School was almost out and the stresses of final exams were lurking on my mind. If that wasn’t enough I had an essay due in one week and I couldn’t think of anything to write about “something I learned recently”. Then my mom told me our family was going camping on the lake for Memorial weekend. My compassion to keep my grades urged me to take the assignment to do while we were camping until my younger brother said to me, “Sis, why would you take homework to go camping?!” That’s when I realized he was right; I needed to relax and enjoy this experience.
When we arrived at our campsite, my brother and I jumped out of my dad’s truck along with our two dogs and headed straight for the water. As soon as our cousins arrived, we set up our tents and after we finished eating lunch us kids went for a bike ride to see what we could find. Then, as if we had never seen a cliff before, we all laid down our bikes and walked right to its edge and one by one we all jumped in. That’s when my dare-devil cousin decides he wants to ride his bike off the cliff. While they figured out how they were going to pull this off I rode back to the campsite to get a camera. I got back just in time to find him on the bike ready to jump. He was a little scared but that wasn’t going to stop him. After that, we all took our turns jumping off and we had a fantastic time.
Later on that evening, when everybody was sitting around the campsite waiting on dinner to be ready, I packed a pen and a notepad into a small backpack and took a ride on my bike to that same cliff to watch the sun set. I sat on the very edge of the cliff realizing that was the first time I had truly been peaceful and relaxed in a while. The dim yet illuminating light from the sun turned the clouds above me bright yellow with a bit of pink in the back. The water in front of me turned a silky dark blue with golden sequins scattered all about moving and shimmering as the water rippled. And finally there was the sun that made the sky light up bright yellow into an orangey pink then it filtered into a dull baby blue. The sight was absolutely beautiful. Then I felt a rain drop and before I knew it, it began to rain. The rain then spread across the lake seeming like little golden sprinkles were falling down from the sky. And with moment’s notice, the rain stopped. I quickly took out my pen and paper and began to write about everything I saw. That was the first poem I ever wrote and, I have written numerous poems since then.
The next few days were filled with the same excitement as in the first day. And every evening I would go down to that cliff and watch the sunset. Spending time with my family was truly amazing and we had a blast. I learned how to ski and I also learned I have a great poet’s hand. But, the main thing I learned over the trip is, some of nature’s most beautiful features can be experienced right in your backyard. After camping, I got home, unpacked, looked at the homework assignment on my desk, and I smiled because I knew exactly what I was going to write about.
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