For those whitewater rafters who did not attend the BNL on Sunday, July 12 - Heather Hernandez has made a CD with more than 300 pictures for each of you. Please come and pick them up at the BNL on Sunday, July 26 at 6:30p in the Davidson Center - we'll be watching a movie.
My trip to West Virginia was amazing! I had a lot of fun, and the trip really increased my faith in God. West Virginia is an incredibly beautiful place and the scenery blew me away. I appreciated being able to take it all in and enjoying the beauty of nature that God created. Another thing I enjoyed was the service project. It was a lot of hard work, but it was worth it. I realized that there are a lot of people who litter, and we should do whatever we can to prevent that. The service project made me feel good about myself and it also made me more aware of the environment. My favorite part about the trip was definitely the white water rafting. It was one of the most exhilarating things I have ever done in my life! After the first time I fell of the boat, I was extremely shaken. But when I got back on the raft, I started to enjoy myself and I was no longer afraid. I loved jumping off the rock as well. I am really glad I went rafting because it is something I can look back at years from now and never forget. I also loved how we carried our faith wherever we went. Even though we were not at the church, we still had mass. It showed that mass is really any place that people are gathered in the name of God. Our camp site was awesome and I really enjoyed the bonfires. They were a real bonding experience for the group. I loved singing the campfire songs. I was definitely not ready for the trip to end because I had become so close with everyone on the trip. The ride home was really fun and I loved being in a car with Karl, Chelsea, Kristi, Amanda, Alex, and Jeff. Overall, the trip was an amazing experience and I am really looking forward to going to West Virginia again next year.
~ Carol Monis
The Whitewater rafting trip to West Virginia was an awesome experience. The car ride wasn’t bad thanks to our awesome driver, Karl Schmidt, and the rest of my car mates who always kept things interesting even though it took eight hours to get to our destination. During the evening, we all sat around the camp fire and chatted and made s’mores. The next day we worked almost all day picking up trash and ripping out foreign plants at the Gauley National Park. You wouldn’t believe the amount of garbage that was on this steep hill we were on. We found soccer balls, diapers, cups, beer bottles, and anything you can possibly think of. Luckily it was cool though because we were in a thick area of trees and bushes. Then, the second part of the job was we had to use racks, saws and motor powered tools to rip out a plant that was overgrown and not native to the park. It was sweltering in the hot, boiling sun, but after all this I felt satisfied that we at least made a difference. After we were done, the ranger was nice enough to take us to a gorgeous river called the Gauley and we just relaxed there for a while. The surroundings were stunning and the water chilly and refreshing. We also hiked up the Endless Wall trail and looked down on the river we were going to raft on from 1000 feet above. When we got back to camp, we relaxed and had dinner. Then Father Mark arrived and we had mass in the camp which was casual yet awesome. The next day we had to get up extra early because today we were going to go rafting! I was scared before we went because I had heard someone say that we were definitely going to fall out. But it turned out that falling out was what made it so much fun. I got soaked and also lost a shirt along the way, too. I also learned the real meaning of “surfing”: rowing hard, straight into a hole where water from everywhere is pouring into. We also jumped off a 20 foot rock which was definitely a fear I conquered because when I first saw how high the drop was I totally freaked out because I hate heights. I couldn’t even talk well when the guy was filming me. The moment I stepped off the end, I felt my stomach rise and before I knew it I had hit the water. When I surfaced, apparently I was laughing, and I realized it wasn’t so bad, yet I can still feel what I felt when I was falling, right now. After we got back from rafting, we watched our video and then relaxed the whole rest of the day. Then, we had our last campfire and we sang songs and David Graves played his guitar. It was awesome yet that was when it finally hit me that we were going home the next day. The next morning we packed and loaded up the cars and we were back on the road again home. Though all I have from the trip is a shirt, a video, and I lots of pictures, I will remember the friends I made and all the memories created. I also want to thank the chaperons that kept us safe, everyone that came on the trip that I got to share this experience with, and of course last but not least David graves for organizing and making this trip possible. Thanks so much!! I had so much fun. :)
~ Kristi Kotrapu
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