Madalyn Lyons
Age: 12
School: Westside Jr. High

Last summer my family bought a travel trailer. For months my parents dragged my little brother and I to every R.V lot across Louisiana in search for the “perfect travel trailer” as my mom called it. All I could say was “I think ya’ll are crazy”! My parents would just calmly say, “just wait ya’ll are going to love to camp.” Finally, sometime last May they found it! My parents were so happy when they brought the camper home. My dad picked a special spot in the backyard to put the camper and my Mom did what she does best, and went shopping to stock the camper. Mom has the camper stocked as well as our house or maybe even better.

My parents officially turned into camping maniacs. I never thought the highlight of our weekend would be to take a ride to camping world. Soon after, the camper was perfectly stocked and my dad had finished reading the owner’s manual about three times. We were FINALLY ready to see what was so great about camping. The adventure was finally going to begin!

One Friday afternoon we headed to Tickfaw State Park. When we arrived at the park that evening and set up camp, we roasted hot dogs and made smores; that was kinda fun. It was getting late so we went inside and settled in for the night. The T.V reception was terrible and that left us with nothing else to do besides TALK to each other. At that point I just decided to go to sleep. The next morning we awoke to the smell of my Mom cooking a HUGE breakfast; eggs, bacon, grits and biscuits! This is something she never does, we are lucky to get a bowl of cereal most of the time. As I sat outside under the canopy and enjoyed my breakfast, I couldn’t help but to think to myself, “This camping stuff may not be so bad after all”.

After breakfast, we pulled out the fishing poles and tackle boxes and headed for the lake. I was excited because I had never been fishing before. My Dad set up our poles and showed us how to cast. As I sat on the banks waiting to get a bite from a fish, my mom whispered, “listen” I told her I didn’t hear anything and she said, “listen again because you can hear all the beautiful sounds of nature”. At that point there was nothing else to do, the fish weren’t biting and I was bored stiff, so I figured I didn’t have anything to loose. I started to realize my mom was actually right about something, I begin to open my eyes and ears in a way that I have not done before. Birds were singing all around me, I was amazed how beautiful the trees swaying in the light breeze sounds, I could even hear the bees and butterflies flying around me and I didn’t even run away screaming. Before we called it a day, my dad reeled in a bass and I caught my first fish, it was very exciting even though it was just a little brim.

By the time we reached the camper that afternoon I was just as excited about camping as my mom and dad. It’s hard to explain but I had never felt so close to my family and to nature before in my life. We have been on many camping trips since then and they all have been special in their own way. But, nothing compares to that first trip we took to Tickfaw State Park. Sometimes on the weekend, when we are all sitting around at home watching T.V, I look over at my parents and ask “Can we take a ride to camping world”!