Author: Edward Guenther
Written:  January 11th, 2014

Your aunties were once little girls. There were three of them: Rebekah, Crystal, and Rachel. They went on camping trips and their minds were filled with adventures of endless exploring, climbing up mountains and over large rocks, scrounging firewood, and seeing the wonderful things.  At night they’d sit around the campfire, read stories and journals, and eat food prepared over the Coleman cook stove. Their mom would attempt to make cinnamon rolls in the cast iron skillet and everyone always said they were awesomely good.  They were all pretty exhausted by the time evening came around and enjoyed the quiet evening around the camp fire.

Once, one of their camping trips took them to the beach in Astoria. The campground was a very short drive from the beach itself. Their dad was always coming up with corny ideas for adventures, so when he said, “Let’s go watch the sun sink into the ocean,” all three girls bah humbugged the idea.  They had spent the day romping up and down the shore, were tired, and just wanted to sit.  Besides, they were comfortable and the idea of loading into the van again did not sound fun.  Their dad said it was a different beach then what they’d seen, but still they didn’t change their minds. Their dad pleaded and bribed them until finally they said “OK”, but their attitude remained “whatever”.

Leaving the cozy campsite near sunset they piled into the car and a minute later piled out again at the beach site.  They had to climb a little slope to get to the beach’s edge and to the girls’ utter amazement they found themselves looking upon a ship’s skeleton.  Through the skeleton they watched the great orange orb sink into the mighty Pacific Ocean.

All sat spellbound after the night time performance. How totally awesome! It was beautiful!  With light hearts they all climbed back into the car, each valuing the treasure of having watched their first sunset over the ocean, and through the silhouette of the ship’s skeleton!!!

The next day brought more adventures and to their dad’s total surprise the girls all chimed in asking when they would be leaving to watch the sun drop into the sea again.  They made the excursion to the beach each night of that vacation, each time at the request of the girls.

Their dad wasn’t so dumb after all. Once in a while he got it right!