Friday, February 27, the whole NCSS community/school went to Fort Wilderness for a school incentive. We stayed there from the morning until the end of the school day. We got the incentive because we had to have 60 or more students finish and defend their research for National History Day by the deadline and we had 62 people done, so we got to go.
First, our school met up at the Gathering Hall and talked about all of the options for the activities, picked our seats to eat lunch, put our lunch boxes down, and finally put on all of our snow equipment, such as snowpants, coat, boots, hat, scarf and gloves. Second, Skylar, Megan, Emily, and I went ice skating. We went to the ski shop where they gave us some skates to use and made sure they were the right fit for us. We walked into the woods and sat at the benches by the skating rink and put the skates on and went skating, It was really fun but a little difficult at first. After a while it got easier. Later Joyce and Emalee joined us and we helped some people learn to skate.
Skylar, Megan, and Emily left and Joyce and I left to go horseback riding. There were many horses; they had approximately 40 horses there. There was also a baby cow named Star, he was so cute, because when you pet him he would lick you. There were also three dogs named Ranahan, Odesa and Bandit, they also have one cat named Deuce. I rode a horse named Rio; he was a gray and black horse and almost looked like a donkey. It was as if I were on a bumpy roller coaster. I liked riding the horse because it was fun. Brianna Hollands, an NCSS student, had a great time at Fort Wilderness horseback riding. “My favorite activity at Fort Wilderness was horseback riding because I have a huge heart for horses and I have had lots of experience with horses,” she said. “I really love Fort Wilderness. I like it how families can come and camp for the weekends. Overall I loved it, it was really fun.”
After that Joyce and I went back to the Gathering Hall and got her money to go to the coffee shop. We found out that they had closed at lunchtime so we went to go eat lunch. After that we went to the coffee shop and it was open so we got coffee and sat down and talked while Shyla, Dylan, Joyce and I played some cards. Next, we went tubing for a little bit and then we went to “The Spinning Chair of Death” which is not far from the tubing hills. The original name of “The Spinning Chair of Death” is the Viva Calaca. Emily Gregesich, an NCSS student shared her favorite part of our Winter Fun Day. “My favorite part at Fort Wilderness was going tubing because I had some experience there, and today’s visit was my second time here. I liked tubing because we made trains to go down the steep icy hill. The record for the train while I was there was 18 tubes. There were some really big tubes for 2 people to go on and enjoy it together.” I spent most of the time with Joyce Hauser, Shyla Wickham, Dylan Eggett, Nicole Swanson, Tristan Fuss, Skylar Peitsch, Megan Hoffhein, Emily Gregesich, Emalee Parker, Emma Beckman, Talon Kubesh, Dameon Stanley and we had a blast at Fort Wilderness.