Anniversary Trip – Part 3

[Written Thursday, April 18]

When last I typed we were sitting in Starbuck’s and contemplating another try at the park we couldn’t find to see waterfalls. We found our way to the park. It was the same one we’d stopped at, but maintenance crews were in front of the trail entrance so we didn’t see it. That and the trail entrance was not marked well at all.

I won’t bore you with all the details. Just most of them. I’m hoping the pictures will complete the image of the incredibly steep grassy hill we had to climb just to get to the trail. Oh.My.Gosh! I felt like a billy goat and I’m pretty sure I bleated a few times.

Nope. The picture doesn’t do the climb justice. It just looks pretty. But it wasn’t.

Thankfully we both had really good hiking boots on.

Once on the trail we made our way up to the first lookout so I could get a picture of a waterfall.

Do you see it?

Yeah. Me either. Well, maybe a little bit.

It was pretty disappointing. But we endeavored to persevere and hiked on up to the next lookout. I really liked this lookout because: A) there were chairs; and B) there were benches.

Okay. I realize there is not a picture of the benches, but I was actually sitting on a bench when I took the second photograph so it’s kind of the same thing.

There was also a waterfall.

If it wasn’t for all the nature around in the form of trees we would have been able to see it much better. But it was still better than the first one. So my “view a waterfall” criteria was fulfilled.

Did we turn around and go back? Of course not! We still had some geocaching to do. This geocaching is a dangerous business. We had to break the rules and walk past the “Park Boundaries” signs. But that’s how Todd and I roll. We’re rebels that way.

We looked and looked and looked some more with no luck. So we headed back to the trail, but on a whim Todd thought to look one more place and voila! There it was.

Thankfully the car was parked downhill. At one point I told Todd we should just roll down the grass like when we were kids and he kindly offered to hold my camera, but I decided I’m too dignified and mature to do that. By the time we climbed into Raven (that’s the name Katie has given her) we were hungry so we drove down to Naples for something meaty like a cheeseburger or steak! We ended up eating nachos at the cabin. And they were delicious!

At the beginning of the week the weather people said today would be rainy. It was not. Windy, yes. Rainy, no. So after several rounds of Rummikub on Todd’s iPad, a game that I am NOT addicted to, we decided to head back up to the north end of the lake and hit a few more geocaching spots on the way. So we did. And we found two more. Even better than the two geocaches we found was the restaurant that served mozzarella sticks and cheeseburgers after.

And this abruptly ends our third installment of the Anniversary Trip