Vacation

VACATION! The words holiday or vacation have related meanings in different English-speaking countries and continents, but usually refer to one of the following activities or events:

• A general leave of absence from a regular occupation for rest or recreation
• A specific trip or journey for the purposes of recreation or tourism

Two things Phil and I did. We took a leave of absence from work for NINE days and enjoyed a journey.

Phil grew up backpacking, hiking, fishing, and camping so did I however mine was easy campers, showers, toilets, and YUMMY food. He finally convinced me to go back packing. We borrowed some things from his Dad and headed out on our two day journey. The preparation was FUN! Grocery shopping, packing, and realizing everything you want you have to hike in. We headed out and got to our destination to the trail head where the sign read GREEN LAKES 6.5 miles. WOW, not only is it far I have a 30 pound pack on my back. We hiked in and started to set up camp. We had lunch (rice and ramen) and of course I brought every kind of candy you could think of. We had peach rings, red vines, gummies, cookies and me not being so careful spilled FOOD. We decided to take a nap, read,and play cards. We woke up to start dinner (ramen and rice) I know twice in one day and Phil went to explore. He ran up some rocks and ran down a different direction. He looked panicked and said "We need to talk." He pulled me over by the tent and said "THERE IS A BEAR" in the next camp what do you want to do??? Me, not really believing him say what really are you sure. Phil yes, I go into PANIC mode. GET ME OUT OF HERE! oh wait, its 7:00 at night and the car is 6.5 miles away. I start to clean up the tent and Phil says "Mel look, I look and the BEAR is 20 yards away. We packed up camp and hiked 6.5 miles to the car in 2 hours and 10 minutes.

My first camping experience went well if you ignore the fact that we were only there for 6 hours, I didn't have to sleep in the tent, I showered when we got home and I didn't even have to use a bush! HA HA. When we try this next year maybe we will make it through the night.