Many teenagers plan a memorable Spring Break trip, but never carry out the plan. This year seven of my friends and I set out to camp in Blue Springs State Park in Orange City, Florida, where we created everlasting memories, both good and bad.

Planning It Out

I began to realize early on that if I didn’t start planning and figuring out the details for this trip, it would all fall apart. Months ahead, I started a group chat and named it “SPRING BREAK 2k17”, where my friends and I hashed out details of the trip and listened to one another’s input and, of course, sent memes here and there.

Blue Springs State Park costs $30 per night for camping. From there, I began to calculate our expenses for food. As anyone knows, teenagers eat a lot.

Fellow camper Stephanie Aguilar said, “Wendy and I made sure to include more than enough food in the shopping list, including easy-to-make foods such as sandwiches and hot dogs.  Once our trip date got closer, we started meeting at Wendy’s house to finalize our plans. Most of the time, we got distracted, but fortunately I could pull my friends through.”

Two nights before the trip, we all went to Publix to do our grocery shopping. “I felt like a little family because we all came together and helped each other finding things in Publix,” said camper Victor Ringgaard. The bill came out to $170, which was good considering the amount of stuff we packed the car with.

1…2…3… Take Off

The trip began the night before when I invited my friends to sleep over because we would be leaving at 6 A.M. the following morning. Once they all arrived, we could sense the excitement. I stayed up till 1 A.M. braiding Victor Ringgaard’s hair as we watched Tarzan.

At 5:30 A.M I started waking everyone up by hitting them with a pillow. Even then, we were all excited to start heading out. We quickly packed everything in the cars of Isabella Pujol and Randy Rivera, had breakfast at McDonalds, and then set out on the highway to Blue Springs State Park. During the car ride, we sang High School Musical and Disney songs and stopped at a few rest stops to grab snacks for the four-hour ride.

We arrived at Blue Springs State Park at 10 A.M. and were greeted by the friendly staff who showed us the road to our campsite, which was close to the restrooms, which is always a good thing. We also met our friendly neighbors who soon would become part of our best memories.

Then the boys set up the tent as the girls unloaded the bags from the cars.  The area was large and even had a barbecue pit.  As soon as we finished setting up the camp site, we ran to the springs.

“My first reaction to the spring was definitely COLD, COLD, COLD,” said Jamilee Yern.

Isabella  added, “I didn’t come to a spring expecting it to be warm, so I knew I had to jump right in and face it. As soon as I did, my body adjusted to the temperature and I really enjoyed myself.”

“My favorite part of the spring was definitely the underwater cave. You’re not supposed to go all the way under, but being the daredevil that I am, I decided to do so anyway. I learned that day that I could hold my breath longer than I thought,” said Pablo Munoz.

“I don’t know about everyone else, but I came prepared for the springs,” said Randy. “I went with Victor to buy my goggles and fins a week in advance. The fins enabled me to swim deeper and get a closer look at the cave. I didn’t get too close though. I was a bit scared honestly. It was very dark down there.”

After swimming in the springs, we headed over to the tent and got ready to shower. The showers were very clean and huge. As the sun was setting, we started cooking the hotdogs. “I was so hungry,” said Fernando Alvarez. “Those were the best hot dogs of my life.”

The First Night

The worst part of the trip was on that first night. We had finished eating and were going to sleep. However, Isabella got the idea to wash her feet before entering the tent. In a matter of seconds, the campground was starting to flood. I rushed over to Isabella and realized that she had broken the faucet.

“I don’t know how I broke it,” she said. “It literally just came off. I was worried we were going to have to pay for the repair, but luckily we didn’t have to.”

I ran to the campground supervisor in the middle of the night at sixty-eight degrees, soaked, and the lady informed me there was a switch to stop the water. Quickly, I ran back to the tent and shut the water off.

That night we all slept with a sigh of relief, happily dry in our blankets.  “Looking back at that night, we realized that was one of the funniest memories of the trip,” said Randy Rivera.

The Second Night

The second night was also one to remember. We all got sugared up on a gallon of Kool- Aid and started dancing around the fire pit to keep warm. As our neighbors saw we were obviously the life of the party, they came over and decided to party with us. They asked us where we were from, and we said, “Miami!” to which they responded, “MIAMI!!!” as they were from there as well.

However, they were much older than us, probably in their forties, and we even found out that one of them was assistant principal Ms. Leal’s sister.

“What a small world!” said Olvin Villatoro. They were kind enough to bring us little burgers and loads of appetizers. They even gave us a little advice. “I can still hear that guy’s voice in my head,” said Oscar Barrios. “He emphasized how important it was to work hard in school and play hard as well.”

Our Last Day

The following morning it was time to go home. Check out was at 11 A.M., but we decided to head out early so we woke up at 6 A.M. We all felt very sad about leaving the campground. “It’s a trip we will never forget, and we are definitely doing this again,” said Victor Ringgaard.