"Alone, with no more than a fading memory, I must somehow recapture all the things I had once known as a part of myself."

-The Mists of Avalon

These last four days were exactly what I needed. The timing couldn't have been any better.

I got off of work on Wednesday evening, and Rebecca-noodle-nose picked me up and we came back to my place so I could get all of my camping stuff together. Then we went and had dinner and went to a craft store so I could get some art supplies.

After that, we went to the Pookie-Palace and watched Singles, which was a fun movie to watch, and then my brother came home and we watched Showgirls, because it was on VHI. That was highly entertaining. Or something.

Thursday morning, we set out for Silver Falls, making a few stops along the way. We arrived at the campsite and were greeted by Moonwriter (aka my mommy-face) and decided that we would pitch our tents in her site. We had some food, chatted with lots of new people that felt like old friends, and had a very nice evening camp fire.

The next morning, I woke up and drank my morning coffee and ate some oatmeal. There was a hike scheduled and I most definitely wanted to go, so I walked down to the meeting place and we (around 12 of us) headed down to the Canyon Trail trailhead.
We had a bit of a delay getting started, because once we got to the parking lot there was a wee bit of confusion as to where the trailhead was.

We eventually found the trailhead, (yay for us) and we were on our way. I had done the hike when I was younger, back when my mom used to be a Boy Scout and Camp Fire leader, but it was harder than I remembered. Regardless, it was a beautiful hike. I think we saw a total of six waterfalls, and were hiking for about three hours. I stayed towards the back of the group as we were hiking. One reason for that is because it is kind of an instinct, just to make sure that nobody falls behind. Another reason is that my brother was staying at the back (for the same reason), and it was nice to spend time with him. The main reason, however, was because I had alot that I needed to think about, and it was a great oppurtunity for me to sort through my thoughts. I felt very at-peace with everything. It was great.


The hike eventually led us back to the campground. There were some optional classes going on, but I decided to just lounge around the campsite and read and draw and relax. It was nice. Then Scotty, Rebecca and I went to drive down to the showers, then we went back to the campsite and prepared our food for the potluck. Then all of us met at the day lodge and ate lots of food. I had fun, because I sat at a table with people who I hadn't been able to talk to yet I ended up having alot of fun with them. After that came the campfire where we all shared songs and poems and lots of ghost stories. Then I walked down to the restrooms with my mom and we got ready for bed, and then we each went to sleep in our tents. There was a light rain that night, and it was so great to fall asleep to the sound of the rain hitting my tent.
The next morning was the group picture, so we all had to either wear a shirt that was the color of Our Element, or a Grey School shirt. I'm a Wind, and I don't own a solid yellow shirt, so I wore a Grey School shirt. And here is what I look like "smiling" before I've finished my coffee.
And here is the group photo!
That morning, Scotty and I both took Herbology 101, which was taught by Moonwriter/Mommy. That was really fun. I attempted to make a "relaxing tea", but I don't really like tea all that much, so I was kind of just doing it for fun. Rebecca was feeling really sick, and Scotty made her a healing potion, which I thought was very cute.

After the class was over, I drove into town with Mommy to get some supplies. It was a very odd little town, VERY Stepford-ish, and we were very happy to return to our campsite.

[side note: there was a bit of a "situation" while we were there. An "Assembly of God" group was camping in the same area we were, on both sides of us, and they made it clear in MANY different ways that they thought what we believe is Wrong, and that we were people that they should be scared of. We tried to be as nice as we could, because what goes around comes around, and we didn't want to ruin all of the good energy that we had in our group. But it was definitely an "issue" at times, and a somewhat painful reminder of how Wrong some people think Paganism is. It kind of makes me sad... anyways, I just wanted to put in that side note since it was kind of a significant part of the weekend... but I'm just not in the mood to write about it right now.]

After the Herbology class, Scotty, Rebecca and I hiked down to one of the waterfalls, and Scotty and I went swimming. It felt soooo good, and was probably my favorite part of the entire weekend.
When we were done swimming, the three of us went down to the showers. The Men's restroom was closed for maintenance, so we sneaked Scotty into the Women's restroom. Great fun.
After we were all clean, we went back to the campsite and I watched Bill teach a class on Staff-making. Then Scotty, Rebecca and I made smores, then we took the Cooking Class that Mom helped teach. I ate lots and lots and lots of food. Yay.
This morning we all woke up and met down at the fire ring for one last meeting. We all spent a significant amount of time talking with one another, thanking everybody for sharing this experience. It was so nice to have these few days with people who I can talk to without worrying about how they are going to interpret what I have to say, and then energy was so positive. All the Rituals were so healing, and the whole experience really helped me to clear my head. I had a great time and I didn't want it to end.