8:30 AM. August 30th. Durham Academy Middle School.

(Ok, it’s too much effort to bold and underline the text. Wait, I just indented, too! NOOOOO-)

As we loaded our luggage for Camp Kirkwood’s two night extravaganza, I felt slightly off.

In every sense of the word, actually. I felt off physically and mentally.

Physically as in “Oof. My lungs hurt when I breathe, my legs are wobbly, my eyes are heavy, and my belly is, um, I don’t even know what sound that’s supposed to be,” and mentally as in “AAAAAAAAAA CAMP KIRKWOOD IS GOING TO BE A DISASTER! I’M SICK, AND I’M HOMESICK! I’M EVERY KIND OF SICK! I’M GONNA DIE AT CAMP!”

While I was thinking of who I should commemorate in my obituary, I looked around and saw everyone getting onto the bus. I thought, “Huh. I should get on that bus too!”

But then… the worst thing happened…

 

I had to go to the bathroom.

So, I was casually holding up the whole 6th grade by walking to the bathroom.

Skip a few minutes and now I’m on the bus. I sat down, ready to read my book, Clayton Byrd goes Underground—

WAIT.

WATER BOTTLE.

I NEED IT.

My mom told me before this trip that if I lost the water bottle, she’d kill me. Forget being sick, this is a life or death situation. So, I did the only thing I could do.

 

“Mr lovett!”

“Mr-m-Mr. lov-lovett!”

“I need- i need to find my-my water bottle!”

“Mr-mr lovett!”

“I need to find the- the water bottle! It’s-it’s navy blue!”

“got the little- the little boy scout insignia!”

“Mr. lovett!”

 

Eventually, I got back the water bottle. Skip the bus ride and I’ve finished my book. Too bad it’s raining outside. Yeah, did I forget to mention that we were going to camp in the middle of a H U R R I C A N E?

 

Hurricane Idalia. Not really that surprising. Bad things always happen before you go to camp. For example, I was about to feel an interminably long wave of sickness that would only subside the moment I went to sleep.

 

 But let’s go past that. I was worried about the rain, but I survived (shocker) and found my way to the Pavilion (the coolest building name ever), where we then pooled together to find our luggage. I nearly lost mine. Then we went to the dining hall for lunch. We had hamburgers. I don’t know what those things were made of. Certainly it wasn’t pork, which was good, cause I can’t eat pork. The burgers were actually surprisingly good. Then we did our activities.

 

First up, let me say how amazing our instructor Matt was. He was funny, and nice, and forgiving, and always called me Mark. I’m not Mark. I am Gabriel. Hi. Nice to meet you. Anywho, we did a Low Ropes course. We were all blindfolded and had to find our way out using teamwork. 

 

We did not make it to the end at all. What did you expect? 

 

Skip a few activities, and we’re at the KangaJump. One of the most fun things EVER. I’ll tell you why.

The KangaJump Chain Reaction. 

Think like a double jump from a trampoline except it’s a septuple jump and you can accidentally jump higher than the lifeguard in his high chair. I almost broke my neck. It was crazy.

 

Skip a few things, and we’re at a pool party! WHAT!? Crazy stuff happened there. I almost drowned. 

… 

Then I got really sick around one of the classes. Like, REALLY sick. So I had to sit out most of the classes AND dinner for s l e e p. I loved it. I woke up just in time to watch The Lorax with everybody else in the dining room. It was GREAT! As in, great because it was fun to find all the errors and bad writing choices in the movie with my friends, but that’s besides the point. 

 

Second day comes, and I’m pumped up, because I feel slightly better than last time. I wake up, put my new Kirkwood clothes on, and go to the dining hall for some cereal. What I don’t get about this place is how they didn’t even have Reese’s Puffs CEREAL! WHAT!?? HPAUSHFOFUHOUFHASOUFH, you know? 

 

I did a few more activities, all of which I can’t remember, and then got sick again. Then I got better. Then we ate lunch.(Hotdogs) CRAZY GOOD STUFF. Camp food is always delicious. Then I drank some apple juice. 

 

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE APPLE JUICE.

 

This heavenly drink is normally good in your house, but at CAMP!? It’s the perfect amount of sweet, sugary apple and tasteless but refreshing water. I don’t know how they did it, but they did and—

 

Oh.

 

It’s store-bought.

…

I also went on this HUGE looking campfire walk through the whole camp. That was interesting. It looked almost TRIBAL.

 

Then the second day passes by and I miss home. BUT NEVER TO FEAR BECAUSE THE TRIP IS NEARLY OVER! I went canoeing with some friends and I almost drowned. Then I went on a really high zipline and somehow didn’t scream, sing, or WHOOP on the way down. Then I went onto the V-Swing, my biggest regret of this trip. I was too scared. The V-Swing works like this:

You got a person strapped to a harness connected to a string tied to 2 trees very high up, which is also connected to a pink pulley system. A BUNCH OF PEOPLE PULL THE ROPE ATTACHED TO THE PULLEY SYSTEM, bringing you super high up. Then you disconnect a part of the harness, which causes you to SWING through the air. I only went halfway. IT WAS A TRAGEDY!

 

Anyways, then we ate lunch and went back home. It was a fun trip. All in all, I’d give it a 6/10, because I got incredibly SICK.