September? already?

All summer, PSBB has been trying to do these special tours on Sunday afternoons.  No one has ever showed up.  This past Sunday, we tried something new.  Not a tour, but a presentation on genealogy.  Some local guy who had done a lot of research on Pearl's family gave a presentation on how you can research your own family history on the internet.  It was actually pretty interesting and a few people actually showed up.  Not at all as terrible as it could have been.  Afterward, I thought it was good weather for a swim.  I decided to head up to the pond by Tent City, but before I could even get our of Hillsboro, I see a familiar truck.  Andrew and Corey are sitting in the back, so I decided to pull up real close to them.  Well, being boys, they decide to mess with me.  And how do they accomplish this?  By pelting my car with apples.  Tons of apples.  They had spent the day driving all over Hillsboro picking up apples to make cider.  Hundreds of apples.  The entire bed of the truck was filled with apples.  An overwhelming amount of apples.  So.many.apples.  Anyways, we all head to a buddy's house to use his apple press to make the cider. 

There are few things in life as amazingly delicious as freshly pressed apple cider.  Freshly pressed apple cider and whiskey, maybe.  We spent most of the late afternoon/early evening pressing apples, and now there are gallons and gallons of cider!  EmNewt came to help and she was asking if any of the boys wanted to go rock climbing with her the next day.  The next day being a Monday, they all had to work.  I've never been rock climbing.  I don't consider myself afraid of heights per se, but it just never really interested me before.  Well, EmNewt needed a buddy to go with her, for the ropes and belay and all that jazz, so I said, as usual, why the hell not?

That's right.  I went rock climbing.  Not in a gym on a piece of plastic.  On a rock.  A cliff.

No this isn't my picture.  And no I didn't go climbing out of the water, although that would have been totally bad ass.  We went to Summersville Lake, which is unbelievably beautiful and a popular destination for climbers.  There are probably hundreds of climbs around the lake.  I didn't know much about climbing, so EmNewt explained some to me.  Each climb has a rating of difficulty, 1-16, 16 being upside down and you have to be certifiably insane to climb it.  EmNewt said she's comfortable on 8 and 9.  So I figured, me being a newbie, she would take me on a 3, 4, even a level 5.  Nope.  7.  HA!  yeah freaking right, EmNewt.  Not gonna happen.  Oh, but it did.  And I kicked it's ass.  It was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life.  Easily the most terrifying and the most exhilarating experience. 

Hmm...I think I should choose a really hard climb for Megan.

This picture does not do it justice.

how I looked during the climb

So I survived the climb!  Then we jumped in the lake and headed back to Pocahontas.  I could barely move the next day - legs, arms, wrists, knees, hips, back, everything hurt.  It's a total body workout.

Wednesday, the other Emily, EmLass, told me about a cool tunnel along the Greenbriar River Trail and suggested we ride down and see it.  She said 10 miles.  I assumed 5 each way.  Oh how very wrong I was.  10 miles there, 10 miles back.  This is two days after rock climbing.  What in the world is wrong with me?  Megan?  Athletic?  Are we talking about the same person?  Around mile 5, we come across a bunch of cows on the trail that had somehow gotten loose.  Totally bizarre.  Finally at mile 10, a cross a bridge and get to the tunnel.  Me being a moron, I left my camera at home.  The tunnel was about 500 feet and scary as shit.  You're biking too fast for your eyes to adjust and it seems as if someone has turned off the sun.  Total and complete darkness.  Of course we ride through it, which means we have to ride back through again to go home.  But on the other side is an awesome swimming hole and rope swing.  Water was a little low, but now we know where to go next summer. 

Tent City has been under renovation.  The schoolhouse is now insulated and has new windows.  It's like it's an actual building now.  They even put down boards in the bell tower and there's a table and chair up there.  Not sure why someone would go hang out up there.  I suppose if one of the boys is feeling pensive and wants to write some emo poetry, that would be the place to do it.  The kitchen has expanded and the outhouse is almost ready.  Everybody is really excited about the new shitter.  I can't wait for my first poop at Tent City.  

This weekend is my birthday, bitches!  I have 7 people coming to celebrate with me: the three bros and their significant others and my cousin Rachel, who you may remember, was here a month and a half ago.  I'm excited as hell.  Friday night: First Friday in Lewisburg.  Saturday: Pretty Penny, Black Mountain Bluegrass Boys, pig and lamb roast.  Sunday: pond party and Tent City extravaganza.  Then Monday (hopefully) I'll be heading down south to the land of the pine.  Going home for a week to let my parents babysit Cody for a while and to drop off things I don't need in my new place and pick up the things I do.  Heading to Athens next weekend.  Partying there is prolly gonna seem pretty tame after the summer I've had.  But I'm pumped about going to Walkers and tailgating Saturday morning for the UGA SCarolina game.  Then back to WV and up to Elkins to start training for AmeriCorps.  Crazy crazy busy these next two weeks.  

I can't believe it's September.  Summer is over.  What a terrible, terrible thing.  By far, this has been the best summer of my life.  The last three and a half months have been the most fun, eye-opening, life changing, amazing months of my life.  But all good things must come to an end.

Today is my last day as the intern at the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace.