"Here's my proposition to you. For your birthday in August we pack my little green car FULL of camping gear, crank the tunes on the iPod and just keep driving north until we hit a cool campground. Hang out and get lost there for a day or two until we are made to come back to our normal lives?
I thought about a hotel room before a realized that we are both hillbillies at heart and we would probably like sleeping in a tent more.
I've decided that I need more life experience and breakaway from my home if I ever expect to get anywhere in life.
So what do ya say? You up for a few days with me most likely not showering and smelling of campfire and wilderness? Or would you rather just hit a hotel room with a pool and stinky blue cheese?*
You pick!!!!"She replied in her usual funny way that I was right and we should definitely plan such an outing.
Unfortunately she passed away on June 22nd of this year.
We never got to follow through with our plans.
I took some time to grieve.
And it was hard, as I assume saying goodbye to a best friend always is.
But then on a particularly emotional night I remembered this conversation. About going camping. And I thought she would still want me to go. She would want all of her friends to go. And so "Aly's Camping Extravaganza" was born into a Facebook event.
All of her friends were invited but only 6 of us made it to the big day.
We went to the Awenda Provincial Park. It was beautiful. My first thought? "Aly would have loved this."
We set up our tents (after an hour wait to get a spot. Whoops! Forgot to make reservations!) Notice my massive tent that could eat the other three tents for breakfast.
After we got all set up we went for a swim and took some silly pictures with our awesome Aly shirts!
We had dinner. Prepared by the lovely "K" himself!
And then we went back down to the lake for the most beautiful sunset that has ever befallen my eyes....
And of course some more silly pictures. Some of which actually turned out pretty nice....
(Note that a lot of these pictures involved balancing my new $700 camera on an unsteady rock. Ya, it took quite a bit of restraint on my part for that to happen).
And what would a camping trip be without a campfire, s'mores, a few drinks and a cute dog? Am I right?
The next morning we woke up, had pancakes, cleaned up and it was all over. 24 hours with friends is just not long enough!
Thank you so very much Awenda for providing me and my friends a place to go and remember our friend. It was truly a trip to remember.
Thank you to my friends that went on this amazing trip. This has been a very hard two months to get through but somehow we have made it together. My promise to you is that I will NEVER take our friendship for granted. I think we should make this at least a yearly thing. And also longer next time. If there is one thing that Aly has taught us all it's that life is short, you need to take interest and joy in even the most minute details such as the way a leaf crunches beneath your feet or a flower grows towards the sunshine.
And my dear Aly. I want to thank you most of all. Thank you for the beautiful weather we received. I know that little rain storm in the middle of the night was just to let us all know that you are still here. Very funny by the way, ha ha. Thank you for the beautiful sunset. It was truly magnificent and I know you had a hand in it. But most of all thank you for being you. Right up to the end. And as always.
We love you!
*We stayed in a hotel room while helping for a wedding in 2010 and the stinky blue cheese is an inside joke.
