view was really cool too because you couldn't see the mainland. You could see other islands, but the mainland was too far, it was just like being in the ocean minus the palm trees and salt. I ran into Rick who was listening to the weather on some wierd radio. We had a very nice conversation (this is when we saw the eagles).
  
  More lounging around. We ate dinner, we roasted marshmellows. I walked down the beach and climbed a bit of the trail as Andy talked to Lori. Back on the dock we talked some more as we watched distant lightning and rain on the horizon, and then Adam and John came, and we decided to go to bed.
  
  Right as we got situated, the second storm caught up with us, and it started to pour. It was windy, and it was rainy, and it was loud, but we set up our tarp better so the tent didn't flood. We talked a little bit, smashing bugs all around the tent, and then we went to sleep. This time I barely had time to "listen" to my favorite Dashboard Confessional song before I slept soundly 'til morning.
  
  Thursday:
  We were woken up before 6. By the time camp was packed up and we had eaten our rolls with jelly and our granola and yogurt, it was 6:30 and we were hitting the water. There was a misty fog over the shoreline that was fun to kayak through, although we took a different route home with much less scenery. Strangely enough, we all stayed close together on the way back, and we kayaked the 11 miles back very efficiently, with only one break at Hermit to grab some snacks and take pictures of us in our kayak skirts. Around Hermit, Andy and I again broke off from the main group with Rick to investigate some cool cliffs and stuff- we saw an imature bald eagle that was magnificent as it sat there perched and ultimately soared away.
  
  We returned to Bayfield around 9:30 or 10:30, I can't remember, but surprisingly early. It took us a while to pack up all of our stuff and clean everything, but Andy and I had a head start, finishing early which allowed us time to change, brush teeth, and do some grooming- we were wrecks, I needed to shave soooo badly.
  
  Rick bade us farewell, telling us that he wanted to do another trip with us after our missions so that we could tell him our mission stories. He was a very cool guide, I would like very much to meet up with him again.
  
  We went and got our ice cream, and then my dad took John, Adam, and I to McDonalds. Brother Cook took Andy and Trennon there too, but they ate in the car so they could get a good start home. It didn't do too much because we caught up with them an hour later, ultimately passing them twice. The drive home wasn't too bad. It was long, with much sleeping. This time we didn't get to listen to my music . . . *tear* It was really pathetic, though, that I was still letting the lyrics of my Dad's music trigger the same thoughts, emotions, and memories my music triggered. That was just sad and pathetic- I don't like country music, and yet I think every song on that Leanne Rymes CD he listened to made me think of . . . ok I'm going to shut myself up because this entree has gone on long enough, and it's time to end it.
  
  We got home just before 8. The trip was a lot of fun, I'm glad I got to go and all . . . and thats about all I have to say about that.

  • 10:41 pm
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