My Wonderful Experience

My Wonderful Experience

By Serena Mehta

On the Great Florida Adventure trip, there were so many exciting things to do at Tree Trek, Boggy Creek Airboat Rides, Zip the Canyons, and Circle F Dude Ranch. I made so many great memories of them all but my favorite place was Circle F Dude Ranch. The first thing I noticed at Circle F Dude ranch was that it is a sleepaway camp. We went into the cabins and I got to get a feel for what sleep away camp is like. After we looked around for a little bit and went to the Alpine Tower where I also saw a giant swing. I chose to climb up on the Alpine tower because I thought the swing wouldn’t be fun. However, a good friend of mine did it and it looked scary to me. Basically, you get strapped on a harness that keeps you from falling about 20 feet up in the air and attached to a long wire and rope. Then, people on the ground pull you up and release you. I thought it was crazy, so I climbed the tower instead. It was a little hard but I made it to the top. They encouraged us to keep pushing ourselves and everyone who tried made it to the top. The view up top was amazing because you could see everything in the area.

The next thing I did was go to the lake where there were canoes and kayaks. There was also a smaller tower that you could jump off of into the lake. There was even a closed-off section where we could swim. I learned how to kayak for the first time thanks to one of my friends. I jumped off the tower which was tough but I did it. I was trying to launch two boys but they didn’t go far. I was in shock when I was launched, it was so fun which made me want to keep doing it over and over again.

The last and final thing we did before leaving the ranch was horseback riding! I love horses, and I was super excited. I asked if I could have Frenchie or Flicka because I heard they were both great horses. I got Frenchie and my friend rode on Flicka. We went into a little fenced area and practiced walking and stopping. My horse just did it on her own, so we were ready. We took a 30-minute ride on the horse and returned to the barn to place the horses back into their stalls. I am not an outdoorsy person, but I felt comfortable at Circle F Dude Ranch. It was an exciting new adventure for me, and I would love to go to a sleepaway camp. Overall, all the activities were a blast, and I hope to return in the near future.