It’s Fourth of July weekend! Yay! Parades, fireworks at State Fair, sparklers, selling bracelets before the parade, picnic at church grounds, and ice cream cones—right? Nope, not this year! This year it was Blue Mounds State Park, bunking out in a cabin, digging for fruit in the cooler, playing baseball with a ball without a cover and a thick stick for a bat and gloves for the bases, hiking, and squishing through a mucky trail (only for a few feet), and no AC except in the van. Let me start with the car trip. We’ve discovered a fun game to play when we have our cargo carrier hooked to the back end. We see how many people do “double takes” when we pass. It’s not often that someone has this black “thing” sticking out two feet behind their vehicle… The scenery? We crossed some gorgeous, glittering lakes and rivers; met some bovine and equine, too; and passed Fitchburg and Cave of the Mounds signs (those are the particular ones I remember).
There were several people that my family—hey, I should probably introduce you: Dad, Mom, me, brother Stevo, brother Jo, and sister Sceeter. I’m Saz, the oldest girl, and I’m 17 years old. As I was saying, we got used to seeing several people during our weekend camping excursion. First, there’s the lady clerk at the “dinky little grocery store” as my mom calls it. We got used to seeing her by the time we made our third trip for ice. Next, there was a jogger lady who came once, twice, thrice, etc. around the track of road during our exciting game of improvisational baseball that I mentioned earlier. On that note, let me mention Mr. Park Ranger. He willingly used a PVC pipe to get our soccer ball out of the drain under our parking space. Speaking of whom, there was also a park ranger at the teeny church we visited on Sunday morning who was a friend of Mr. Park Ranger. “It’s a small world after all!” Lastly, we came into contact with many bikers and runners.
Now, I learned some important lessons I’d like to share. Since my family was residing in a minute cabin, I learned to enjoy the closeness instead of shying away from it. Why not just appreciate the pranks, noise, body heat (it is Fourth of July here), and somewhat cramped quarters? The following is my reasoning: What if I suddenly lost my family? These previous conditions would be the best thing I could think of experiencing. One other thing I was thankful to encounter was the fireworks. Yes, we actually got to view six selections at once from the lookout tower. But, all of them were far enough away from us that we could only hear two selections. My brother Stevo, 15 years old, decided to check out the view from the other lookout tower about a football field away. Wishing to join him, I began to descend the stairs when my mom called me back. I was about to fume when I thought, “It’s not worth fussing about.” Well, the five of us (Stevo wasn’t there) oohed and aahed for a while; then, it started raining. During our descent, we ran into Stevo. He grumbled, “The view wasn’t half as good as this one.” I’m discovering that God gave me my mother for good reasons.
There are so many funny, worthwhile, lovable memories from Blue Mounds. My last memory is of driving out the tortuous, gravelly road and reading “Blue Mounds, WI, Population: 752.”
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