"Wait, are there lions in Colorado?" On the way to Wilderness

Friday during rest hour I said good-bye to the CILTs, gave finals hugs to the Choctaw gal pals and jumped in my car. I was leaving Session 1 early, but so excited about what was next. I drove South to Indy and made it to the North Central parking lot just in time. WE'RE GOING TO WILDERNESS!

After years of wanting to go on YL's Wilderness trip-- it's finally happening. I've gone to camp with some of these girls for the past four summers and now we get to have this great last adventure. We're driving all the way to Colorado over the next day and a half. 

Saturday morning we woke up on the bus after a long night of sleep scrunched in seats or laying on the ground across the aisles. We're living the dream. I got Starbucks on our breakfast stop which made me very happy after 3 weeks of camp coffee.

We finally made it into Colorado mid-morning. Colorado Springs was our pit stop for lunch and then we were on the road again....

HSE has one all girl trip (with me) and one mixed gender trip (with JD). Boys are obviously all with JD but the 15 girls weren't sure who they would be with yet. I gave each of them a tiny piece of paper and then they all unfolded them at the same time to discover their trip.

After a whole day on a bus you find some fun places to hang out.

We're so ready for the great adventure to begin-- we just have to spend 26 hours on the bus first.

Rachel MADE ME THIS BAG OUT OF BANDANAS! Impressive. 

We were a little surprised by Colorado at first-- there were all these cool things like this along the way. 

We made it to the great Ute Bluff Lodge just an hour away from Wilderness. Plenty of RVs were already there. 

We found the path to climb up on the bluff behind the lodges. It's so beautiful here and we're not even really doing it yet.

I'm fairly obsessed with this wall. And these people.

This is a dream that we've been waiting for for years. I'm so excited that it's finally happening.

All 103 friends from Indy gathered in the rec room for dinner tonight. We piled our plates high with spaghetti and salad.

We're lucky to spend a night at elevation so we can eat, drink tons of water and sleep.

TOMORROW IT'S HAPPENING! Let's go! I'm so excited to have this adventure with my girls.