Personal Narrative: Ride The Woods

Most people are all grown up when they finally figure out what they want to do with their life. I was 4. I realized what I wanted to be when I attended my very first Rodeo. Even though it was so long ago I can remember that day like it was yesturday. That day got me on the path to my future.

The sun was glistening through the tall, swaying pines. To the right of the trail, a gentle river flowed softly down towards the mouth of the lake. Walking across the rickety wooden bridge, I inhaled a deep breath of refreshingly crisp mountain air. The sun beat down on me as I made my way across the bridge and back onto the well-used hiking trail. The ambient sounds of chirping birds, babbling water, and the croaks of several frogs filled my ears as I made my way around the bend. As I entered the mouth of the forest, I could see my father standing in the middle of the path, glancing upwards, taking in the beauty that had began to engulf us. “We better get going.” he said, looking back at me. “There’s still many miles to go.” I smiled and turned, taking in one last view of the beautiful creekside. Then, with determination, we set out to finish the challenging trek we had started.

When people are on winter break, most want to go out and play in the snow, but who knew that the snow could be one's worst nightmare when stubbornness comes into play. Most people go out on an enjoyable snow-white day to sled down snowy hills and fling semi-hard snowballs at each other. No one would think that maybe sledding down the snowy hills could be so dangerous when they are having fun, and trying to show off. I certainly did not think that it was dangerous, but boy was I so wrong. Normally being a Los Angeles girl, going up to Big Bear is such an amazing experience, because down in the Los Angeles region it does not snow at all. However, I was not ready to face what was slowly going to change me in the mountains of California.

Humans are animals. Even as developed, personalized, and intelligent as we are, we share a deep connection with every living thing. However, many of the problems in the world result from the human belief that technology is more powerful and can replace the serene, perfect essence of nature. I believe that a connection with nature can heal wounds and help humans find balance in their lives.

Riding along the Oregon Trail can be treacherous, risky, and at times perilous. Some aspects that make it so dangerous are: hunger, disease, suicide, a broken wagon, falling out of the wagon and getting run over by the wheels, Indians attacking, and … storms. Believe it or not , storms cause substantial amounts of trouble. I am fortunate enough to say, I, Dahlia Clark, lived to tell about it.

My father was the adventurous man in the household, and it was because of this characteristic, that he always knew the best place to go to during the summer of my sister and I’s childhood. My father was the one who taught my sister and I how to be creative and have fun with what you have right in front of you. Summer weekends down at Batsto Lake located in the Pine Barrens were my most precious memories.

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.

When we got to my grandparent’s house, my dad’s side of the family was already there, and we had eggs for breakfast, and hamburgers for lunch. Then we played yard games and a bounce house. At the end of the day we had a bonfire, roasted marshmallows and made s’mores.

So that was what I did over the summer besides for watch TV, play basketball, and eat pizza. I had a pretty fun summer, but I would have liked it better if we went to more

Bang! I heard a loud noise, it was the door that my daughter slammed, she was coming down the hallway entering the house and she walked past me without saying good evening mom. Then she threw herself on my coach like she owned the joint. I followed her into the living room, well! I said someone is not happy today, have a bad day at work did you. She just looked at me while holding her head towards the ground. I then asked her if she wanted to talk about it. She sounded like she growled and my reply was, when you are ready to talk, you know where to find me.

My heart was thumping heavily, as the bus took a turn towards the mountains. I didn’t know why I had agreed, but it was too late to turn back.

Every year, my family makes an effort to travel across the country from our hometown in Tennessee to southern California to visit family. Our family has celebrated many traditions over the years, but this is one that means the most to me. Also, some of the most memorable moments of my life happened during this tradition. It all started when I was around 4 years old. My family decided to move away from the big city in Southern California to a more country setting more suitable for raising children. Ever since, we have made the trip back and forth, only missing one year since. This unique tradition has helped me to develop to appreciate my family and bring us closer together.

When I was a young child I would love to hear my parents tell me that we were going on a trip. I would be full of excitement, because I knew that we would be going to a place that I had never seen before. My parents, my brother, and I would pack our luggage and venture out in our small gray minivan. Three of my most cherished memories in our minivan are when we went to Disney World, the beach, and the mountains.

June 17, 2012 was the date, and some storms were rolling into the area. I have storm chased many times in my life so this was not much different than other storms. The real difference was that this was in my neck of the woods. Radar indicated a particularly strong bow echo headed into the area, with straight line winds ranging from 50-70mph. I had decided to drive out just really to see the lightning storm from a distance, not terribly far from my home at the time, just south of Atwater, MN. I convinced my partner at the time to join me, as we both like watching lightning filled clouds. This being later in the evening we failed to take into account how rapidly the skies can darken. Nevertheless, we stayed out watching the approaching storms. We took our truck out to a high hill in the area to watch and enjoyed a pretty decent show, but we then decided to move further north to a more active cluster. We headed a few miles north highway 12 here in Kandiyohi County and parked, waiting and watching, as we really didn’t expect this storm to be really serious. Mother Nature had other plans. As we sat there in the vehicle and listened to the radio, we heard the news. Funnel clouds spotted, radar indicating powerful winds. Just then we received a call from one of our friends who knew we were out watching. The message, get to safety. According to my friend, there were other spotters chatting on radio about other rotating clouds near our location. Just as I was going to ask for more

One Day my family and I was sitting around talking planning things we will do one day when it's time to do a family fun day. So she started saying if I decided to take yall somewhere where yall would like to go.so im guessing we was all thinking like mom we are young we don't know to many places. So we just started naming places as in six flags, Alabama Adventures, and the water park. So we all started yelling water park just because we all liked playing in water. So we got up the next day and she say everyone get up i'm taking you to the water park we was over excited. So we it was time for us to leave so we started calling friends that we would like to go with us. So we all got dress and started heading down to the water park. When we got there we didn't even give our parents time to give us our wristbands we just started running and getting on rides. I have to say that day we really enjoyed ourselves that day one good childhood memory.