by Leslie Keck

Created on: January 08, 2009   Last Updated: May 12, 2011

Piling into the van, we were off to start our vacation. It was about a 7 hour drive up to Clear Lake in Wasagaming. The ride up there was enjoyable, us kids would always play games using peoples license plates, it made the time go by faster.

We arrived and started to unpack the van and carry it into our cabin. The sun was beaming down, making everything hot to the touch, including the pavement. We finished unpacking and headed down to the lake. The sun was glistening off the still waters of the lake, it was a beautiful sight.

We spent the afternoon swimming and then we stopped at the chicken restaurant on the way back to our cabin and grabbed chicken and fries for dinner. After dinner we walked around the cabins where we were staying to check everything out and see who all was staying in the other cabins around us. In one of the cabins close to us, there was a few Army guys staying there and my sister got all giddy when they started talking and flirting with her. She must of thought Army guys were pretty good looking because she ended up joining the Army a few years later and that is where she met her husband of now 25 years. Later on in the evening we walked to the ice cream store and ordered ice cream cones, they were the best.

When we woke up the next morning, we had breakfast and some went back to the lake and my sister and I went and rented a tandem bike..it was interesting to say the least, but it was a lot of fun. After we were done on the bikes, we returned back to the cabin for lunch and then we put on our bathing suits and went to the pool.

I spent some time in the pool and then I pulled out my towel and just laid on the side of the pool. Well I guess I fell asleep for a bit because when I got up and started walking to go back in the pool, my sister told me that my back looked really red, I just said "oh, really?" and went into the pool. After swimming for a bit, I went back to my towel and decided that since the back of me was red I'd better lay with my front towards the sun.

While we were having dinner that night, I felt a little sore but nothing too bad. I put cream all over and forgot about it. Well when I woke up in the morning, there was no forgetting about it, I was so sore from the sunburn, I couldn't even get out of bed. I yelled for my mom and she came in, looked at me and grabbed the Noxzema. I couldn't believe how much pain I was in. The Noxzema helped but not enough. I can remember my dad telling me I looked like southern fried chicken. I didn't live that one down for awhile.

Needless to say, for the rest of our vacation I wasn't doing anything because I was in too much pain. So for the next 6 days I was stuck in the cabin or at least out of the sun. I was still sore upon arriving home a week later. I learned my lesson well, if someone tells you your looking red...get out of the sun. It was a vacation I have never forgotten.

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