Friends, Food, and Fall Creek Falls

 

 
    Friday afternoon, Justin, Keri, and I rushed out of our grandparent's vehicle to the inside of our house after we had stopped at Sonic like we do every Friday- we were in a rush. As I walked out of the car, I started to receive texts from people about where we were and if we were coming over. I searched the house frantically, making sure I didn't leave anything behind that I needed. We grabbed the bags and things we did not load up in Mrs. Julie's car previously, and walked down to their house. (For those who don't know, we were leaving to go camping at Fall Creek Falls and we're driving with some friends from church down there to meet and surprise our old youth pastor and his family.) Once we arrived, we got into separate cars and started towards the camp sites, which were about two hours away.
    Apparently for a while we were in front one of the other cars of someone from church! Which was great, until we took a right when they didn't. Although we questioned if we were going the right way for a while, we ended up being the first car from Mt. Juliet to make it to the campground. There was even a rainbow along the way! By that point the sun was already starting to set; the tents were put up with the assistance of flashlights. Following the setting-up of all our tents and belongings, we began the journey to the Warren County Fair to surprise the Sands! They had a booth set up for TOPZ, giving us the perfect opportunity to just walk up without Matt Sands expecting us. It took us about an hour to get to the fair if you count the additional stop at Taco Bell before getting there.
    We walked across the street from the parking lot, and into the fair area to find the booth where they would be working. Luckily, Matt Reynolds remembered seeing on social media that the booth was in the grand stand and we strolled through that area. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted it, and I yelled "I found it!" to everyone and pointed to the left of where we were walking. The whole group rushed towards the booth without hesitation. Inside of it stood Matt, and he was putting away and packing up for the night. (Keep in mind, it's probably around 10:00 by this point.) He didn't seem completely surprised, though, since Mrs. Anna told him a couple days ago when he asked about it. I wish it could've been completely a surprise, though! He told us to go find the rest of his family and he would meet up with us later. We found the rest of the family one by one: Dylan, Anna, then Maddie. Dylan was just chatting on the phone until Baker ran straight towards him and gave him a hug. It was such a blessing to be able to see and talk with them again. They treated us to TOPZ once we spent a couple hours checking out the fair food and attractions. He opened the yogurt shop up just for us and it was great! We parted ways and headed back to Fall Creek Falls, knowing we would see then again in the morning. In Mrs. Maggie's car we jammed out to the "Wicked" soundtrack on the way back, with a beautiful, bright moon above illuminating the streets. Air mattresses were inflated, bags put in place, and we all went to bed shortly after that.
    The morning was filled with barking dogs and early-morning chatter. I was awoken abruptly when I realized my air mattress had deflated and there were rocks underneath the tent where my sleeping bag was. Fun times. Breakfast consisted of hashbrown casserole, bacon, and eggs. It might have taken forever and a day to cook it all, but BOY it was good! One of the entertaining parts of the morning was watching Hallie battle a bee or some sort of bug that entered her tent, as well as Matt Reynolds catching pieces of bacon on fire. Next, we went to George's Hole and the majority of those with us swam around in the water, while I stuck to taking pictures on the side of the water until I worked up the courage to cross the rocks. I sat in a cave-eqsue whole in the rocks that was a little bit closer to the water than where some others were sitting. For example:
Me:

Some of the others:

The Sands showed up when they found us, and Mrs. Anna went with me and a couple others down the water through the rocks to see what was beyond the area we were at. It was stressful at time taking into account all the loose rocks my foot was placed on, but no one got majorly injured. It took us to a place called "The Cascades" where we met the rest of our group. One exploration led to another, and we made our way back to the campsite with the Sands for lunch... it was hotdog time! We sat in foldable chairs around the campfire sharing in fellowship with one another. It was great to be able have Matt lead us in prayer again; it made me feel like nothing had really changed. The Sands had to go so we took a group picture together before sharing in hugs and exchanging goodbyes. Although there was rain in the forecast, the hike to the falls came subsequently when they departed. The weather ended up being overcast and cool, leading to perfect conditions for hiking in. About three-fourths of the way to the falls, we were high enough to look over at the falls. I peered over the rails, and instantly I was reminded of when I went to Fall Creek Falls as a young child. I don't remember exactly when I went, but I knew for sure this had to be the place where we tried to look at the Falls before, it just felt familiar. We finished climbing down towards the fall, and I was blown away by the beauty and tranquility of it all. Below is a picture my friend Baker took of me in front of the waterfalls.

I noticed all the little kids running around, catching creatures in their tiny nets and then letting them free moments later. It all felt unreal, almost like a dream the way the water cascaded down the rocks into a faint mist. The hike back wasn't as dreamy though; I felt like my legs were going to fall off.

    That was the peak of activity for that day. We drove to the site once more, hung out, got gas for the cars and bought snacks at the gas station, ate dinner, then went to bed. Everything was basically packed up before we went to sleep because we intended on leaving early in the morning. I sort of forgot I started this blog post on Sunday and didn't get to finish it, and now it's Thursday. Whoops. But that's a majority of our trip! The traffic on the way back was insane, an 18-wheeler flipped and it took almost three hours rather than two to get home. I loved having some great people around me all weekend, and getting to experience nature in a way that hasn't happened in a while. The Sands have always been a huge part of my life, and every time I get to see them again brightens my life. God showed Himself a lot this weekend.

Love always,

Allison