Jameil doesn't like to go camping

But I do! (btw it took forever to find this post, what with her blogging daily) I've been twice, but its been a while. I'll tell you about the second time, because the first time involved post breakup recouperations, and me on the beach with sand in unpleasant places. Let's just say it was fun, but the second was funner.

So I was 18. It was the week after prom. There was maybe a dozen students and 3 chaperones: my softball coach (bo), my 10th grade English teacher (ro), and one of the Spanish teacher (we'll call her celine, cuz she looked like celine Dion). Somehow I convinced Kesi to come. I think the belief that we'd be "on a getaway" helped.

It was a 5 hour bus ride to the south Ga/ Fl swamps area where we camped. We basically kept to ourselves on the bus. I tried to sleep but it was hella bumpy on the road and it was hard not to look out the window at the trees and fields. Plus there was this one guy, Clarence, who INSISTED to sing mariah carey and Janet the WHOLE way there. Some things you must know about Clarence. 1: mariah is his diva. "there is no #2." because no one could stand near Mimi in his head. 2: he has no vocal inflections. He sounds like Ben Stein. You know, "beuler, beuler, clear eyes, etc." he spoke and sang in 1 tone: Mono. He got pulled by the current the year before and could not yell to literally save his life! "rooooo. Roooo." that's him calling the teacher. He was so far away from us, if we hadn't known he was missing he woulda been gone. And he sang the whole way there! And he sat across from me. Sigh.

We get to the campsite in south Georgia and set up. They made the "no coed tents" thing very clear, as there were 3 couples on this trip. I bunked with 2 girls from the book club. They were nice and small and quiet. Didn't wake me up when they got in and out and such. Kesi, bless his heart, bunked with Clarence. We were right by the water, in the same spot as the year before, where we'd nursed a dying wildkitten (a mountain lion I think) the year before. It was nice and shady. Coach set up the grills and I think that was the night we had the simple dinner, burgers and dogs and beans. the next night was steak night. We played taboo and whooped ass! Kesi and I are an unfair team really. One of the words was "burger king" and all I said was, "my favorite restaurant" and he got it, of course.

Anyways, on to the camping. We went on a beautiful nature walk along this wooden boardwalk near the swamps (did I mention we were in the okeefenokee swamps?) and there were beautiful flowers and lil animals! And this tower at the end of the walk where you just see swamp for miles and miles. Its prettier than it sounds. We took this picture up there and every time I look at it all I see is my abs. Sigh, lol.

We also went on a 7 mile canoe ride through alligator infested waters. Ooh! The year before it was 14 miles, but there was a fire warning so we could only go but so far. I was the "experienced" canoer, so I steered, and Kesi freaked when he saw the gators, cuz they'd be there then just dive under when they got close to you and you had no idea if they were gonna bump the boat or what! We saw swans too, or cranes maybe?

But the best part was Cumberland island. Hands freaking down. We took a boat to a virtually deserted island. How deserted? The only electricity was in the tourist center and a hotel that was nowhere near us. It was set up as a nature preserve after the Carnegies decided they didn't want to live there anymore. Our ranger had literally worked on that island for 27 years. He was an older guy and knew every inch of this place. He told us about the walking trees, and during his explanation of something, a family of horses ran by us! Mommy horse and baby horse! Stop!! It was all secret garden and shit! They were everywhere! Like all the animals on the island they were used to seeing people, and if we didn't mess with them they didn't mess with us. We walked into the ruins of this place called dungeness (background of this pic), which was the Carnegie manor until it was burnt down by a surly groundsman, as the story goes. The place was huge, and right on the water. The trees there were great for climbing. if you cant see me in this one its cuz im the only one not on the ground. I was like a lil monkey. I mean, barefoot and all. Later, we went to the beach. Had never seen an empty beach before. We were literally the only people who were there that day. Even if we weren't we couldn't see anyone else. We napped while listening to the waves, and unfortunately Kesi didn't know you had to turn when lying in the sun... Half of his face was tan. Hilarious.

So yes at the end of it I was hella filthy and had to soak the swamps off myself, but it was worth it. I guess if you can stand to be unkempt (I don't think I brushed my teeth every day and wore flipflops and sandals) and really love nature like that, and just a change of pace, than I recommend it. I had a great guide to keep us from dying (water mocs are all over the place there) and our chaperones were a bit of a mess so we still got to fool around (the teacher who Jameil said seems a lil dumb got the car stuck in a ditch when trying to find a "real bathroom" and the 3rd chaperone had to go get her out), and we learned and I felt really spiritual. Honestly with all the stuff that comes at you living in a city, sometimes you should just go to a quiet place and I think being immersed in nature is a good way to be with God. You see all this stuff He made and put together... I mean you can take a deep breath of clean air! And I learned that the reason why the swamps are green is from decaying plants, so that water is probably safer than tap water.

Anybody wanna go camping?

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