Camping trip fill in the blank

If you don’t want to read about my miserable morning, skip to the third paragraph. (Hint: This is the first paragraph.)

I had one of those mornings. I went through the drive-through for a coffee and my window was frozen shut. Then I couldn’t find my debit card so I had to open my door and tell the coffee shop person I’d drive around and pay inside. Then I sat in the parking lot for a good 10 minutes while I looked for $3.20 in change in every corner of my car (ok I ordered a muffin, too), cursing the fact that I just switched handbags. My previous bag (at home on the floor) weighed about 20 pounds because of the quarters that accumulated on the bottom. All I needed was one more quarter… and I found it! But it had been coated with a mysterious sticky substance, and gravel.. or something. What an embarrassing piece of change. I couldn’t hand that to the cashier, so I kept looking. Three nickels and a dime later, I jumped out of my car and rushed to the door where I met the coffee shop guy coming out with my order. “Don’t worry, it’s free,” he said. (I go there most mornings.) “But I have the money,” I said, a little too animatedly. “No, no, it’s fine,” he said. “OK.. well, thank you,” I said, running back to my car. I arrived at work 20 minutes late. But now that I’ve escaped Hell, I’m in a good mood.

OK, warning. This is super silly. But if you’re excited for Friday, or just in a good mood, or maybe you’re in a bad mood and want to smile, then enjoy the below activity. It should take a few minutes. Don’t think too hard about it. It’s Thursday, after all.

Do not read the below paragraph. Simply do this. Fill out the following 13 with your own words. Think of camping, if you like, but you don’t have to. And if you want to make me laugh, send your 1-13 to ASarnacki@bangordailynews.com or just add it into the comments.

1. A name

2. a place

3. an adjective

4. a number

5. a food

6. a verb

7. a plural noun

8. an animal

9. a name or noun

10. a material

11. a plural noun

12. a game

13. an adjective

Then scroll down past the photo and fill in the blanks.

Photo by Heather Leonard. Aislinn Sarnacki falls down in defeat after trying to wedge the wrong tent poles between two trees on Islesboro, Maine, and drape the tent like a tarp during the summer of 2010. They packed the wrong tent poles.

One day you decide to pack up and go camping with your buddy ____1_____. You head into the wilderness of ____2_____ and set up your ____ 3 _____ tent, which fits _______4_____ people on a good day. By the time you’ve set up camp, it’s late. You have just enough time to cook some ____5____ over the fire and curl up in your sleeping bags. The next day is a scorcher; so first thing you do is head to the stream to swim and  ____6____. Fully refreshed, you sling on some day packs full of water, snacks and the necessary ___7____ and hit the trail. Throughout the day, you see a few squirrels, a rabbit and a random ___8____. By the time you make it to the top of Mount _____9_____, you’re tired and hungry, but happy to take a photo by the summit sign, which was oddly made of ____10____. That night at camp, you nearly bust a gut laughing about ___11____ and playing ___ 12____. Overall, it was a pretty good hiking trip, if not a bit ____13___.

Aislinn Sarnacki

About Aislinn Sarnacki

Aislinn is a Bangor Daily News reporter for the Outdoors pages, focusing on outdoor recreation and Maine wildlife. Visit her main blog at actoutwithaislinn.bangordailynews.com.