Why do I even bother with plans?

Seriously, nothing ever works out as planned. EVER. Yesterday I had planned to blog in the evening after spending the day with a friend. My body had other ideas and I ended up crawling in bed after a hefty dose of Advil. Ah well... So much has been happening in the life of me. Let's see... First things first. I got a new camera!!!! My regular readers know how badly I've wanted a new camera. With all the fun trips I have planned for the summer, I decided I could no longer wait. I picked up a few extra shifts at work and headed to the store with a pocket full of cash. I ended up getting a more advanced model of the camera I wanted for the same price! Can you imagine how happy I was?! I imagine it is like taking a newborn home for the first time. Okay, maybe not that exciting but damn close. 8.1 megapixels and tiny enough to take everywhere! Isn't she cute?! Well, everything else pretty much pales in comparison. It doesn't get much better than a new camera. Graduation party, crab feast, birthday bash,work drama, new clothes & sandals, Trek swimming, my first pedicure, Trek & Princess Lulu's first sleepover.... See, it all just pales in comparison. Only two events come close to a newborn baby or a new camera: backpacking and Special Olympics. My most recent backpacking trip was in the Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia. It was the trip that almost wasn't, as people confirmed and cancelled one after the other. It ended up being a small all female group - very cool. Meet Team 219: comprised of Heather, Meighan, and myself. Our team was named after one of the most confusing roads in America. While traveling down 219, you will turn right then left then right then left then right and then left again. Hopefully you get the point - absolutely ridiculous. It got to a point where we thought we'd never get there. Then while traveling behind one of the many trucks during the trip, we saw it: The sign for Monongahela National Forest! After entering the forest, we quickly made our way to the trail head. We had very little daylight in which to hike in and set up camp. After only a 20 minute hike, we found a great campsite. First, we set up the tent. Well, Heather did anyway. Meighan and I just followed directions. It was a confusing ass rental tent. After spending WAY too much money renting it and WAY too much time setting it up, I bought a tent as soon as we got back. This trip helped me rationalize spending another $200 on camping gear. (I needed to buy a tent. Now I have everything. Insert evil laugh here.) Ahem. Moving on... Next we hung the bear rope, with Meighan nearly knocking herself out in the process. The next task was to collect firewood. We gathered what little dry firewood there was. Despite our best efforts, a camp fire was not happening that night. I started preparing dinner: pizza bagels! After the first bagel was finished it began to rain. By the time dinner was comple, it was pouring. We were hungry and sat cooking and eating in the pouring rain. Classic case of our good luck. It was worth it though; those bagels were damn good. We secured our food for the night and changed out of our now soaked clothes. After crawling into the tent, we realized our "3-man" tent had us in for a very cozy night. The thunder was rolling over a relentless rain. Fortunately, Meighan and I make quite the dynamic. Our antics had us laughing all night. It was that night we came up with our team motto: "All holes, no poles!" It was my first backpacking trip without any males. It was nice. We were all really proud of what we had accomplished as a team of women. And just as important, we were having fun despite the weather. We woke up quite early to a chilly overcast sky. Bummer. It looked like the overpaid weather man was wrong again. We decided to stick around camp to see if the weather would improve. After putting on a couple extra layers of clothes, we made blueberry pancakes and a community bottle of super hot, extra chocolatety, hot cocoa. After breakfast, we decided not to move camp and to just do some day hiking. We followed a trail along the water. It was beautiful. As we hiked, blue skies alternated with dark storm clouds. It came to a point where there were no more blue skies and the temperature was dropping. We decided a cold night with no way to make a campfire wasn't our idea of fun. We ate lunch hoping the weather would improve. It didn't. It was time to stop pushing our luck, so we packed up camp and headed to the car. Thank goodness we did because it stormed just minutes into our drive. Although we were bummed our trip was cut short, we had an awesome time. Our next trip is set for July. Go team 219! I don't have much to say about Special Olympics other than it is my most rewarding experience of the year. I help plan the summer games all winter then head track staging for the Summer Games. Unfortunately, my committee position doesn't allow me to see much of the competition. I did manage to get away for a few minutes here and there. It is hard to articulate the experience. So, I'll finish with these images: Everyone has a chance to make a difference in the life of someone else. Every year, Special Olympics gives me that chance. Thank you to all the athletes, parents, and coaches who have made such an impact on my life. Eight years and counting!