4th fun!

This year, we celebrated the 4th in a non-traditional way. In fact, we never even left the valley. We went to visit our neighbors Hector and Susie Black about 6 miles upriver. They own Hidden Springs Nursery, which includes an amazing blueberry patch. Caroline's strategy: one for the bucket, 50 for my tummy. She got the hang of picking the blue (not the green or red) ones real quick, and she wasn't afraid of crawling right in there to get the good ones. But her bucket never saw more than 4 berries.






We also went wading down Roaring River Gorge, appropriately named because it is gorgeous. This is the same river than runs by our house, but it's about 10 miles upstream where the gorge walls are 100+ feet high. This is a Class III-IV section when the water is high, but in the summer it's a great place to wade and swim. This is Spence's sister Allison.

It's so hard to get a family pic where everyone's smiling!

Landing a big one

Spence and I took Caroline on a short canoe trip Sunday afternoon, her second. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and the water was smooth and clear, so we let her walk up and down the center of the canoe, while I steered and Spence fished. We stopped frequently so Caroline could "skip" rocks and look for crawdads.

About halfway through the float, we were feeling pretty proud that Caroline was doing so well, not fussing. We found an abandoned sand bucket on the bank and let C play with it while we floated. She'd fill it from the river and dump it in the boat. Spence suggested she fill it on one side of the boat and dump it out on the other side, instead of in the boat. That worked -- exactly once. When she went to dump it, she, the bucket and the water went end over end right into the river. She did a little somersault under the water and, like a champ, popped to the surface on her back. Before she really understood what happened, I grabbed the loop on her life jacket and plucked the little 25-pound fish out of the water. She cried for about 30 seconds, cuddled in my safe, dry lap for about 2 minutes and was back on her way again.

The rest of the trip she reminded herself repeatedly, "Car-line, be careful." She sat in the bow and helped Dad reel in some nice bass and a redeye or two, which would have made a tasty dinner. We threw them all back, except for one. She was a keeper.

On another happy note, another Bethany family received their referral of a pre-school boy!

The Sky is Falling (close call on Spring Creek)

Hello, this is Spence. This is my first post on our blog. Today Lori and I canoed Spring Creek with our friend Kent. It's an easy class I (beginner level) creek, but it's very pretty and fun. It has some bouncy waves, mossy water-worn limestone bluffs, and a canopy of big hemlock trees. Dozens of springs trickle and drip from the banks all along the way. The beavers have been hard at work, gnawing and chewing down several trees. We stopped at one of our favorite spots for lunch. Peanut butter and jelly, cheese sticks, crackers, and cookies never tasted so good. Lori even brought a thermos of hot chocolate and it was gooooood. Very nice on a cold day. I know what you're probably thinking. "What about the close call?" Well, it's coming. About halfway through this seven mile trip we were drifting through a gently flowing stretch of water, shooting pictures and relaxing. Suddenly there was a loud CRASH behind us. We looked back to see that a large tree had fallen straight across the river, from one side to the other! Right where we'd been thirty seconds before! If it had hit one of us, we could easily have been killed or badly injured. It's funny, we regularly paddle difficult whitewater which is considerably more risky. And here we were on an easy cake walk kind of trip and nearly get whacked by a dead tree. Go figure!

The first three miles we encountered several strainers, which act sort of like collanders - cheerfully letting water through but trapping anything bigger than a breadbox like a boat or a paddler. This strainer happened to be a tree.

This unusual strainer was the result of the summer's drought. With ponds dried up, farmers built them to keep thirsty cows from wading down the river.

Here's the infamous tree:

And here's the 12-foot top portion that broke off when the monstrosity smacked the water:

This is me right before the tree came down:

And this is me for the rest of the trip:

Spring Creek

I should be making chili for our NYE Open House, but we're going to the river instead. Spence and Caroline have been out scouting levels, and upper Spring Creek is running. Caroline is staying with our friend Donna while we paddle. It's a beautiful, crisp day so hopefully I'll get some pics to post.

By the way, I did paddle Roaring River that morning and one other morning too. It was low so I had to drag my boat a bunch. But it sure was nice being out there early, the river like glass and not a soul in sight. It may become my weekly ritual.