Charlotte and Zoe's World: Our Adventure!

Since Zoe sprained her ankle, she's just been lying around the house reading books and playing computer games. Meanwhile, I've been lonely and bored to death doing everything by myself. So today, I decided I'd enlist Shiloh to come along with me for an adventure

I packed a backpack with a blanket, a peppermint lollipop, two hot dogs, and a notepad and pencil for drawing pictures of the animals and views I saw.

Shiloh and I hadn't been walking for more than a few minutes when we encountered a big staircase.

"I wonder what's at the bottom!" I cried excitedly. It looked to lead into a thicket of ferns. Shiloh barked and bounded down the steps. I followed, but cautiously.

At the bottom of the stairs, I inspected the fern forest.

"Look how thick it is, Shiloh! Maybe we'd better go around," I said, as I peered through the ferns and saw how dark it became.

But, being a dog with no worries about darkness or spiders, Shiloh simply barked again and crashed through the thicket anyway. With a sigh, I followed him.

I stumbled through the thicket (called thick-et for a reason) for what seemed like ages when I finally spotted some sunlight up ahead.

I brushed aside the last few fern stalks and emerged into a clearing. "Shiloh!" I called.

I spotted him a little ways ahead of me, running around the base of an enormous boulder.

"Whoa," I said softly, as I took in the size of the thing. It was directly in my path, surrounded by more thick forest that stretched around me in a wide circle. We were trapped! The only ways out were through the forest, back through the fern thicket, or over the boulder. I decided to try to climb the rock.

I inspected the boulder carefully, looking for the best place to climb up.

I took a deep breath and hoisted myself up.

"Hooray!" I cried, when I had reached the top.

I started to pull off my backpack, ready for a break and a snack.

Then I heard a faint "Woof!" from down below.

"Oh no!" I yelled. Poor Shiloh! He was still at the bottom!

I heaved a sigh and climbed back down the boulder.

And shoved Shiloh up the boulder by his butt.

I pulled off my backpack for a second time, tossed Shiloh a stick to chew, and took out some food for a snack.

I decided I'd leave the hot dogs and lollipop for lunch, but ate a few berries I had found growing on top of the boulder.

After resting for a while, I grabbed Shiloh and we clambered back down the rock and set off walking again.

After walking for a little while, I spotted a log bridge.

The end of it disappeared around a corner, which naturally made me want to know what was at the end of it. So Shiloh ran off across the bridge and I followed behind.

The first bridge led to another one just like it, which was followed by a third, and then a fourth. At the end of the last one was a big wooden platform.

I climbed up on top, and was met with a view of...

A lake!

I sat down on the end of the platform and set out my lunch on the blanket (I found the berries and leaves along the path - the leaves taste like mint!)

And I tossed Shiloh another stick to chew on for his lunch.

After lunch, I brought out the notepad and pencil and drew a picture of a squirrel in a nearby tree, and the view of the lake from where I was sitting.

Here are some pictures of the squirrel I spotted. He let me get very close, but seemed awfully angry at me for taking pictures of him - he wouldn't stop chittering at me! He looks pretty evil in these pictures with the glowing eyes, though I think it was just the flash of the camera that made him look like that.

I was pretty hot from our walk, so I decided I'd go for a swim. But I changed my mind pretty quickly once I touched the water with my hand and realized how cold it was!

So I decided to go beachcombing instead.

"Look, Shiloh!" I said, holding out the handful of smooth, pretty rocks I had collected from the beach. "Aren't they pretty?" He whined and looked away.