SPLASH! Dripping with water, I steadied myself as I got in my kayak. I quickly caught my paddle as it almost fell off into the water. My kayak, filled with water from my dripping clothes, I paddled off into the lake with my mom’s friends. Off we went onto Croton lake. 

We all had bright colored kayaks. Mine bright pink, theirs bright green, and yellow-except for Jerry:he had a dark green colored one that almost blended in with the water. We were on Croton Pond where I camp.
“Hey are you ready you go?” Carol Said enthusiastically.
We got up around 7:00 and set off at 8:00. We paddled towards the little beach that was at the campground. I have never been on a long kayaking trip so this was my first one. When we got past the beach there were some houses and cottages. It was relaxing to look at all of the different ones. They were all so pretty and  different in their own way. We started to go around this bend where there was a bridge. We went under it and there were some cat tail plants, they were really tall. So we stopped by them to take some pictures.
“Hey the bait shop is up here let's go” I spoke with a cheery voice. There is a gas station a little bit farther down, we also call it the bait shop, so we went to go get some skittles to match our kayaks. As I got close to the shore I jumped out and pulled my kayak out of the water:so it wouldn’t float away. We went into the store and got some skittles. We saw a lot of other things like fishing gear, little nets, and fish bait. We only got skittles though. We left the store and walked back to our kayaks. Now came the hard part, getting back in the kayak. We got back out to the water and under the bridge, then we all decide to go to the dam. 
     
   We had just reached the dam.
   “Finally” I said with a big breath of air going out.
Wow. I thought to myself It was so cool and fun being that close to the dam. Being that close made me feel like I was on the edge of the earth. When I looked over the edge it was a straight drop;So I didn’t get that close. This changed my whole point of view of the dam. I am usually on a boat far away from the dam now I was right there, it was amazing. Ouch! Ow! EEE! AAA! We have paddled for a while now and it was fun but...my arms started to hurt. 
We were paddling right by the shore by some logs, and fallen trees. There were many animals on them. I saw a great deal of small and medium sized turtles. I had just lost both of my pet turtles so I wanted another. So I slowly paddled, making sure I was quite, to the log there it was a turtle, the perfect size. I took one end of my paddle and put the other end out towards the turtle;I tried to grab the turtle with my paddle, what I ended up doing is pushing it off the log. To some extent I felt cruddy for the turtle, and about what I did. Seeing that turtle swim away with fear made me realize I need to preserve nature and look not touch or in my case catch and keep as a pet. 
Being so close to nature made me learn I have an appreciation for nature. Also, that nature is amazing and beautiful. I hope you have all learned something from this and that you always respect nature so we can let it last.