What an adventure!

In the summer of 2001 I went on an RV trip with my mom, my two younger sisters Laura and Chandra, my mom's friend Paul and my friend Cam. We went to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and we also went to Nags Head, North Carolina, where I got to see the ocean for the first (and only) time in my life.

One of the things we did while in the Smoky Mountains was white-water rafting on the Ocoee River. White-water rafting sound exciting, but it definitely wasn't something I was looking forward to. I didn't know how to swim and the thought of rafting down rapids terrified me, especially when I learned that you don't sit in the raft, you sit on the sides of the raft! I cried and I didn't want to do it because I was so scared, but my family and friends talked me into it. I'm definitely glad that I did agree to do it because it was an amazing experience. If I hadn't agreed to do it I definitely would have regretted my decision since I will never be able to do it again. Here's a picture of my white-water rafting adventure:

(I'm glad I have this picture as proof of my bravery!)

I have to admit that I'm really proud of myself for doing this even though I felt terrified since I didn't know how to swim. I actually always wished I could swim, but I was too scared to learn! My mom took my two younger sisters to a local pool to have swimming lessons in the summer of 1999. I was 15, but I didn't want to take beginner swimming lessons with little kids. As it turned out, my two younger sisters were the only two people taking swimming lessons at that time, but I still wouldn't agree to the lessons because I was really scared of deep water. Looking back I wish I would've learned to swim, although it really doesn't matter now since I can't/couldn't swim even if I wanted or knew how to.