On the way up we stopped at a frozen lake. Josh wanted to explore it, but we weren't sure if it was safe. But Tyler and Isaac threw some rocks on the ice to test its thickness, and the rocks just bounced. So we knew it was safe.
For the next hour or so we played around on the ice, throwing balls and even trying to break small parts of the ice. Towards the end of our stay on the frozen lake, I decided to go up the hill (in case you don't know, the road we were driving on was above the lake, but we went down a hill to get to the lake) just so I could sit on a rock and relax for a bit. But then Solomon threw a snowball at me just for fun. It missed, and within a minute everyone was throwing snowballs at me. I had to duck to avoid a few of them, but none of them hit me. And all I was doing was just sitting there, taunting them.
After a while we got back on the road and drove the rest of the way to our campsite. Once we got there, we set up our tents and then played in the snow for a bit. We were supposed to go down to the Hot Springs pool to pass off some Swimming Merit Badge requirements for the younger scouts. But when we drove there, we got a nasty surprise.
See, there was actually a quarter-mile road from the campsite to the pool, and that was blocked off by a gate when the pool was closed. The gate was closed when we tried to drive there, with a note taped to it. The note said the pool was closed for the day because of "unforeseen illness." But we decided to walk there anyway just to check it out. When we got there, we peeked over the fence and saw that the hot tub was mostly drained out. So here's what must have happened.
I think that some kid who must've felt sick probably barfed in the hot tub, so the crew would have to drain it out to clean out all the barf. I guess they figured the hot tub was basically the whole reason people would want to come, and seeing the hot tub practically empty would've killed the mood. As far as I know, the big pool was full of water, but it wouldn't really have been the same as the hot tub.
After the pool thing we just went back to the campsite to get dinner going. Brother vonSavoye was in charge of dinner, and he was going to make Dutch oven meals. With Dutch ovens, cooking food takes a while, so we just had to wait. Fortunately I'd brought up some books to read, so I was able to keep myself occupied. At one point, Isaac was playing a joke on me by repeating what I was saying. Like this:
me:Hey there, Isaac!
Isaac:Hey there, Isaac!
me:Wha?
Isaac:Wha?
me:Stop copying me!
Isaac:Stop copying me!
[this is where it backfires]
me:I'm an idiot!
Isaac:You're an idiot!
After dinner we had a campfire ceremony, then went to bed. I was just glad to crawl into my really cozy sleeping bag. It felt a little cold at first, but I had brought an extra blanket with me to keep warm. And in the morning when I woke up, the sleeping bag felt so warm and cozy it took some willpower from me to get out of it!
Me, Michael, and Kyle were in charge of breakfast, so it wasn't long before we got to work. We made pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage. Everyone loved it.
After breakfast we packed up our stuff and went to see if the pool was open this time. It was. But do you want to know what the best part was? Since we'd tried to get get in the day before, the people let us in for free!
Once we were in there, we changed into our swimsuits and went out there. The people who needed to get Swimming Merit Badge requirements done went into the big pool, while the rest of us went into the hot tub! Boy did it feel so good after a day in the cold snow. Solomon liked it so much, he said,"Tell me again why we're leaving so early?" And who could blame him? I spent the next hour or so relaxing in the hot tub.
After a while we got into our cars and drove home. About halfway down the mountain we stopped for lunch. See, Eliza's birthday was just a few days before, and she'd had a big lunch party. My dad had brought leftovers from her party to our camp out to eat for lunch. The leftovers were some cheese and turkey sandwiches. And we brought some chips, too.
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