Specifically, there was this one time when we went out with our grandparents into these woods. I have no recollection of going in because I had no clue at that point how to navigate through it. They aren't really, per se, the largest section of woods in the town, but by far not the smallest. The woods are a brisk walk down the street from my house. Some may say it can be viewed from my house. It is that close. So how could me,my brother, and grandparents get lost on this walk?

To put it in context, this event was before the era of phones, so I was very young, but this still holds a special place in my life and for a not so very good reason. Let's just leave it at that. It may have been the first time in my life when I thought I wouldn't be able to make it back home.

Well, it was a brisk fall morning and my grandparents came down to visit me and my brother and watch our little league games. But it got completely redirected as this nice quality time together spent going on a walk took a turn for the worse. We started walking out of my house, and we were just little kids, so it was a fast time walk and my grandparents were chasing us to catch up because we were very fast.

When we entered the woods  I witnessed many things that sparked my curiosity. The first thing that I physically touched was a droplet of water that fell off of the tree. It was a very nice and refreshing feeling, as it was a damp and somber day outside, and it brought refreshment to me. Also, the fact of the humidity around us made something like a droplet bouncing off my head a nice experience. I was a little kid and everything that happened made me curious to learn more about it.

As we continued the walk, we ended up going out of the wrong side of the woods, and we thought we were going the right way as we got turned around. Who would have thought that we could get lost in such a small section of the woods? My grandparents started to take us in the wrong direction back then, and we ended up all the way by Strathfield School, and my house is in the Jennings area. This is going to be a recipe for disaster. However, we found Fairfield Woods Road and we traveled up it all the way back to my house.

When we walked through the door, it was around 2 hours later, and my parents were very worried for us as we had been gone for so long.

I can recall my grandfather saying something along the lines of, "We took a wrong turn."

At the end of the day, this may have been one of the craziest experiences I had with my grandparents, and now every time I go through the woods, my mom reminds me not to get lost. It is funny how one small story can become such a family bonding experience and can be a joke at the same time. This memory is something that brought me and my grandparents closer together and gives us a laugh as we bond.

Me and my cousins, Sebastian and Harrison, would go out on long walks in the woods. I thought that it was going to be a fun adventure and I was right in a sense. We commonly decided to venture out, as it was a way we could get away from our parents during the holidays. As you know, they could be all up in your face about school. We used it as an escape to get away from everything going on in the family.

It was a brisk fall day a little early in the afternoon, so we decided to drop our plans and go out for a walk. I was not prepared for what we would find. We trudged through the woods as the leaves on the floor were damp and the trees had leaves falling. We continued to walk as in the distance we saw a rock wall that was giant. It overreached the trees, and it looked like there was some sort of setup at the top. On the left of us was a giant lake. Actually, it wasn't that big, but I had never seen it before. That was just a minor distraction, as our goal was to get to the top of this rock. I have heard our parents talk about it as it was probably somewhere they went to hang out at night as teenagers.

As we approached the bottom, I spotted a staircase that led up to the top. I would never have imagined seeing that in the middle of the woods. It looked very old, however, and started to turn black. I bet if I was to go back into the woods, it would have fallen over with all of the decay on the wood. My cousin Sebastian was always a little more risky, so he decided to take one for the team and go up first. There were around 20 stairs that went up over the trees. The first 10 steps were good. Then I heard a loud noise. At first I was not sure what to think, and then I spotted a step under the stairs, and I missed the step to the top. It was falling apart right as we were going up, but the rest of the steps were fine.

However, we took the challenge and all of us went up as follows. We never back down from an opportunity like this, as many things I remember were so outgoing and we would explore anything. We'd take a boat out to the middle of the sound and swim in a lake full of alligators.It was crazy in the moment and even more so to look back at all of these adventures that are still talked about to this day. It is nice to reminisce over how we did all of these crazy things and went out of our way to do so. However, we decided to stick to it and follow through with the adventure.

When we got to the top, we were in awe. It was above the tree levels. It had a nice picnic area that looked to be set up with tiki torches and all of these nice outdoor finishes. Some may say we were at the top of the world. We have never been up this high before. It was mesmerizing as we reached a whole new atmosphere. However, how could you not throw something off of the 40-foot overhanging cliff that was above the trees? So I picked up a chair and tossed it down all the way to the bottom. It hit the bottom and caused a loud noise that echoed throughout the woods, so that everyone at the house could hear it from miles away.

Unfortunately, the weather started to become bad and the clouds were slowly coming out. As the sun was setting, we headed back to the house. Following all of the trees and steps, we started to trudge through the various obstacles in our way. We hobbled over multiple trees and rocks until we made it back to the yard and to the outside patio area.

Our parents asked, "Did you guys hear the bang?"

We shook our heads.

I then thought to myself, "Hey, maybe we did reach the top."

At my grandparents' house in New Hampshire, we used to use adventure as an escape and a way to bond. New Hampshire is generally an abnormally cold place and we go up there every Thanksgiving, so it was almost borderline freezing. However, it does not stop my family from exploring the woods surrounding us. Adventure is not only something that allows for fun experiences, but also provides a way to create many memories.

One tradition I have with my cousins is that we like to explore the woods and that we like to observe nature. When my grandmother and grandfather used to have their dog Ivy, we used to take them out for walks. The dog would always, no matter what, go out to the same rock and sit on it. I found it interesting how this animal was able to identify the spot repeatedly and that even on the coldest days she would go out and just sit on the rock. This led to the rock ending up being named after her as it would be a great spot to go with her; it was named Ivy's Rock. It was a huge rock, as she was a big brown dog that was bigger than me at the time. When you are at the rock, it is soothing as you are in the woods with a large array of different types of trees, bushes, and berries. It is bare as the leaves have already fallen off. There is a stream that runs down behind the rock where she would try to jump into. It was right off of the street, but it felt remote. With a population of 3,000, there are not going to be many cars. It is desolate because of a sense of emptiness.

It is just you, the dog, your family and nature. It is nothing more than an opportunity to isolate yourself from society and become more connected to the basics of life. Things that are taken for granted should be appreciated and should be valued. It is never known when something that is loved will be gone. So, cherishing the memories at the time was the most important thing to our family.

This allowed for my family to become so much closer as we would just talk freely and openly. It strengthened our communication and let us live more freely. We had no means of conversation. It would just go with the flow. This strengthened our relationship as we had a time where we could just be open-minded and free. Sometimes it would be observant and sometimes it would be about what is going on in the world. These walks just illustrated to me how nice it is to have a family who you can bond with and become close to. We just followed our own ways and explored. Nothing more than that.

Once we approached the rock, we would also spend time letting Ivy explore it and would prop it up. She was a big brown dog with very long legs. She was able to move around and climb up the rock. It was her rock, and she owned it. I remember every time we went walking with her, she naturally went out of her way to go to the rock. It was almost automatic to a point. Every time, my grandfather would take us out to go with her. It was hand in hand. The two of them brought so much excitement to me as a child. I wish I could go back to those times with both of them. That was when things were so simple.

Going to Ivy's Rock reminds me of the dog as well as my grandfather. It is a very special place to me as it reminds me of him and how it floods me back with memories. This place had so much meaning to our family; it held so many memories. If it weren't for all the adventures we went on with him, something as little as a rock could hold sentimental value to a person's life. Every time we drive by, it sparks memories. I am flooded with all of these memories that we have made. To this day, it still reminds me of how much I loved him. It brings a sense to me of how strong our bond was together. He was such a great man and was definitely the most charismatic and vivacious person that I knew. His bubbly energy just followed throughout the family, and it was hard to find out he was gone. I don't think I remember a time with him where I wasn't filled with positivity and he truly made me happy. To me, he really was the glue of the family. My whole family misses him and the memories we made will have a special place in my heart.

As a reminder, my grandmother still had his dog and held on close to it as the dog was his favorite animal ever. It was almost like being with my grandfather, as they both had similar personalities. Both just bring so much enjoyment to my life. A plethora of positive memories flow through my head when I think about them.

We never thought that my grandfather would have left us when he was so young. It would never have come to my mind to think that. It was hard to comprehend. How he could have left it makes me so sad to this day. All the more memories I thought I had left with him to explore more just vanished. I loved him so much and to think I would never see him again really got to me. I wish I could  go out once more with him to Ivy's Rock.