7th Grade Colorado Trip, By Maya

Most people would die to do the things I got to do on the 7th grade Colorado Trip, from which I just got back on Friday. I was actually one of the few kids that had been camping more than once before. The first day we arrived at a camp site at the Great Sand Dunes after a 5 hour bus ride. We had stopped for lunch, but I had spent most of the time climbing to the top of a small mountain there by myself- the view was gorgeous and it was so quiet and peaceful up there. We set up our 6- person tents at the site, unpacked all our stuff, and rolled out our sleeping bags and mats. Then, we went straight to the dunes! We had free time to do whatever we pleased, so I went with my 4 closest friends to a huge sand cliff. Basically, you could jump or do a somersault or a swan dive or anything, and then crash in the sand. All the scratchy sand that got in our eyes, mouths, and hair was definitely worth it. After arriving again at the camp site, we had dinner- burritos- on our own required camping mess kits. After dinner we played several group games and then started a campfire when it got dark. We drank hot chocolate from our own mugs and had s'mores. What is camping without s'mores? It was hard to tell what time we went to bed, but all I know is that I slept like a rock. We got up early in the morning, had a buffet breakfast of bagels,cereal,and oatmeal. We packed up everything and had one more stretch of free time at the dunes, and played some more games. Then we went to the alligator farm! It was a lot of fun and there were lots of wacky animals there, like alligators(duh), ostritches, and snakes. I got to hold the baby 'gator(its mouth was taped closed, of course)! Afterwards, we drove to an old style lodge that we were going to stay at. Unfortunately, it was completely vandalised- the windows were smashed, the beds were chopped up, and there was glass all over the place. We had to wait while the chaperones made new arrangements and called the police. Then we headed to the next campsite. We pitched our tents again and then went out to dinner because there was no running water at the site, so we couldn't cook the spaqhetti. We went to a delicious place kalled K's diner. I had a burger, onion rings, and a chocolate shake-YUM!!!! The next morning we ate breakfast and headed up to the Arkansas river to go rafting! My guide was named Joe. We went on many rapids- some of them were: Raft Ripper, Widow Maker, The Staircase, Zoom Flume, and Pinball. We had to wear wetsuits, neoprene boots, "splash jackets", helmets, and life jackets, but i was stil freezing when I fell into the water! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Luckily, we got to go into the hot springs and take a needed shower afterwards.We had another good sleep that night and then sadly packed up everything to drive back down to Denver. There was one more adventure, however. We stopped on the way down at a place called Edgar Mine. It is an experimental mine, and we got to go in it(with hard hats and head lights, of course). It was a bit spooky, but it was really cool because we got to see all the different mining tools, old and new, and learn about the process or mining and the affects it had on the miners. We were all ready to go home, but sad to leave as well!