The Grove Life

Tuesday the 18th, after working in the garden, and relaxing for a while, we packed some bomb sandwiches and headed out to the lake. Mom and Jeff soon arrived and made short work of setting up the camper. While Jeff snoozed, Mom, Ru and I played a few games of Yahtzee. Ru won. He's on a streak. Even though on the very last roll of the dice mom got a yahtzee with 6's. 

Tina the turkey showed up to say hi. She may have been saddened that we didn't offer her a barbecue chip. 

 Wednesday morning we woke up to clear skies, and we went out to weed. Here is a picture from facebook of Dave enjoying the company of his grandson while we weed his potatoes.

Dave with his grandson in Indianapolis (taken from facebook)

Ruben weeding the potatoes some more. There are a LOT of weeds. 

When we got to the lake, Mom and Jeff were just about to go for a swim. We joined them on the beach for a while, and watched the blackbirds try to chase off an eagle. After they finished their swim, Jeff decided to stay at the lake and mom came with us for a short hike. Ruben did a lovely job driving, and we arrived at Spirit falls in about a half hour. 

One of the most beautiful places on earth in my opinion. 

A relaxation video

We returned to the campground and picked up Jeff. The plan was to go into town, eat a burger at a food cart, and watch Fred's band perform. That's exactly what we did. 

My friend Sarah and her daughter Ellie met us at Bohemia park in Cottage Grove for the show. It isn't officially concert season yet, but Fred and his buddy are doing sound for the Wednesday concert series, and Fred's band  (I think their name is the Woulda Coulda Shouldas)volunteered to test out the sound system. There were some kinks, in the form of annoying feedback, but the band did a great job. Freddie rocked on the bass, and his friends really held their parts. They didn't have a big audience, but the friends and family watching all seemed pleased. 

Matching shirts on Mom and Jeff

 

Fred playing his composition Tropical Rain

After dropping by Dave's house and setting up Sarah's tent, we joined Mom and Jeff at the lake for smores and Mystical Fire. 

Brushing teeth and tidying up. 

We awoke to rain at 3am. We had two large tarps UNDER our tents which we had to pull out and over, but it just took a few minutes and we climbed into our barely damp beds and went back to sleep. Only a few more sprinkles happened a little later in the morning. 

The forecast lied. 

After we all woke up, had candy cane hot cocoa and thought about breakfast, we agreed that going to a restaurant would be a good choice. Ruben drove Sarah, Ellie, and I to the Vintage Inn where we saw my grandpa and his friends just finishing up their breakfast. 

We had delicious if greasy breakfast and after doing some weeding and watering at Dave's, and making a sandwich or four, we headed for the lake. The weather had warmed dried up a little, but we still put the tarps back on the tents in case of sprinkles. 

On the way to Baker Bay we stopped at the ranger station to find out which hiking trails were open. I wanted to take Sarah and Ellie to Brice Creek, but the ranger said that it was "Messy" up there still, and to try the falls up Lang Creek. We had been to Spirit Falls yesterday, but there were two other falls only a short distance from there that were also spectacular, so we decided to try them out. 

When we got to the lake,  Mom said it was too cold for them,  and after a short boat ride they were heading home. We bid them good bye, and headed up the mountain without them.

Our first hike was Pinard falls, a .6 of a mile hike down a "medium difficulty" trail. The weather was a little chilly, maybe 65 degrees, but we had a good time climbing around on the rocks and taking pictures. Ruben found some crystals on a rock ledge. 

Ruben is near the top the log that goes diagonal in this picture. Sometimes I have to just look away when he climbs on things. After I take a picture. 

Ellie and Sarah eating bomb sandwiches before the next hike. 

We stopped at Spirit Falls, it was on the way and the weather was warming up a little. it's also a short hike down, and harder hike back up. The sun came out for a while, and Ellie and I sat in the 70 degree mist while Sarah hunted for rocks, and Ruben rested on a mossy shelf. 

On the way back to Baker Bay to retrieve my camping supplies I had left behind, we stopped at Wildwood Falls. It's a great swimming hole, when it isn't crowded with smoking beer drinking locals, which it wasn't today. We didn't swim, but we looked around and watched the fish and water skippers.

I gave Sarah and Ellie the covered bridge tour, one we got to drive through, and also showed them where we lived before we moved to Salem. They admired the view. 

When we got back to Dave's, I cooked us up some burgers and dogs and we played a game of twilight Yahtzee. Ruben won. Again.