This weekend I went camping / spelunking / bouldering in Rocktown Georgia. It was a flippin' blast! Here's a play by play of the weekend:
Friday: Woke up at 4:15 am to get to Sarah's house by 5:15 am. We were supposed to meet the boys at Aaron's at 5:45 am. We got to Aaron's around 6 am and they were still sleeping. Whoo-hoo! We ended up leaving about 7:30 am. Sarah, Aaron and I went with Walker, Joe and Max. (Boys, boys, boys...too many boys!)
We drove 6 hours to Atlanta and met up with another boy...Ben...at R.E.I. There we bought some headlamps for the cave. I also got a $60 backpack for $20...it's beautiful. We continued on another 2 1/2 - 3 hours to Rocktown. On our way there we stopped by Zaxby's for lunch. And it started raining. We were like, well crap, hopefully it will stop soon. Then...it started hailing. Joe's shirt was blown away by the wind and we all got kinda wet. But...we trudged on to our destination.
When we got there it was still raining. The boys set up camp (gotta love them boys) in the rain. Yes...the inside of the tent was wet. It was decided at the beginning of the trip that I was going to take on a different personality for the weekend. Aaron and Sarah would be the only ones who knew the truth. Why, you ask? For the heck of it. So, we decided that I would be a ditzy blonde who had never been camping and didn't know a thing about rock climbing. Dude, the ditz thing is harder than it seems. It really only lasted for a couple hours before I couldn't do it anymore. There were just too many witty things to be said. So, I just stuck with the "never been camping or rock climbing" thing. We had a good time with it.
While the boys were setting up camp, Sarah and I were chilling in the van. Then they decided it was time for food. We piled (and I do mean piled) into Ben's Pathfinder and drove to Don Lolo's (the local Mexican joint). We also stopped by Walmart and bought rain jackets, ponchos, towels (to sop up the inside of the tent) and various other items. We got back to camp and we were all pretty tired. So...they cleaned out the tent and set up the sleeping bags. Since I was playing a first time camper I told them I would only sleep in the tent if I could have the keys to the van...just in case I had to sleep there. And it's a good thing I did. It rained all night. I woke up at 3 in the morning and my entire sleeping bag was soaked...and so was I. So, I got up and went to the van...changed clothes...and tried to sleep. It was difficult, but I did manage to get a few hours rest.
Saturday: The next day I woke up with a killer headache. Bummer. It had stopped raining so the boys decided to check out the boulders we were going to climb once it dried up (if it dried up). Sarah and I decided to stay in the van. Gosh I love that van. Anyway...I read a book (yes, an entire book) - The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks. I had read it before, but it managed to suck me in again. Sarah slept. [As an side note: If you have read Captivating and don't mind a good Nicholas Sparks novel...read The Wedding...it is a great example of a woman being pursued and wooed. It's good times.]
The boys got back with the news that the rocks were wet (surprise, surprise) and we all decided we would go to town to find a Laundromat and dry out the sleeping bags. We did just that. Once they were all dry and we stopped by Bi-lo (grocery store) for sustenance, we headed back to the campsite. And finally...it was time to go spelunking. This was what I had been waiting for.
Max decided not to go with us (he didn’t feel like getting dirty). We had been told by Sarah and Aaron (the only ones who had been to the cave before) that we would be getting extremely muddy. I brought clothes just for the occasion. I wore two pairs of pants, a t-shirt, sweatshirt, and jacket (it was also supposed to be cold in the cave). I am going to put up a bunch of pics and videos from the trip so you can see how amazing it was. I will comment on the pics and tell you more about the caving there.
After caving we went back to the campsite and cleaned up. I proceeded to put on three pairs of pants and borrowed one of Aaron’s jackets (since mine was muddified). It had stopped raining...but it was freezing. The boys built a fire and that helped quite a bit. We sat around the campfire while Joe played his guitar and the boys cooked burgers and potatoes. They weren’t bad. I decided to sleep in the van again. It was colder this night...and my socks were wet. And all I had to cover me was a towel and a jacket. Good times. But I survived. We woke up in the morning to the sound of neighing. There was an almost altercation with an old man and his horse the day before. We apparently had set up on the horse camp side instead of the people camp side. He was a grumpy old man who said a bunch of his friends would be there in the morning and "respectfully requested " that we move. We didn’t. But we ended up packing up right when most of them got there the next morning.
Sunday: After we packed up camp we drove to the boulders. Wow. So many freaking boulders. I took a bunch of video of the guys climbing (and one of me). I went very slow (since there were no ropes and it was a 15 foot drop). But I made it to the top. Pretty sweet for my first time on an actual rock. The sun started to come out and the day turned out to be beautiful. After a couple hours of climbing we headed home with a stop by Agnes Scott college to get dinner with Walker’s sister. The college is in Decatur, a small town right outside of Atlanta, and the campus is gorgeous. We ate at the Mellow Mushroom and said goodbye to Ben (he goes to Georgia Tech). And we kept on driving. We got back to Aaron’s house around 1:30 am.
I had left my car at Sarah’s...and it worked out well for me. I got a call from Mike (my roommate’s daughter’s boyfriend) who told me I should take a shower at Sarah’s house because ours was full of toilet water soaked towels. Yum. So, I took a shower (which felt SOOOO good after 3 days of dirtiness) and headed home. I called Lea on my way home to keep me awake. And I finally got to bed around 3 am.
Monday: I slept until 4 in the afternoon. Oh glorious bed with clean sheets and a cat to love on me. All in all, an excellent weekend.
In other news...Lea might not be coming home on the 17th, according to her blog. This is anti-cool news. Apparently she has a training exercise which needs her skills and no one else is able to do it (so far). So I am praying that she will be able to find someone to take her place. I mean, come on! It’s her last leave before deployment...let her come home! So I may end up being bummed at Relay. Bummed and green and alone.
Lea has been really happy lately. Almost too happy. She just joined First United Methodist Church of San Diego and feels like she has finally found a home...in San Diego. Ugh. Not that I don’t like San Diego...it’s a pretty cool place. But I’m jealous. And I don’t like being jealous. I’m jealous that she’s found a home church, I’m jealous of the new friends she’s making, and I’m jealous that San Diego might be getting a new resident after her deployment. But, as she keeps reminding me – “you’ll be in freaking Virginia!” So, what’s it matter? Who knows? Maybe I’ll find a home church in Norfolk. I don’t know if it will be my dad’s or not. I kind of want something of my own. (No offense dad, you know I love you). Maybe I’ll make new friends. But, then what? My plan is to get my Master’s in Theology in Fall of next year. Where? I would like to be in the same city as Lea. That’s kinda been the plan for a while now. We’ve thought of Boston, Philly, maybe even L.A. (Fuller Theological Seminary is in Pasadena). But we’ve never seriously considered San Diego. But now, she feels like she can put down some actual roots. There are a couple of schools I might be able to go to in SD. Ok...so I just googled seminaries in San Diego...and Fuller has a campus there! Well, technically it’s not a campus, they meet at a church, but I could take classes while living in San Diego – how cool is that?!? I’m not sure about the logistics of it all, but it might could work. (Yes, I said “might could” – I’m from KY, give me a break!)
I guess I’ll just keep praying that God does what He wants with my life. For a while there, I didn’t think I wanted Him to. I got selfish and believed it would be better to turn away from Him than to question the ideas I have grown up with. Boy, was that stupid. I have turned back toward Him and am still asking questions. This is a much smarter way to go about things. As Lea said, “since God is central to finding answers” – or something like that. Anyway – whoever reads this blog should totally check out the pics and videos from Rocktown. I’ll tag them so everyone can view them instead of just my friends. It was a great weekend. I can’t wait to go again.
Until next time...
