So Much For Good Intentions!

Well, I tried to keep up with this blog! I am gonna have to post about three recent events that have kept me away from the computer. It's been a busy month. April, who knew!?

The first post is about Olivia's Girl Scout Horse Camp that I chaperoned, by myself, a couple of weekends ago. It ended up being an okay trip but I was nervous to go it alone. Especially since I am not much of a camper!

Olivia was super excited to go on this trip. Being outdoors and getting to ride a horse was exactly what she wanted to be doing.

We went with four other girls, Livi's friend Caroline being one of them. They stayed in a tent together (me too) and were pretty much inseparable the whole weekend.

The Camp is a little over an hour from our house and it's just up the road from Carter Caves (remember that post!?). So, basically we are talking out in the middle of almost nowhere.

Our first night there we got settled into our tents and headed to the tack house for a mini orientation. When we got there, the horses were in the outer stalls and it was really cool to see them. The girls, especially, were happy to see them! After getting introduced to the weekend plans, we went to the campfire site. Luckily, it was less than 50 feet from our set of tents. It very quickly got dark and the campfire songs began. Some old standards that even I recognized and some new ones to learn. I was looking forward to the s'mores and pretty soon the fire was ready for the marshmallows. The girls didn't really want s'mores, they just wanted to char the marshmallows! It was really fun and then it was time for bed . . . this is where it gets bad.

It was FREEZING!! We had sleeping bags and blankets and socks and p.j.'s and layers and it was SO COLD! I don't think I have ever had such a miserable sleeping experience. And, I could hear the cars on the road down the hill and all I kept thinking was that any axe wielding murderer could park their car and climb up the hill and hack us to bits!! But, morning came and we survived.

Saturday was jam packed with activities. Horsey education, Caving, more horsey stuff with breakfast lunch and dinner thrown in. It was a pretty fun day.



I think the girls really liked the caving the best. Initially, they were all looking forward to the horses but it turned out that they really just did a lot of watching instructors interact with the horses and didn't get to do as much as they had hoped themselves.


The caving was amazing. We went into Cascade cave at Carter Caves. And we went off the tourist trail. Scary!! At first, I was a bit freaked out and so were some of the girls. But, pretty soon we started to feel more comfortable and then we were actually enjoying ourselves! The trek was somewhat treacherous. Holes in the floor, very dark spaces, crawling on your belly, going thru streams - these were just some of the trials and tribulations of the cave voyage! It was also very beautiful in the cave. Cool experience for sure.

Getting back to the horse part of the camp - the rest of Saturday afternoon was spent learning about grooming, riding, and feeding a horse. Eventually, the girls got to hop up on a horse and ride in a large arena for about 30 minutes. While it was very cool, the girls felt a bit jipped as they were expecting to go ride on a trail.

The last evening, the girls did a skit for the rest of the campers. Livi came up with the idea and the group filled in the details. It was really cute!

Thankfully the temp improved greatly and the second night was much more comfortable for sleeping.

Sunday morning came and it was time to pack up and hit the road. Goodbye Camp Cardinal!