"Mmm! Smell that fresh air!" My great-grandmother said as she stepped out of her car. "I love camping." She smiled as my gramps began to unpack their car. As part of my gram's bucket list, she wanted the entire family to go camping at Yosemite. My grandparents and cousins showed up, along with my gram's kids and their families.
"Colton, Caitlyn, pitch a tent." My dad said, tossing a bag towards us.
"What the hell?" Caitlyn questioned.
"Dad, I don't know if you're aware, but we have never been camping."
"Yeah, we don't know how to pitch a tent." Caitlyn said.
"Well, you're going to learn today. It'll be good for you." He said and walked off.
"I knew this was going to be a bad trip." I groaned.
"Oh come on, it can't be that hard!" Caitlyn exclaimed as she started pulling the tent out of the bag. I rolled my eyes and started to help her. After an hour of wrestling with the fabric and poles, we successfully pitched the tent.
"Wow, you guys actually did it." My dad said, walking up to us.
"I'm offended." I smirked, placing my hand over my heart.
"Oh shut up. I'm really proud of you guys, I knew you could do it if you actually tried. Now, go set up your beds and then go help the others." He said. We grabbed our stuff from the car and went into the tent, laying out our sleeping bags.
Once everyone's tent was set up, we set out on a hike. It was a short one due to my gram's fatigue from her treatments, but it was enough to get a taste of the outdoors. We went back and a few of us created a fire. We cooked dinner and all sat around the campfire, cooking s'mores and telling stories.
We eventually put out the fire and settled into our sleeping bags, falling asleep to the sound of nature.
The next morning, we woke up and got dressed in our swimming suits. We all headed down to the lake and went swimming. I splashed around with my sister and cousins and we all had a lot of fun.
We returned back to the campsite to dry off and get dressed. We then set off to go horseback riding. The park rented out some horses to us and sent us with a guide to lead us down the trail. I have never ridden a horse in my life, so I was a little anxious about the trip but it went pretty well.
The guide gave us basic tips on how to control the horse and how to mount it. I walked up to my horse and stroked it's long snout. He was a dark grey horse with a black mane and tail.
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"Hello Thunder." I said softly, using his name to hopefully get a nicer reaction out of him. I moved my hand backwards and started stroking his mane.
"Good horse." I whispered, walking further back. I reached up and grabbed the horn of the saddle, placing my left foot in the stirrup. I pulled myself up and swung my right leg over, settling my foot in the other stirrup.
"Good job Colton!" My dad cheered and I rolled my eyes with a smile.
"Alright Thunder." I said and used the reins to command him to move forward toward the others that were ready to go. Once everyone was on their horse and knew how to control the animal, we headed off on the trail. It was really fun and Yosemite is so pretty. I know it was a better way for my gram to see the park because it didn't tire her out.
We returned back to where we got the horses and went back to to go kayaking. We had a choice between doubles or singles and I chose a single. Most people chose singles, but my gram and gramps, my Grandpa Brandon and Grandma Alex and my Great-Grandpa Jake and Great-Grandma Ella got doubles along with a few of my cousins.
We got in our boats and began to paddle down the river, the people that chose the doubles quickly figuring out why it was a bad idea. They had trouble synchronizing their movements and as a result, were going really slow. All I wanted to do was go fast because I quickly got the hang of it but we had to wait for the others to catch up.
Near the end, most of us had gotten the hang of it and were able to go a bit faster. We were paddling down the lake when I heard a splash and heard screaming. I turned around and saw two heads pop out of the water.
"BRANDON SEAN BIERSACK!" My Grandma Alex screamed at him as they bobbed in the water. My grandpa just chuckled as he flipped the boat back over and climbed in. He pulled his wife up, which just resulted in their boat flipping again. My mom went over to them and attempted to help. My Uncle Eddie and Uncle Eli eventually got out of their boats and helped their parents back into their boat.
"You're sleeping with the spiders tonight."My grandma grumbled at my grandpa as my uncles got back in their boats. We finished our kayak trip and the four that got wet had to go change clothes and get dry.
My gram announced that she needed a nap so my dad and uncles took some of my cousins, my sister and I to go rock climbing while the others stayed behind to get some rest.
It was a three sided wall so my dad, my sister and I stepped up first to race each other. We got harnesses and helmets before being strapped to the wall.
"GO!" My Uncle Eddie yelled and we climbed up the walls. My dad shot above us, discouraging me a bit, but I kept going.
"FUCK!"I looked over and saw my dad slowly propelling to the ground. He grabbed the wall again and began climbing. I took that as my opportunity to get a lead, my sister and I neck and neck for a while until she slipped.
"SUCK IT!" I screamed as I hit the buzzer. We all propelled down and let three others take a turn. We all got a chance to race each other, spending about two hours there before heading back to the campsite. I saw that everyone was awake and making lunch. We ate and then headed to the zip line course. We all got harnesses and helmets and had a guide take us through the course. Halfway through, my grams had to stop, complaining of fatigue and nausea. An employee took her to join my Aunt Liz and my cousins who were too young to join us. We continued on the course, the things we had to do to get through getting a little more complicated and daring, but it was really fun.
We finished and rejoined the rest of our family.
"You sure you're okay?" My gramps asked as he hugged his wife.
"I'm fine, we've just done a lot today." She said. We headed back to the campsite and my grandpa took the older kids to go fish for our dinner. He wanted to take the younger kids, but it was decided they wouldn't have enough patience. My uncles came, along with my dad. We sat for about two hours and luckily caught enough fish for everyone to have a good dinner.
We came back and prepared the fish, cooking them on the fire. We all ate dinner and had s'mores one more time, singing and telling stories around the fire. After we were done, we all went back to our tents and went to sleep.
In the morning, we had breakfast before packing up and loading up the cars.
"Guys, I just want to thank you all so much for helping me complete another item off of my bucket list. It means so much to me and I had so much fun this weekend." My grams said.
"Of course, we love you. You know you're a mother, grandmother and great grandmother to us all and we'd do anything for you." My grandpa smiled, my grams starting to cry. We all had a group hug before loading into our cars.
Since it was a six hour drive, we stopped for food about three hours into the trip before saying goodbye to each other and going back to our houses.
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