A Camping Trip Gone Wrong

I remember the trip like it was yesterday. It was the summer time on 2012, and it was very hot like summertime usually are. We took the trip 5 weeks before August because that was when I started school. The trip was for my mom, and aunts birthday because they like to celebrate their birthdays together every since they were younger. Their birthdays are close by each other, but not in the same month, and my grandma would always celebrate their birthdays together, so they stuck with that. The trip was planned for my mom, aunt, big cousins, and all of their kids to go, and we would go out to waterparks, and

Sadly I won’t be talking about the actual trip; not about the beautiful mountains with snow blanketed over it, or the marmot attack with one stealing Chad Donze’s sock, or having our camp raided by a young bull moose, or having Nick Sims hit on a German waitress, or bear spray quick-draw contests, or Thomas Engelman plunging his feet into freezing water for over thirty minutes. I’m going to talk about possibly the most painful and agonizing

Life was amazing and wonderful for a time being. My family was whole and put together. We had just moved into a house on Circle Road in Worland, Wyoming. I remember the house quite well before my parents had done any work to it. There were bird cages, pecked out doors, other animal cages, stains of all sorts, and holes in cracks in the walls and ceilings. It was quite the piece of work to say the least! Renovations were tedious and awful, but all the hard work would pay off in the end. Building the house up to my family’s expectations took awhile, but it was worth every second of it. Time flew by during my childhood in that house. I remember one day taking a trip over to the fish hatchery in the canyon. Other days we would spend at my grandpa’s house visiting him. We would attend as a family social events and parties. Life was pretty amazing. To say the least things were going quite well in the Boltz household. Furthermore, there were three things that changed me and my life when my dad died.

This year’s family vacation was one for the books. With my aunt living in Tennessee, we do not get together as often as we would like so my family decided to go to Nashville, Tennessee. When we started our trip, it was 6 a.m. and it was nothing short of fun and laughter along the way. Never having been to Tennessee before, I figured I’d enjoy the eight-hour ride of sight-seeing and laughter with my family. When we were a few miles into the trip, the mountains of Georgia were breathtaking. While I was enjoying the scenery, another thing that I found enjoyable about this trip was the conversation that I had with my family. We went on talking about life in general, all the struggles, and childhood memories that we had. We even talked about years

As we were packing the last of our things into a U-Haul truck and saying goodbye to our friends, I suddenly got sad because I would be leaving what I knew. So as I took the last breath

Then we took a walk through Sievers, which is the woods on one side of camp. In the woods we looked for the lost cabin and were told the story about what the Indians did to the kids in the lost cabin. After that we went to supper, had cabin time, and got to know eachother better. Then we had campfire and my first ever serious Devos, which was amazing. The second day I wanted to wake up early to go do early morning clubs, but I was so tired that I fell back asleep. I was woken up again for breakfast later and went on to the rest of the day. The first full day of camp I swam during the entire freetime.

When it was midnight, we loaded the car and drove through Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. We stopped at a few places to grab food or gas. It was a long time, but it was worth it when we finally reached our condo. It was beautiful! We went to the balcony to see the ocean and it was crystal clear. The beach wasn’t crowded either. We hurried to put on bathing suits and sunscreen. Then we walked downstairs to the beach. The sand was warm and felt great. My sister’s and I ran to the water and

I awoke on a cool summer morning, at first I wasn't completely there but then, a chill of excitement ran down my spine as I realized my family was going camping today. I ran down stairs past the mountains of camping supplies and clothes to talk to my parents in the kitchen. They said we were leaving soon and that I should start packing all of the supplies into our trusty old Ford Expedition. After about 20 minutes of packing our SUV to the brim with all of the things we would need to survive in the wilderness for a few days, we said goodbye to our three cats and headed for Steelville Missouri.

When I was in 7th grade, the whole entire grade suggested that we should go on a camping trip. We had many places to choose from, but we all agreed on going to Yosemite. The reason we chose Yosemite is because we wanted people to stay away from their video games and electronics for a couple of days and actually enjoy what beautiful things God had made and what the outside world has to offer. It was an amazing trip and we did have many unforgettable memories. But one memory I had was on the second day of the trip, it was the day we started to do activities with our group leader. We hiked up a waterfall, played some games, and also took lots of pictures. It was a very tiring day and when we were finally done for the day, It was

It was an annual tradition for my dad’s side of the family to get together at this campground over Fourth-of-July weekend. All of the cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and even some friends would be there. I was only eleven and it was a special year because I got to bring my friend Rachelle with me on this trip. We planned on swimming in the lake, tubing behind the boat, fishing, and playing yard games like bean bags and ladder-ball. Tubing was my favorite. There was no better feeling than the rush of falling off and bouncing across the water like a skipping stone.

Transitioning from my comfortable sixty degree waterside house to a one hundred degree tent was challenging. I had to live independently, collaborate with others from different states, and work past my heat tolerance. The isolated enclosement known as my campsite was dirty, cramped, and reeked from the stench of porta-potties baking in the southern sun. Limited showers made everyone all the more uncomfortable around each other. I wake, aching from sleeping on the ground,

We got to Camp Ernst and our parents dropped us off and we said our goodbyes. Our cabin was in the valley with other cabins with people around our age. We got go go swimming in the pool and the lake and we also went on the banana boat. After dinner some of us left our group to go to horse camp. They kept the houses in a stable at the bottom of a big hill. It was the first day of camp so everyone got to pick a horse and it was my first time going, so I didn't know the horses very well, but I picked one named Charlie. Charlie was a big brown horse.

My dad and I had always lived in New York City. After 15 years of experience and the guidance of my older brother, you could say that I knew my way around town. The coffee shops with the best lattes, the highest swinging swing sets in every park, and most importantly, the buildings with the best views. You would think that after living here for so long I would get sick of seeing the view of the city every day, but it just never gets old. The best spot is at the top of my apartment building, on the far northeast corner, looking over the horizon and onto the Hudson. There was no other way of completing my day, no matter the rain, snow, or blazing heat I sat on that rooftop every night as the sun disappeared, along with the overworked New Yorkers for the night. The most interesting part is, every single night, the color of the sky is always slightly different. No sunset was ever the exact same. Anyways, as I was walking back down the stairs to my condo, 7B, I got the jitters in my stomach, I was beyond excited for tomorrow, the first day of Winter Break. My older brother, Todd, was taking me and my best friend Hannah up to Vermont to go skiing. I opened our apartment door, took a quick shower, and fell asleep with Cooper on my lap while watching Full House.

Within 20 minutes, my dad had put the tent up. We had started putting blankets and pillows in the tent to keep us comfortable on the cold, hard deck floor. Once we set up our cozy camping site, we listened to music and talked for hours. We were a little reluctant to go to sleep outside, but gazing at the stars for such a long period of

The day has come, finally my very first vacation. I got up with excitement and I remember looking out my window and seeing how the sunrise was spreading across the sky. I remember my mom calling my siblings