Spring Break with...

the granddaughters to a cabin at Natural Bridge for two nights.

We hiked to Whittleton Arch, Rock Bridge, our favorite Frog Pond, Natural Bridge. Roughly over 5 miles in all.

We saw…
…wild flowers - wild geranium, wild ginger, red and white trillium, chick weed, bishop’s cap, bellwort, solomon’s seal, the beginnings of the pink lady slippers, wood betony, foam flowers, a tiny maiden hair fern, may apple (not the flower just yet), dwarf iris, jack-in-the-pulpits, violets, columbine all in full bloom.

… wild life (besides the kids) – frog eggs, tadpoles, salamanders,(found a great bargain on a little fish net that we used at the frog pond – probably terrorizing nature at its finest) a tiny snake, butterflies, turtles, life in the streams, a crawdad or two, flying squirrels, all kinds of insects, a jumping spider.

We heard…
….thunder in the evening as a number of storms rolled through the valley Tuesday.

…grandpa’s lessons on rocks, trees, flowers, water, and did I mention rocks?!

…grandpa’s motto: “You can learn something new every day, if you pay attention.”

….”Have they worn you out yet” spoken by a man on the trail when Autumn announced that we were her grandparents. We weren’t sure if he was talking to us or to the kids.

…”Thanks for bringing us here.” Spoken at the Frog Pond.

...”Here again next spring break? I don’t think so. We’re too tired. “ Spoken by Destiny at the end of the second day.

…”You alright Grandma?” Spoken by Deasia many times. I tried to convince her that I enjoy bringing up the rear, more time to take it all in.

The girls were a delight. Even after Deasia fell in to the stream and came up soaking wet she handled it well. Hiking in wet clothes cannot be fun. But she dried off and kept up the pace.

Maybe Destiny along with Autumn and Deasia will only remember the fun times and not how tired they were and they’ll be ready for another trip next Spring Break. Maybe Grandma and Grandpa will be too.

Yesterday I vacuumed the tent....

Yep, that’s right. A few days ago I realized that back in October when we were headed back from our ‘out west’ trip, we folded up the tent with the internal ground cloth still in place. We had gotten in the habit of doing this in order to save folding and a few hours later unfolding the tarp when we were once again setting up camp. Seemed like a good idea then, perhaps it was because we were breaking camp in the dark with a giant green blow-up Frankenstein staring at us, (Remember this was October folks.) and it was but now, 6 months later I realized that we never unfolded the tent to air it out and remove the ground cloth in order to roll the tent in to its proper stuff sack.

So, yesterday I set up the tent in our ‘tree room’ (due to the threat of rain) pulled the tarp out and had a few moments of trip recall – the mountains, the sky, the chilly nights, the wildlife, the lakes, the canyons (there were all grand), the birds, the trees, their magnificent colors especially towards the end, the endless road that took us and delivered us back home, and the people we met along the way, not to mention the buffalo.

So I pulled out our green ‘floor’. Took it out on the deck to shake out. Went back in and realized that the floor of the tent needed to be swept out. Hmmm…could I use the vacuum on it? Well, yes I could. It worked like a charm. All the tiny twigs, dust from other states and feathers from Jerry’s down sleeping bag disappeared up the black hose. But, and I’m happy to say, the floor of the tent and all the memories are still strong – of good times and delightful experiences.

I like it when spring cleaning = tent preparation.