Grassroots Pilgrim: The Glorious Outdoors!!!

There's nothin' like a weekend in the woods. A few friends and I headed out to Blue Hole Saturday night to camp, and let me tell you...it was incredible! We got there just as the sun was setting. All of the camp sites were taken, so we made a little clearing our own! We collected sticks for the fire, while Derek fooled with it and got it started. After that, we made s'mores--soooo yummy!! Meghan and I got out our guitars and played a few songs...including some made-up songs by Meghan. :) My favorite part though, was just laying on the ground in our sleeping bags counting shooting stars; we must've seen about ten! Made a wish on every one, of course. The air was so fresh, the river sounded so sweet, and being so close to mother nature in every direction was beautiful. Loved it, spiders and all. I woke up in the middle of the night--probably because I was sleeping on a bunch of rocks. But anyway, I would usually try to fall asleep again, but I was just so in awe of the constellations and the peace that was in everything--the river, the trees, the sleepers around me. It was so cool to feel like the only person awake for miles...in the middle of some of God's Earth that hasn't been polluted or destroyed yet. I stayed awake, watching the sky, until the light slowly began to spread from the east and the first bird began its call. I thought about how birds must have been the perfect alarm clocks in the old days. :) I'm so grateful that places like Blue Hole still exist!

In the morning, while Meghan, Liz, Joe and Megan packed up for home, Lauren, Derek and I went looking for adventure. We jumped into the freezing river and let the current take us where it wanted to...we slammed into boulders and came out with cuts and bruises, but man it was a rush!!! It was so dangerously awesome. :) We then proceeded to jump off a big rock a few times, and then to swim through yet another current. Here are some pics of our adventures!