Visiting Quadra Island

After breakfast and then a goodbye to Henry and Chrisanna, we had day of driving, along with a 1-1/2 hour ferry ride over to Victoria Island. We had a reservation at an RV park not far from the ferry to Quadra Island.

The realtor from Enderby had put us in touch with Heidi, a realtor on the island. Heidi had sent several links to houses for sale and we’d chosen 9. 9 in one day is a lot.

We hopped on the 9:30 ferry to Quadra where Heidi would meet us. It was raining and windy but the island had a beauty to it. We were glad to visit in a storm, rather than a clean bright day, so we would not be jaded by striking beauty.

We saw several houses that would work but needed more space. Then Heidi took us to one that “needed lots of work”, a bank-owned and vacant for quite some time. We toured the old B&B: tile flooring in good condition, no leaks in the main house, good bedrooms and bathroom, several acres, a building for guests, huge unfinished shed and easy walk to the beach. With lots of elbow grease,

I found it to be an amazing deal.

We stopped at the farmers market and saw that it would be perfect for kids to sell farm products. Plus the chefs on the island are known for buying locally grown product, another plus.

After grabbing a lunch to go, we ran back to the car which Heidi had parked in the ferry line. The line was moving, but there was space on the ferry for her to drive on.

We had several homes on Vancouver Island to see. One I must have clicked on by accident as it was a tract home and not one we’d be interested in at all. Another, 2 single-wide mobile homes put together to form an L shape. It was quite an interesting place.

The last home we drove up to, and like the last house in Enderby, the photo didn’t match the house. I wasn’t feeling the love. We started to leave but then just decided why not see it. As it turns out, this house has lots of potential too, lots of bedrooms, land and the price is great.

We went back to our RV with lots of ideas.

The New Journey

And so the journey begins; wondering if a move to Canada is in our future.

At home, I’d spent time looking online at properties for sale. Our problem is this: we don’t know where we really would like to settle, will kids and their families join us. I also had lots of questions about immigration.

While on the road in the US I sent some requests to various realtors for places we thought might work. As the answers came in we found that there were far more properties to see than we had time for. Also, distances were becoming an issue.

We settled for an area south-east of Kamloops for the 1^st group of houses to look at. Kelli, our realtor, found several houses for us to look at online and then to select for an inspection. I selected 4 of the homes to see.

We drove the 4-1/2 hours to the Kamloops area and met Kelli. She’d done a great job in selecting properties that might work for us. And really, she went way out of her way to spend time with people who don’t even know exactly what they are looking for.

The 1^st house had lots of issues: water damage on the ceilings, holes in doors, insulation torn off of the wall in an unfinished room, fencing falling apart. We quickly left, someone else can work on this one.

2^nd property has lots of possibilities. The house is small for everyone, but there is a huge workshop, small workshop, places for animals, a gazebo that overlooks the valley and river below.

3^rd property also has lots of possibilities and a really great patch of farmland.

4^th property looked so great on paper, well online in this case. The realtor thought it might be perfect too: a 2 story log house with unfinished basement plus 28 acres. It was vacant so it seemed we could move in quickly. Well, photos can be deceiving! The house had apparent leaks everywhere and someone had squirted foam insulation in between every log and wherever there was a space. We found water stains on ceilings and in the A-frame ceiling paneling was coming off. Furniture, musical instruments, food, wine and clothes were in every room and there was a smell of cigarettes. Vinyl flooring had been removed in some of the rooms, some vinyl was completely lifting. Then we went down to the basement to find what had been a “grow op”. No pot was left, but anything one would need to grow was there. Someone else can work on this one. To boot, the acreage was on steep hills and packed with trees.

We will be off to Vancouver Island to look some more.

New Friends, Old Friends

We’d stopped at the last rest stop in Washington to spend the night thinking that it would be much easier to cross the border into Canada in the morning. There were several reasons, mostly because we didn’t want to arrive late at our friend’s house in Canada. As it turned out it was a good call.

We were going to Dale’s college roommate’s house, Henry and his wife Chrisanna. I’d met Henry once many years ago but didn’t get to know him at all. Dale lost track of Henry and then thru the wonderful searches in Facebook, reconnected. They had a guy’s weekend in Palm Springs a year or so ago and then Henry and I became friends on Facebook as well.

We were in Vancouver only last month and I tried to connect with Henry, but as it turned out he’d had medical issues and didn’t get my message. He and his wife wanted for us to return and stay with them, so when the opportunity came up for us to return to Canada, we connected.

I was a little apprehensive about staying with people I didn’t really know but knew that it was important to Dale. I also have learned over the years that it is important to be open to new opportunities and new friendships.

We had the most amazing day with Henry and his wife. We set outside and talked like old friends. Then Henry made his specialty dinner for us and Chrisanna set the table with their finest tableware. We brought in some really good wines from our RV and we shared a wonderful meal: Greek salad, fresh corn on the cob, rice and broiled steelhead trout.

Henry told Dale that skiing a run together was on his bucket list. I think that it is something we will need to do sooner than later. And since we will need to look at additional properties it is surely something we can combine. Besides we needed an excuse to come up and ski.

Making Our Way To the Border

Ever onward. So we had to be in Seattle for lunch, maybe a late lunch, but lunch nevertheless.

Dale’s cousin suggested that we meet in the parking lot of a mall, a mall that is likely the most deserted mall in Seattle, as per Marty. We would then pile in their car and go to lunch.

We found the mall and there were few cars in the mall parking lot so we parked, Dale went to walk Twinkle, and I went into the RV to change. While changing, I heard a knock on the door. I finished changing then ran outside to find an old grumpy guy ready to put a notice on our truck.

The old grumpy guy told me that we could not park in their parking lot, not even for a couple of hours. He then handed me a 1^st violation notice and told me that if we stayed in their parking lot he would have us towed. What is really funny is that he came out of some Christian store. Just shows how he is no better than anyone else.

Norman and Marty came along and we had to tell them that the incredibly slow mall was too busy for us to park at. We decided to just drive our truck and RV to our lunch destination.

We went to Redhook brewery for lunch. We’ve been there before, beer is so great, if only I could drink it. Alas, I had wine, but a sip of the dark Porter that Dale ordered.

By the time we left it was late afternoon. Then it was time for a run for the border.

Sonoma to Oregon City

We spent a small portion of Sunday in Sonoma; another wine pick-up party with great food and great wines. Sitting outside, drinking wine, eating fun foods and listening to music is a really great way to spend a Sunday!

And since we were going to the Sonoma square, it was a perfect time to visit the store that sells vintage style clothes. We were in the store when I was working in the area and found fun 1920’s clothes. So now it was a good time to find a dress for our Downton Abbey dinner. And I did find a wonderful dress, something Cora would wear!

From Sonoma, it was on to Oregon to visit kids. We didn’t arrive until Monday afternoon and grandkids were jumping up and down. It is fun to have someone so excited to see us. Unfortunately, that won’t last.

But it was fun to visit, even though it was very short, with Clayton and Jen, drink a little wine and eat a nice dinner. 

Old Friends, Good Wine

One plus of a road trip is being able to stop when and where we want, see friends, make a detour, eat in a restaurant or in the RV, turn around and go back home.

Once I knew that I had to go to San Francisco for some claim work it made sense to come on up to the Petaluma area. There was a wine pickup party at Armida, a winery which we belong to and I wanted a couple of cases of Poison anyway for the road trip.

Some of the pickup parties can be quite fun, with wine associated games while wine tasting. This one had music and food. Unfortunately, little of the food was gluten free so I could only eat the meat. Then bees swarmed the chicken so that we were dancing, not to the music, but to moving from the bees. But it gave us a chance to try some other wines than we normally buy and have a little food in the vineyard.

From the vineyard we stopped at REI, likely the last visit to the store, to pick up last minute items for the upcoming backpacking trips.

We have friends in Santa Rosa who we only see when we are passing thru and we arranged to meet for dinner. Jerry and Karen are people we’ve known for years. I met Karen at an AAUW meeting when our farm was going down and they’d been in similar circumstances. Then their daughter and one of our son’s got together and were together for several years. They’ve come to parties of ours and we have been to their place. So when Jerry and Karen moved to Santa Rosa we maintained our friendship, she says that she stalks my Facebook site.

We met for dinner at a wine bar and shared little plates and drank wine. We discussed our upcoming adventure, a move to Canada, and their moving adventures, our kids, and more travels.

Now off to Sonoma and then Oregon.

A Little Work Then Lots of Playtime

We made San Francisco, the weather was cold next to what we’d come from; 100+ in Bakersfield to high 60’s in S.F.

I made my claim meeting and laid out what would be paid for.

From the claim, we went straight to Golden Gate Park. Our goal was to have a good fast walk, getting the heart rate up, preparing for the upcoming backpacking trip, and just a good workout.

Well, Twinkle likes to smell everything along the path, so that took some time. Then I like to take photos and had the big Canon along, so that took some time. Poor Dale, always waiting!

We’d forgotten how great the park is. We found some trails up hills; we walked fast so we could get the heart rate up. Trails between ferns and flowers, trails between trees. What a wonderful park this is and we only explored a small portion.

We brought Twinkle back to the RV then went to dinner at the Russian Family Restaurant down in Redwood City. I’d found it on-line with good reviews. We drove down and found it in the center of the older section, an area revamped, full of restaurants, life and music. We found a table outdoors and ordered a bunch of Russian food: Borsch, beet salad, pickled herring. OMG, now we are ready to go off to Russia to eat.

So now there are hurricanes in both the Pacific and the Atlantic and I’m on vacation. How, pray tell, do I go on any kind of vacation when I could be called out at any time? So here is what I do: Packed; the work box, clipboard, flashlights, business casual pants, Crawford logo shirts, business shirts and shoes suitable for storm. If, in fact, a hurricane hits, I will buy a suitcase, pack, and buy an airplane ticket and leave. Dale will drive home, pack up the rest of the stuff and then either drive to where I’m at or fly (think Hawaii).

We are always ready to point the truck somewhere else, always have a contingency plan, or can make one up on the spot. The sign of a catastrophe adjuster who loves to travel!!!

And It Starts With a Bang

And so we are off once again. And before we even get to our 1^st destination we get a call from our granddaughter, from our house. She has found Dale’s wallet, complete with cash and his driver’s license, on the kitchen counter. Dale is driving, it’s his turn, so he tries to find his wallet and sure enough, it isn’t in his pocket or the door.

Fortunately, we came up with a plan so that she will overnight the wallet to our youngest son, where we will be on Monday. Crisis averted. Although, like Jen said, hopefully, Dale can pass for over 21 at the wine tasting pickup parties!

I also forgot both of the Canadian phones so, since we have the wallet being mailed to Oregon, the phones can be mailed as well. Now I don’t need to buy yet another phone in Canada.

So the plan, as we know it to be, is to reach San Francisco soon. We will stay at a parking lot RV park in Candlestick Park. This is not a great RV park, but we’ve stayed there before and it serves the purpose. We will move to the KOA on Saturday when a site opens up.

Tomorrow I have some claim work to attend to then we will play in the city.

Saturday and Sunday are wine tasting and pickup parties, then we will work our way to Canada. This time to ask questions about immigration and start looking for property. This is just the 1^st step. We will see where it leads, but yet another adventure and possible option.

Never know what we will be into tomorrow!

Future Travels

In the middle of our last trip we started planning 2 additional trips. Plans have been discussed off and on, but now the trip for next week must be decided upon.

We’d originally planned to leave and be away until the weather turned cooler. Now we must be back home on Sept 8 and additionally, I have a claim in S.F. that must be dealt with. Oh, the many twisty paths called life!

Trip 1:

1.      About Aug 19^th, Dale and I will leave for a couple of weeks, but unfortunately we must be back for Sept 8 for an appt.

 On this trip we will go to the coast and visit a California mission where I’ll shoot photos. We were at this mission years ago and now is a perfect time to go back.

From the mission, we will now add a stop in San Francisco to deal with a claim that needs attention. But, we also now have an excuse to play in the city.

After S.F., we will go up to the wine country for a couple of “wine pick-up” parties over the weekend. Hopefully, I can convince Armida to let me have a case of Poison at their sale price. We love Poison and are glad to pick it up when we can.

We’d planned to go from the wine country over to the east side of the Sierra’s where we would go on a 3-day backpack. Well, this will likely have a small delay as we now may need to go on a quick trip to Vancouver.

If we need to go to Vancouver then we will come back down to the east side of the Sierras and pick up the backpack trips that we’d planned. We will plan to meet Justin and his sons on Sept 4 to go on another 3-day backpack trip.  

Trip 2:

2.      After Sept 8 we will leave again for an undetermined amount of time. This time we will drive on “the loneliest road in America” and take the road to Great Basin. From Great Basin, we will drive to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. After the Grand Canyon, we will go to Hovenweep then to Taos. On this trip, we will carry all of the work equipment so that we can go to work instead of continuing our vacation if need be.

Trip 3:

3.      We are also starting to plan our summer of 2016, however, we have new possibilities so we might not be able to live abroad. Don’t worry, those of you who were tentatively making plans to join us. If we need to change our plans it will be somewhere you want to travel to.

Family Gathering, Part 2

On Friday a.m. we woke up to see our sister-in-law Jan. We haven’t seen her since our Downton dinner and were glad to catch up with her. Other relatives arrived on Friday afternoon and those we hadn’t seen for several years. This included Carolyn and her husband.

Carolyn, Dale’s older sister is just 2 years older than he is. She reminds us so much of their mother.

Carolyn makes pies, always has. She also carries on the family tradition of making Vernika (dumpling filled with a ricotta type cheese, gravy, sausage and zwiebach (a double dinner roll).

On Friday afternoon,

Carolyn and Laurie started making pies, lots of pies: peach, pecan, custard, lemon meringue, and apple. All pies were using fresh ingredients, not canned fillings. Unfortunately, I can’t eat the gluten but the pies smelled really good!

Carolyn agreed to make a meal for Saturday night of these food items. She made the vernika early then sent them frozen for use at the reunion. On Sat afternoon she showed several family members how to finish the vernika and make the zwiebach.

While Carolyn worked on remaining pies and the vernika and sausage several of us went on a hike. Dale and I’d wanted to show the sibs the road up to the ridge. We did make it to the top, just won’t admit to the top of which ridge. We worked up an appetite for all of the rich food to come.

Sunday morning had Nate and cousins making pancakes and waffles using the wheat that Nate grows. They also made eggs using the eggs from Elias’ chickens.

After breakfast family members started leaving and so we said our goodbyes for another few years. It isn’t clearly set who will take up the mantel for the next reunion, but this one was good.

For me, I couldn’t eat much because of the gluten issue. And because we have a gluten-free kitchen at home, and we try to stay with a vegetarian diet, these foods were a real treat for Dale.

Family Reunion, Part 1

After a day at home, we had to leave once again, this time to our son’s house in the Lompoc area. This last part of our vacation was to last thru the week.

Upon the death of Dale’s parents, the siblings decided to meet every other year, for a weekend, at the site of the host sibling’s choice. We have met at the home of one, Lake Tahoe, Duluth and Rehoboth Beach. During this time, we've lost 1 sibling, 2 nieces, 1 nephew and a granddaughter.

Last year Dale and I decided that we did not have any ideas that would work and were not really wanting to get involved in the reunions. We decided that we were just over the whole thing and would go on our way.

Our oldest son has a ranch on the Central California coast. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1651581?checkin=08%2F25%2F2015&checkout=08%2F26%2F2015&s=JxFL

He and a 1^st cousin Laurie, who is also his good friend, decided that they would have an expanded reunion to include all of their cousins as well as the “old geezers” as he referred to us siblings and spouses.

The 2 cousins and their spouses worked for months, planning food, sleeping arrangements and living arrangements. They built a wood fired hot tub, put in walkways, set up an area for tents, and built a bath house complete with bathtub.

For us, this reunion was actually a 2-part event. We had a gathering for our immediate family on Wed/Thurs and then the extended family over the weekend.

Our week started on Tues evening when we arrived at our son’s house to help with last minute help. We helped clean all morning Wed and took care of the “littles” so that Nate and Bekki could keep going. Our niece Laurie, the other organizer, arrived to help along with her husband.

By afternoon our middle boy Justin and 2 sons, plus wife and her daughter arrived. Christine is a great help and immediately pitched in to finish up the chores. Then our youngest son Clayton, wife and 2 kids arrived. We were all together except for our oldest granddaughter who couldn’t arrive until Fri.

Jen was very interested in the animals as she has started to collect chickens, ducks and dogs. She plans to add a goat or sheep and a pony. She has asked me questions before about chickens and goats for which I have no answers. She was able to ask her questions and finally get some good information.

It was fun to introduce Christine, Clayton and Jen to the winery next door where we are wine club members. Too bad they poured us so many wines, but we tasted everything poured and soldiered thru.

Kids played and ran amuck on the hills, swinging on the tree swings and carrying the new kitties. By the Alpenglow

 we had a fire and roasted marshmallows.

We hadn’t been all together for a while so it was so nice for all of us to be together. Clayton and Jen left and we started preparing for the next batch of relatives.

Giant Steps, A Fundraiser

I’d not planned well and dates were slightly off on the schedule I’d made out. As it turned out we had 2 days free before heading to Petaluma for the Giant Steps Gala Fundraiser.

We went home and washed clothes and bedding, cleaned dirt and twigs out of the RV and cleaned in general. Additionally, we had 5 of the little grandkids most of the time. So the RV got cleaned but the house was a total mess.

After 2 full days of cleaning and repacking we left early for Petaluma. This time we had our granddaughter Christabel and Bekki’s younger sister Shanna. Fortunately, Bel helped straighten up the house so that we could walk thru it upon our return home.

I’ve written about the show in past blogs, but I will write again to refresh the memories.

We had a granddaughter who was born 3 years ago with severe disabilities. Our granddaughter, Aubrey Grace lived 3 months but was loved by all of her family. Upon her death, Clayton and Jen donated money and got involved with Giant Steps. Giant Steps is an organization that provides free therapy for disabled people. The funds are raised by the Gala weekend.

The horse show took place over 2 days; a Sat night gala dinner with some performances by people who ride while performing various gymnastic moves and others singing. The past dinners included silent auctions and raffles. This one only had an auction with trips being auctioned off. Otherwise, we were encouraged to donate, which we were happy to do.

On Sun there was a lunch along with the horse show. Lunch was a buffet with unlimited wines with a good variety of grilled meats, veggies and salads.

Horse classes started early with, what appeared to us, to be based on time and performance. We mostly waited for the Aubrey Grace class. Jen, her mom and Zoey gave the award to the winner.

We camped at the KOA, just down from Clayton and Jen. We did some veggies on the BBQ for dinner. We were not very hungry but BBQ was good and good wine.

A Birthday Dinner

After a day of recovery for Justin and Dale, me doing word games in old newspapers, kids playing at the river, and generally a whole lot of nothing, we ended with a huge fire, marshmallows, smores and more wine.

Justin had discussed a 2^nd overnight hike on Tues but they were too wiped out to do a 2^nd hike. So instead of a hike we went for one more dip in the river where Justin and Christine dunked themselves.

We then celebrated Justin’s birthday at our campsite with a special-made dinner of meatloaf, potatoes and carrots. We’d brought a bottle of champagne and of course, good wine which went well. Birthday dessert was a gluten free brownie cake topped with whipped cream.

A big bonfire for our last night.

And Another Day in Paradise

Dale, Justin and Lucian were due in by dinner time, no specific time except that they’d be back by evening. In the meantime, I’d promised the other kids to have fun too.

We sat around camp like lumps on a log all morning. After lunch, we headed off to the river at the End of the Road for kids to play without the dead fish they so wanted to see.

More ice cream, a special treat. But this time we picked out the ice cream that was frozen more solid. Kids ate their ice cream while I checked messages.

I’d found a couple of days ago that I can check the text messages, but cannot respond. The texts try to send but don’t send. It is the same with Google Hangouts. I can check my email on ATT but can’t get into compose. But I can compose messages on my google email. Facebook notifications come thru and I can see the 1^st couple of photos posted but otherwise cannot get into any other pages.

It was about 8pm, we’d made dinner and was just putting the pots of pasta and sauce on the table when Justin drove up with Dale and Lucian. We were all so happy to see each other and that they’d made it without a problem.

Dale and Justin told of a very tough steep trail. The trail was more difficult than they’d realized it was going to be. Justin and wanted to hike to the top of a peak, but he and Lucian could only make it part way up because there were too many boulders and it was too steep. He and Lucian did spend time at Grouse Lake.

Dale only went up to the lake to see it then went back to his back down the hill and slept while Justin and Lucian went on.

They were certain that the other kids could not have made it up the trail so it worked out best that Justin could not get enough permits for all of us. We will do an easier hike another time.

More Kings Canyon Adventures

Justin was only able to obtain a total of 5 permits so the new plan was that he, Dale and Lucian would backpack into Grouse Lake overnight. I would stay with Christine, Cassie, Sequoia and Zaya.

Justin and Dale left by 9am leaving the rest of us on our own. Christine and I packed up the kids and went to the part of the river by the store. The beach was mostly rock with a smaller area of shallow water. But the fun part about this area was the small fish that Sequoia could catch by hand. Unfortunately, for the fish, Sequoia would squish the fish as he caught them. Then Zaya and Sequoia found a dead trout. They were carrying it around when I came down from parking the truck. Yuck! They put the dead fish on a stick and pretended that they had caught it with a spear. After that,

Finger Fishing

I’d had enough of the dead fish and made them throw it further into the lake.

We’d promised the kids some ice cream so stopped at the store for them to pick out ice cream bars. Wouldn’t you know, the freezer wasn’t working right so that all of the bars were melty when we opened them. I took the worst one back and they gave us a new one plus said just eat the melted one. This worked well when another fell off the stick and I had to give mine away.

Back at the campsite I’d put a broken camp chair in Justin’s site. The chair was a brand new, but cheap, a folding chair that broke when we opened it. It broke so that the front left corner wouldn’t stay up and no one could sit in it. I set it on the driveway so that it looked fine.

How to Build a Log Cabin

We got back to our camp to find our ice chest gone from under our RV and the camp chair gone. The ice chest only had veggies in it, nothing worth stealing.

Later I saw the rangers and told them that our ice chest was gone as well as our broken camp chair. The rangers said that they had nothing to do with the camp chair but had moved the ice chest into our bear box along with a warning. Additionally, our 2^nd tent was in the closed campsite behind us and that we must move it. Ish!

Christine and I moved the tent into our official site but left the ice chest in the bear box. Then we were off to another Jr. Ranger program on lichen.

New Jr. Rangers

Baths were a challenge. Go get a big pot of water then heat it. Add it to a pot of cold water in the small bathtub. Wash a kid, rinse a kid then start over. Fortunately, Christine remembered the kids’ buckets we’d taken to the river. She’d get both buckets filled then go back for more. Everyone did get clean and dinner made and by 10pm we were pooped.

Christine and I have not had any time alone since she arrive here from China. We sat up, drank wine and talked until after 2am. She is truly a joy to know and I’m so glad for the time alone for the two of us. 

And Then There Were Bears

Well, the longer hike didn’t happen. People slept late, too late, then Justin had to be at the backpack office by 1pm to get permits for the overnight backpack trip. We thought we’d play at the river while we got the permits, which ended up taking him much of the afternoon. We’d planned to come right back for lunch then hike.

The river we went to was at the End of the Road again. This time we parked in the lot nearby, taking a short path to the beach. The path went by another meadow. We put our chairs at different spot of the beach, right off of the path. Kids found a piece of wood they called Ducky and Ducky became a live friend.

I had to go back to the parking area and as I was walking saw a mother bear and her cub in the meadow. I ran back and got kids so they could see the bears.

Later the bears were still in the meadow so I was able to grab my camera and shoot some photos. I was afraid of getting too close, especially when mama bear stood up and looked at me. I backed away carefully. I’m hoping that I got some good photos to add to the bear photos that I took in Denali.

Zumwalt Meadows to The End of the Road

When we 1^st suggested to Justin that we could meet for a few days of backpacking we left the options open. We didn’t have any set agenda, only that we’d backpack or hike over his birthday.

Because there are younger kids here he decided that we’d start with a short hike one day, a longer hike the following day and then 2-overnighters. The shorter hike was yesterday. We walked to the Roaring River Falls. Unfortunately, the hike to the Zumwalt Meadow from the falls was impossible as a sign said that hundreds of trees are down on top of the trail. But the kids scampered up and down the rocks and had fun anyway.

Zumwalt Meadow

We drove to the Zumwalt Meadow intending to take the loop hike around the meadow but instead kept on the trail to the End of the Road. This was a beautiful hike with the meadow on one side and large trees on the other with the river flowing beside them. In some places, we went between the trees. An interesting side note is that a family donated money to build the trail for all to enjoy, including the disabled. So while the trail is not paved, it is an easy walk and wide enough for wheelchair access.

We left the meadow and started thru the mountain to the End of the Road where we found the river again with a large beach area. Kids took off their boots and socks and went right into the shallow area of water. Justin and his friend went to the large rock and jumped into a deep spot. It was way too cold for me.

The River at the End of the Road

Everyone was starving when we got back to camp. Nothing like some good fresh air and a little moving around to feel like a person again.