Return from the Woods

I had such a great time camping in the redwoods! The first night we were there was Halloween so the team leaders had a surprise for us. They spread out throughout the forest and we went up to them with our teams and had to do "tricks" to get candy. Here's a picture of my team spelling out our team leader's name "Tonye".














The food was so good at the camp and it was so nice not having to cook for a change. It was just like summer camp, we did team building games all day on Sunday, including a ropes course and zip line. There was a large wooden board that tilted to the side when you stepped on it. Our goal was to have all of our team members stand on the board and balance it and then have one of us cross the board without letting it touch the ground in under 15 minutes. It was intense. I was chosen to the slide across the board to the other side on my stomach and we did it in 8 minutes. I was very proud of my team. This was the first time we really worked well together and everyone was really focused on the task and voiced an opinion. For PT (physical training) we ran through the forest at 530am. It was actually really enjoyable blindly following people through the forest because it was too dark to see where we were going.













The second day we spent working on our service project. My team painted an old cabin. I never realized how much fun painting can be. I did get some white primer in my hair, which will probably never come out. At least it's on the tips so I can cut it out. We went on a hike through the woods and found a huge redwood tree. Here's a picture of my team in front of it so you can see how large it is. On a side note, if it looks like I'm wearing the same thing in all of these pictures, it's because I am. You probably won't see a picture of me wearing normal clothing for the next 10 months.
















The last night camping a few friends and I decided to sleep outside. We set up our sleeping bags around the remains of the campfire and it was probably the best sleep I've gotten in the longest time. I had forgotten how much fun sleeping outside can be! We missed merging onto a different freeway on our drive back and ended up driving 1.5 hours out of the way, but we did get to tour wine country which was awesome!

I slept until 1030 today which is the highlight of the day when you're used to waking up at 530 am. We leave for our first project in about 10 days and rumor has it we'll be finding out where we're going tonight! I'm really excited!