If I Were to Make This a Facebook Album It Would Be Titled "Your face is beautiful. It makes me want to bite it"

This past weekend I had a first time experience. I went camping. And if any of you know me, you'll know it was an experience.

The above is what Courtney said when she was explaining to the rest of us why she thinks bugs like to sting her over other people, and someone said maybe it was because her face was so beautiful that bugs were just attracted to it.

Anyways, our adventure began in the wee hours of the morning, when we drove to Mukulteo, where we then took the ferry to South Whidby Island. South Whidby is a beautiful little island and certainly a place I'd visit many times over, even if I can't necessarily imagine living there. It's quaint.

We all ate in Langley in this pizzeria where I'm pretty sure us eleven people were like a third of the occupancy. The pizza was really homemade, greasy, and good.

We saw a lot of dogs on this trip, and Courtney lost control of all her bodily functions and faculties every single time.

We drove to South Whidby State Park, and our tents went up a lot faster than I thought possible. I thought it was a good sign to come.

We decided to walk down the beach trail for a hike. Now ya'll know I'm not a hiker, but this walk was gorgeous. Gorgeous! I'm considering taking the ferry back just to walk this trail again. There were a lot of trees as obstacles along the way, but aside from the one time I accidentally didn't run from the surf fast enough and the one time I tried to climb over a tree and ended up on my belly, I LOVED it. I really wish I would have brought my camera, there were some really pretty waterfalls and ocean shots and trees. Plus at some parts in the walk, the rock was turning into clay and I played with it =)

Then we went to the grocery store to buy provisions for dinner later that night. When we got back our hall director started chopping and preparing food, and I learned how to play Phase 10 (a very fun card game).

After we made our dinners, the oh so appropriate titled "Hobo Dinners". Basically you get a mix of ingredients (we chose from onions, potatoes, mushrooms, ground beef, carrots, hot dogs, and a whole mess of sauces), then you wrap your choices in a bunch of tin foil and cook it on the campfire. We cooked smore's and bananas stuffed with peanut butter and chocolate chips for dessert. Plus I made an apple pie concoction out of apples and Pillsbury crescent rolls that turned out great.

We ended the night playing Settlers of Cattan. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's very confusing. But my team won second place, not bad for my first time.

We turned in to sleep at 11pm. I didn't anticipate getting a good night's sleep. but what actually occurred was much worse. My chief complaint was that my back and especially my neck were killing me in the morning, despite sleeping on a sleeping mat and sleeping bag, and two of my tent mates snored in the rare instances they fell asleep (we all had a hard time), which I can never sleep through. Not to mention, it was bitter cold, and I was ok with my mammoth Coleman sleeping bag, but others were deathly cold.

This lead to a very fast wake up the next day, and we were back by 10 am or so. And despite the harsh sleeping conditions, it was an experience I will never forget.

Here's my staff. It's the best non-family family picture I could ask for.