I stepped out of the car the gravel crunching beneath my flip flops.
My lungs filled with smoke from the forest fire brewing not too far away from me my face lightened when I noticed the new property, we had been going to the same one for two years but this year had a fresh start in a new house. I ignored all the smoke in the air and walked down the drive way trying to be one of the first 16 of us in the house the door was already open I walked right in and enjoyed the old cabin smell that the house had and walked out to the big front window which looked out on the lake the water was calm and made me want to jump in. I walked out onto the balcony and down the stairs following a paved path towards the dock and looked out across the beautiful blue water. I heard my mom yell and I ran back to the car to help unpack. Unpacking was easy since there was 16 people there to help we finished unloading all of our things in less than 20 minutes. I opened the fridge to see it full of food we needed for the week and grabbed two bags of chips to take to the other house. You probably think there is only one house but there was three so the 6 kids (all girls) took charge in the smallest house with chips and pop loaded in our cupboards and the family with the two year old took the farthest house which wasn’t situated on the water.
The water was cold when I dipped my toes in and I looked at myfriends reassuring them it wasn’t cold to make sure they jumped in with me. 3, 2, 1 a big splash and the cold rushed through my body I surfaced and looked for my friends they were both angry that I lied but we weregoing to have to get in anyway. We floated on our pool noodles trying to keep warm. The water under us was dark and you couldn’t see the bottom I curled my toes in not letting them hang in the darkness of the water. I pushed the water away from my body as I swam forward trying to chase my noodle that I threw we all splashed enjoying ourselves like we were kids again. I always loved this vacation because we were kids again. I lifted my body out of the water and looked at the sun it seemed warmer then it was I looked to my right and to my surprise could see smoke arising from afar the fire was still burning and was getting fairly close that the smoke was thick and you couldn’t see across the lake in which you usually could I got nervous that we might get evacuated but continues down the other dock by my dad and jumped in.
I woke up the next morning to the voices of my friends who were talking really loud considering I was trying to sleep and arose very tired. We walked to the house next door excited for breakfast and to our surprise the smell of bacon filled our nostrils like a morning buffet at a hotel. Are parents talked about having to leave but I ignored them thinking positively about the week ahead. I scarfed down breakfast and changed into my bathing suit. I grabbed my still damp towel from the side balcony and wandered my way to the dock. The water looked colder today as the sun was hidden behind the smoke that filled the air we breathed, I didn’t think twice before jumping into to the cold water of lake Chelan and started swimming around for a couple hours the cold started getting to me after I kept getting in and out to jump in so I went inside.
The first four days when by really quickly the parents called in all the kids for a meeting we were approached with the sad news that we were having to leave the next day and relocate to a river that was about an hour away the sadness filled the room we had been waiting for this house for two years and we had to cut it short. But we all agreed to move because the smoke was becoming unbearable for those with asthma. The decision was to leave so we packed up so that we could leave in the morning. The morning came too quickly and before we knew it we said goodbye to the property and headed away. The rest of the week was filled with freezing cold river water, hot tubs and outdoor movies and an intense volleyball game of kid’s vs parents the kids won obviously but it wasn’t as exciting as it would have been at LakeChelan. I wanted to share this because every year the group that goes grows closer together and it’s an experience that will stick in my head until adulthood. Lake Chelan is somewhere I love a lot.
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