Friday, July 16, 2010

California Adventures in July

Not a very exciting title for a post that deserves much better, but I have so much blogging to do to catch up before my sister's wedding next week that I better start. Like, yesterday!

So I know some of my friends dont like it when I look on the rideshare section of craigslist for people who need rides to the places I'm going..but I ended up taking this really cool guy named Kelvin who is from the artic and on a journey across many different places. He took a bus for 20+ hours from Mexico into Phoenix and I picked him up on my way to Sacramento. I also picked up dog shampoo to deliver to a lady which I end up doing every 6 months or so. It works out really well and was also a craigslist deal. The other people and items I was going to take ended up not working out but it was nice to share the drive with Kelvin and get a little sleep on the way as well.

He had a huge camera that he was using to document his travels which he hopes to turn into a mini-series to air on tv. Pretty neat! Along the way of the drive he asked me different kinds of questions and interviewed me. I felt like an up and rising celebrity! Hopefully some of the footage he took of me winds up in his final draft and I could be on tv someday. Yeah! I dropped him off at a hostel in downtown Sacramento about 530am and from there he headed to Portland a few days later then up to Canada and I'm not sure where else next. You can follow his adventures here

I got to Walmart (which they are totally redoing!) in Woodland about 6am. Grabbed a few things and headed to Linda's where I was staying. Three hours later my friend Keisha came and picked me up to go up to...can you tell from the picture above?? GIRLS CAMP! My beloved Camp Ritchie where I have gone for YW Camp since I was 12! Ooh yeah..and not only was I going up for the day but until SATURDAY! Needless to say, I was pretty freekin excited. I was already devistated not to be able to go to the whole camp this year but the fact I got to go for even a few days made me all giddy.

Getting into camp almost at lunch time, a few of my friends up there who are staff came up to me (I haven't seen them since December probably) and were so excited to see me and my ring and hear about me getting engaged. I felt embarrassed being the center of attention but I had somewhat prepared myself that this might happen. Linda so nicely saved me a bed up by hers in the lodge with a real mattress so I didnt have to sleep in a cabin or in the tent (Sorry rappelling staff) I had my air mattress though just in case. Sis Pratt asked me to be on rappelling staff - I was HOPING she would! - my absolute favorite position to serve in up at girls camp. YeAH!!
Cool contraption made for the "butt bag" which I thought was pretty genius. Genius enough to take a picture of anyways.
The bag that holds the caribbeaner and gloves gets pulled up into the silver thing (cut off top of a soda bottle) and that protects it as it gets dragged up to the top of the rock.
On the Indiana Jones Bridge  - one of the ways you can come back up after rappelling to the bottom of the 150' rock.
Spying on Linda and Sheila as they ate brownies and ice cream at the dance on Thursday evening. Hehe

The girls dancing..it got going pretty well soon after this pic was taken. I might have a movie I could post...
Tator Tots in the cook's "guessing jar" . Haha!

I love seeing this every time I come to camp. It got put in a few years ago now but it reminds me of standing for truth and righteousness and the YW Values which are (in case you dont know them): faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice & accountability, good works, integrity and virtue



I got to work from the top of the rock on Friday and after a quick refresher , I was good to go! Here I am pulling one of the lines up from the bottom of the rock after belaying someone down.

I heart being on rappelling staff at Camp Ritchie. I want to do it til I die! hehe

The view is always so spectacular!

The water was SO cold in the lake this year that not many people went down to the dock to swim. The water was so high this year that the beach was underwater and so there was no annual beach party. Which was probably okay because its a long walk down there and sometimes people drag their feet about going. But once you get down there is is nice and cool!  

More pictures and possibly a video or two to come in my next post! An extra bonus though, click here to go to the video I posted on youtube of the priesthood guys up at camp participating in a new song that someone taught everyone. Its pretty hilarious!

2 comments:

Mel said...

Wow! That is so cool about repelling. I'm a bit jealous! :D I get to go to Girls Camp myself this year and way excited about it.
How long are you in CA for?

Ashley Gilbert said...

Oh hey! I didn't know you were in Cali...yeah I never went to Camp Ritchie for Girls Camp but wish we would have because it is sooo much cooler than ours was!