The Great Outdoors

So the other day me and my dad went ALLLL the way up to Cayuga area to set up his beloved tree stand that he uses for hunting.. We get all the way up there (a 45 minute drive) and start to unload the truck. Now, the parts we use are as follows: The tree stand which comes with 4 parts (The seat, two sets of steps that link together, and a bar to prop it to the tree), a 40 foot chain that's coated in rust, shears, a padlock, and what looks like a bike lock.

Usually we carry everything but the actual tree stand parts in a backpack but we somehow forgot the backpack and ended putting it in a small blue box. Now that's fine but there's only two of us and we would carry all the parts as so: Me with the backpack that has the chain, pad-lock, etc. and the two ladder parts and bar for propping while my dad carries the huge and heavy seat. So instead of that simple method we resorted to somewhat constructing the ladder there and placing the various pieces in a pile as we carried it to the location 100 yards away like a stretcher.

So after we get there, my arms are killing me and now I have to help set it up. So as we put it against the tree that's hidden in grass up to your waist, he climbs up it to fasten it down. In the midst of all this, we are just getting eaten alive by the mosquitoes, getting bitten in places we didn't even know they could locate.

The funny thing is after all that, we both had to get in the car, just filthy, while the night before, my dad had vacuumed and cleaned the car, so we couldn't touch ANYTHING, and my hands where RUST covered.

There's my outdoor experience for the year.