Lake Billy Chinook is one of the longest lakes in Oregon. The surface level of the lake is about 2000 feet because it is located in the high desert of eastern Oregon. This popular lake is great for having vacations, and so my church went on a retreat to the lake. We stayed there for two weeks, and enjoyed picnics and fellowship everyday. Exciting but also treacherous, water skiing, rock climbing and cave exploring were some of  my favorite activities.
Water skiing was very fun; it was the first time I had ever tried it. My friend’s dad was driving the boat; it was so big that it created a huge wake. Once the wake was so big that I flipped when I hit it and my friend said that I flew about ten feet in the air. It felt like I was flying and when I landed every part of my body hurt like I had been hit by a car. I did a belly flop and it hurt so badly that I could hardly breathe. Luckily I had a life jacket on that kept me from drowning. The lake was so cold that it felt like the Pacific Ocean.
A few days later a group from my church tried something else: climbing at Smith Rock.  I decided I wanted to go rock climbing with the group, so I went with them on a one hour car ride to the rock. When we got there we had to walk about one and a half miles to the climbing spot. We could see everything from up there. We got to see the whole rock face; it was mammoth. From a viewing spot I could see eagles’ nests everywhere on the side of the cliff. So we started to climb this one rock it was very smooth so it was very hard to climb. The other rock that was very edgey, it was very easy to climb. I decided that I would take a little hike so I did. I was walking on the trail and my friend said, “hey look up here,” and I didn't stop walking infact I kept walking. I fell and hit my face I cut open my cheek right under my eye, and chipped my tooth. After that I didn’t see the drop off and I fell about 15 feet. I was rushed to the nearest hospital, I had to get five stitches.
The next day we went cave exploring. It was very early in the morning it was cold and crisp. The caves that we hiked to we hiked to was a mile up the mountain. The terrain was rocky and dry there was hardly any plants around. The group leader said dress warm for the caves. So when we got to the caves it was so cold and damp and it smelled like bat poop. The cave was wide and tall. The ceiling looked like a mountain range. And that concludes my summer.