West Virginia Expedition (BY:ANNA)

West Virginia Expedition

          On our expedition to West Virginia we did a lot of awesome, spectacular things. It was a great expedition and many of us overcame our fears and worked hard on trying to accomplish our goals. We achieved the gift of team work, and endurance. We did a great job this expedition.

          First of all, we left base Tuesday morning to set off on our 8 hour drive to WV. I can’t say I enjoyed the ride, after all, I was listening to my iPod the entire time so I kind of just zoned out. LOL. We stopped a few times to get personal buys. Everyone enjoyed that, considering the fact all of them got high off sugar. ADHD kids….. J

          After the car ride we arrived at a campground called “Indian Village Campground”. AT2 was also camping there. We camped on the field in front of their field. Down the street from our campsite was a store called Yokums Hotel and Grocery. We arrived around 11 o’clock at night so we had to go right to bed. The next morning it was ground school with Big Joe. Big Joe was quite a character. He wasn’t someone to be messing around with though. He was tough like steel. Ground School was fun considering we met some new faces. The main ones that I actually hung out with were Harris, Coley, and Alex. They’re pretty cool.

Cheesy photo?:D

          About a day or two later, all of us (including AT2) went top roping on Seneca Rocks. It was pretty cool getting to know everyone on the other team. They’re really awesome. A day later AT2 left after they summited Seneca. Can’t say I was very happy, I kind of missed them. L We also received a new student! WE LOVE YOU NIKO!!!:DDD But, also lost a very special one… we miss you Natalie…. L We summited Seneca the next day after they left. We climbed all the way to the tip of it. It was 3,600 feet, if I am correct. It wasn’t that scary, but you got some butterflies I’ll tell you that much! Not many teenagers can say they’ve done something like that. So, it was a pretty awesome privilege.  

          After that we were done with that campground, so we headed a little back-country. We stayed at a place that had a HUGE fire pit and a bunch of stone chairs around it. It turned out that Big Joe made those with a team 15 years ago! THAT’S AWESOME!!!! It was really cool. Although, while Moira was trying to carry me across the creek to get to the van, she accidentally DROPPED ME in the water. Let me tell ya, it was FREEEEEEEZINGGGGG.

          We got sick of back country and headed to a new campsite about 45 minutes away. It was a very big campsite, with a whole lot of people! We couldn’t handle that very well, so we decided to drive the van to Virginia so we would be closer to NC when we headed back. We stayed at Raccoon Branch Campground. It was really cool. A nice, comfy place to stay; if I do say so myself.

          The day we were going to head back, it snowed. Oh my god it was beautiful! Buckets and buckets of snow all over the place!!! It was cold so we rushed to get in a warm car. It worked though, we left on time!! :DD

          It was a great expedition and I hope to do it again sometime! Nothing was more amazing than climbing that high on a rock!! It was defiantly an experience that I will never forget!

2nd Expedition Pictures!

Random picture I took, I think it looks pretty sweet!

I took this at the library...<3

Took this outside of the cabin, photo props goes to Natalie!(:

This was inside of the van!!(:

We kind of hiked that huge mountain behind us<3

Horsepacking<3

THIS VIEW<3

Snowy mountains > that's what's up!

I absolutly had to use this<3

I don't even remember this<3

Doggy!(:

Poole while horsepacking<3

GOAT!!!!!

Will Calland's Second Expedition

                      

Hello fellow readers! Our second expedition involved horseback riding at Sandy Bottom Trail Rides and we also went to Star Ranch and did community service there. Our horseback riding activity consisted of a two-hour ride to the Little Pine Garnet mine and back. We each found at least two garnets. We also hiked to the summit of Sam’s Knob in Pisgah National Forest. It was beautiful at the top. On our next expedition we are going rock climbing in West Virginia. The rock we are climbing is called Seneca Rock. It is huge and it attracts many climbers every year. Here are some pictures from our expedition. I will post more soon and I hope everyone back home is having a good time. 

What SOAR is doing for me (By Anna)

I like SOAR because it has helped me overcome so many things. It has even helped me with my personality type. It has matured my self control, and my anger. Before I came to SOAR I had extremely bad anger difficulties, but it has helped me mature with those and learn how to control them. Also, it has helped me to find myself and not who others want me to be. I know who I am, and nobody can change that about me. It has also helped me overcome my emotions, and find my true inner leader that I have always had. I love my friends here. At SOAR you don't have to try and hide your problems, because everyone around you all has their own difficulties. I will always remember that. However, I do miss my phone ringing the wonderful song "Teach Me How to Dougie" everytime I get a text message. And that beautiful beeping noise everytime someone would I.M. me on facebook.... it's good to miss things, because you know that you will be twice as excited when you recieve them.
I also have matured in ways that I wouldn't have been able to at home. I am really close to becoming a performing adult and I have never been more proud! I have earned my iPod, and hopefully will soon earn more! I love it here at SOAR.

Oh what a wonderful morning.... xD (by anna.)

This morning we woke up and ate breakfast, like usual. But Peter decided to bring all of his elephants. Maggie and Erik had some fun modeling all the elephants. Here are some interesting photos.... (;

Maggie and Erik acting casual(:

All the munchkinz. <3

Second Expedition- Natalie Johnson

                For our second expedition, we did a community service project at a ranch named Star Ranch. At that place, there were horses, dogs, and cats. There, the cats were up for adoption. Instead of paying for the cats, they are for free.

 Next we went to Sandy Bottom Ranch, and went horse packing. After that, iPods came into the picture. Horse packing is sort of like hiking, but you only have a little day pack on your horse’s saddle. We only went for a day and that day was so much fun. The reason why it was so much fun was because I got to ride a horse even though my ankle was sprained. I really dislike the fact that I can’t run or do anything fun with my ankle and all, but oh well at least it is healing pretty well.

 Then we climbed a Summit in Sam’s Knob. We stayed at Sam’s Knob and the next day it snowed. Sam’s Knob is a place for people to camp at. It is a wonderful place to be, because everything is so pretty and really colorful. Sam’s Knob is somewhere in North Carolina. The climbing we did wasn’t really climbing, but it was hiking. We hiked up a summit in Sam’s Knob, and it was amazingly beautiful at the top.

 Next we camped in Pisgah National forest. Pisgah was a wonderful place to camp at. There were trees there that were so amazing to look at, and the grass there was so green, I think it was the most greenest grass I have ever seen in my life.

Last, I would like to remind all you guys that last expedition I sprained my ankle, and I was doing all of those activities with it.

Anna's Second Expedition!

We have just returned from our second expedition! I enjoyed this expedition more so than the last one. It was full of excitement, adventure, and endurance. We did everything, from hiking, backpacking, camping, and rough life living.

          First of all, we decided to plan a community service at Star Ranch. Star Ranch is an outdoor animal shelter that has rescued animals. They have horses, dogs, kittens and cats, goats, sheep, and so much more. We had an okay time scooping some poop with our rakes and shovels, and cleaning out the feeding buckets. However, after all that hard work we did came the fun stuff! We got to play with the animals, and brush some of the horses too! It was very much fun playing around at the barn.

This is the goat that kept eating Katy's belt. ^_^

          After that, we went to camp at a place called Sandy Bottom Trail Rides. I have previously been here before during my summer course here at SOAR. I almost enjoyed it as much as I did during the summer. I rode a horse named Silver, which is Mr. Troy’s granddaughter’s horse. Mr. Troy was our 75 year old horse guide, and let me tell you, he was a trip! My highlight was when he starting throwing walnuts at Peter’s horse Spring, so Spring would go faster. It was very funny. We also saw a very interesting spider, it was HUGE but beautiful.

I took this when Poole wasn't lookingg(: (obviously)

The giant spider<3

Peter and Natalie!

Katy and her horse Chiko.

          Then we went to a place called Sams Knob. Sams Knob is a beautiful place of mountains and snow! Yes, I said SNOW!!!! J It was extremely cold there. We hiked a summit and I survived in 32 degree weather! We woke up to snow! It was fabulous!!!! I loved it there, but it was way too cold. So we tried another place.

Me looking cool and almighty and stuff. ^_^

The snow view<3

Group shot(:

          Then we went to Davison River Group Campgrounds. We got a good deal on one of the single group campsites. Best of all, WE GOT TO SHOWER! It was quite awesome. The campground host had a little pumpkin bucket outside of his house. Inside the bucket were little candies. We, of course, only got one per person though. L We stayed here one night and two days. The last day, the consolers took a step back and let us break camp alone. Our Yoda of the day (The head honcho), wasn’t helping very much, so I stepped up and gladly controlled the group and had them do what they needed to. It took us 5 hours to finally finish. That day I found my inner leader that I knew I have always had.

          Then we camped at the Fish Hatchery. It was extremely fun to camp here. I was the only person sleeping in a tent because everyone else decided not to be compliant and wake up on time. It made me feel special J. We woke up in the middle of the night one night to the sound of coyotes roaring like the wind. It was crazy! They sounded super close! I finally fell back asleep though. Peter made the best popcorn when we camped there too. Plus we got Dolly’s ice cream because of how good we were! It was quite amazing. I loved it at the Fish Hatchery!

PRETTY!

          Finally, we arrived back on base and got to shower, and clean all of our clothes. My favorite activity we did when we got back to base was making HULA-HOOPS!!!! Katy has told me that she will help teach me how to hula-hoop dance. It is a beautiful and calming thing to do. It puts you in a trance when you do it! It is defiantly one of my stress relievers!

Josh Kuehl's second expedition

My favorite part of Star Ranch was when the kitty cat jumped into the van and snuggled up to me.  I had fun when I ran around Sandy Bottom ranch with a ketchup bottle under my arm like I was a football player and it was a football.  Then I hid behind the van asking myself should I eat it should I eat it should I eat it until someone found me getting ready to eat it. 

There were lots of dogs there and my favorite had 4 thumbs, 2 on each hand.  How could I forget the horse back riding?  It was so much fun especially when my horse ran.  We went to Sams Knob it was very cold there. I wish I had followed the packing list and brought warmer clothes.  It snowed!  We climbed to the summit of Sams Knob and it was really pretty.  We went to the Cradle of Foresty and watched a really freaking stupid movie.  After this expedition I have 2 horse shoes one from each ranch.  To end our trip we made hula hoops with katy mine is black and red and awesome.

garrett bailey

I am having a wonderful time on these expeditions. The group went to Sandy Bottom where we went trail riding with horses. while I was at Sandy Bottom, I met the most laziest horse ever. Her name was Ginger. Ginger was very lazy but very fast going down hills. I also met a new friend in my group named Anna. Anna is a very outgoing person with alot of enthusiasm and humor. Anna is a very skilled photographer when it comes to people and outdoor nature. I really enjoy my life at soar.

2nd expedition blog (by Peter Stluka)

          So far, I'm having a great time here at soar. This past expedition we went horseback riding which was awesome! Mr. Norman threw a walnut at my horse and she jumped! We also went trail biking and it was really fun. The bike frame was too tall for me. I wish that there was trail biking near my house. I hurt my butt. Unicorns. Next expedition I'm going to Seneca rocks. I'm doing a 4 pitch climb to the top. Last expedition we also went to Dolly's and it was good. I can't wait to go to  Seneca rocks. It's going to be so much fun.