A Summer Adventure

This summer has gone by so fast. It's been one of the most exciting summers of my life. I was in Europe. I went to two summer camps. I've had a three jobs, been applying to colleges, and spending time with my friends (like most teenagers out there). Currently, I'm at my dad's for two weeks and then SCHOOL STARTS.

I know I have not posted much during the summer. I pinky promise I am going to do a huge blogpost about my Europe trip. Now that I'm at my dad's I might have time. But I just wanted to share with you one of my favorite adventures from this summer that happened two days ago.

*cracks knuckles*

August 12th, 2013
Admittedly, the day had started out boring. Maybe not boring, but definitely not the beginning of what would soon become one of my  favorite days. My best friend, Pet, and I were going on yet another bike ride through my dad's town (population, like, 300). In a spur of the moment decision we decided to ride our bikes out into the country down a road we'd never been on before.

Being me, I kept stopping to take pictures.

It was so beautiful out. So, of course, we kept riding for about 2 miles. We decided to turn around once we got to a bridge we saw.

We got to the bridge -

- and the heavens ripped open and rain fell in sheets on us.

I'm not just talking about a little summer rain, folks. In moments, we were drenched. I could barely see the road anymore. We both had our phones and, realizing we were at least 15 minutes away from shelter, we started peddling back the way we had come.

It was a hilarious effort. The gravel was so waterlogged that we barely could ride our bikes. After riding maybe half a mile I saw a little shed on the side of the road. We dumped our bikes and ran for it only to find it enclosed by soe sketchy barbed wire. Usually, barbed wire is no big deal for us, but it was tall and close together so  . . .

I went HULK on the shed and literally kicked and ripped part of the wall off.

Once we were safe inside (I don't think safe is the right word here considering the huge amounts of glass and debris, but meh) I tried calling my dad, but, alas, he was cooking tacos and didn't hear the phone ringing in the other room.

So there we were. Stranded in a shed about 1.5 miles from the nearest town, unable to ride through the rain due to the fact that we had Pet's Iphone and my dumbphone (the opposite of a smartphone). The rain was still falling in sheets and we were soaked to the bone and covered in gravel dust.

By the time Pet's dad came to rescue us, the rain had totally stopped. The sun was out and nature had punk'd us. He took our phones in case the devil rain came again and we road back to town. Even though we were soaked, covered in dirt, and we were both late for different activities, we had a fun time. I'll never forget it, really. I mean, how many people have gotten stuck in a shed during a rain storm with their best friend?

I mean, probably a few thousand, but it was really special for me.

After I got home late for taco night (which I sadly couldn't participate in due to my vegetarianism - I didn't even know that was a word until now -) my dad, his girlfriend, her daughter, and myself all went on a country drive. It was good, in the simple, perfect way that life can be sometimes. We all talked and laughed and drove down these windy roads, past hills covered in Queen Ann's Lace (my fav flower/weed).

And then - I told them about geocaching, which none of them had ever heard of. For those of you who don't know, geocaching is like treasuring hunting, but not Indian Jones and stuff, more hip and technological. Basically, there are caches hidden all over the world and by using an app on your phone you can seek them out. The caches range in size and shape (some can have treasures in them, while others are super hard to find, which is really fun), but they all have a log in which you write your name after you find it with hundred or even thousands of others who have all found the cache. It's really, really fun.

I convinced them to find one. Ann (Kaylee) downloaded the app and the closest geocache was only 10 miles away. Just getting there was adventure enough, really. (My dad likes to try to take short cuts that are not short). But we finally got to the place where the cache was hidden - an old cemetery.

We all started searching and I could tell they were excited. I was excited. It's like being on a drug bust or something (you know, because I go all the time and whatnot)  an epic treasure hunt.

We looked for a long time and couldn't find it. I was kind of bummed and had just started to say, "Maybe we should go home" when suddenly -
Heather found the geocahce!

The three of them were all pretty excited and we all flocked to her. We wrote down our names in the log and fawned over the little box for some time before heading home.

After getting home, Pet came over to hang out with Kaylee and I. My dad and Heather dozed off on the coach so we "snuck out". Really, we just left a note saying we went on a bike ride. Awesomely, there was a meteor shower and we saw at least a dozen shooting stars. We just laid in the middle of some alley and stared up at the night sky for an hour or so.

This was just one day of my summer (so far), but it was one of my favorites.