The weekend AFTER Memorial Day rocks the best! I guess everyone camped the previous weekend, giving us a not-overly-crowded camping experience at the best place on earth (Eminence, MO.).
We arrived on Thursday and scouted the area for a spot to camp. We decided on Alley Spring's Campground. We found the perfect site- shady and tucked back away in the woods. Even nicer was the little trail that lead through the woods to another camping spot that our friends would later be staying.
Thursday: arrived, set up our extensive camp (we were comfortable and that is what matters when living outdoors for four days), the girls immediately found a box turtle that kept them occupied, Sherman and Michelle came and sat a spell with us. We caught up on family matters (their granddaughter is expecting her first baby). Her baby will be the first of the 5th generation. Both of that baby's great-great grandmothers are still living! I couldn't imagine how cool that would be. We also shared Audrey's recent misadventures with horses (Sherman and Chelle have horses-currently 10). We talked about her falling off a horse, getting stepped on, and getting bit by a horse resulting in her newfound fear regarding... horses. Sherman, being just the perfect man that he is, asked her if she had ever heard of the phrase "cowboy up". He then went on to explain that when you love horses and spend a great deal of time with them, you're going to get hurt. He had been hurt and hurt bad many a time. Then he said that is when you cowboy up. You get back on, you keep going, and don't quit. Work through the pain/fear.
After they left, we swam in our favorite swimming hole in the Jack's Fork River. I've been swimming in that spot since I was four years old, and now I get to swim there with my own little girls. While we were swimming, another family found a box turtle. Then we all witnessed something that we had never seen before. The box turtle walked right into the river and floated away, eventually crossing to the other side.
I slept so amazingly well that first night. I fell asleep listening to owls hoot back-and-forth. Nature's sweet lullaby.
Friday: We went to Winona to see Chelle and Sherman's horses. They were gorgeous. Their coats were shiny and they pranced around grazing on the lush grass. Afterward, we went to Rocky Falls. Due to the recent rain, the falls were moving a bit more than usual. The pool that they fall into, which can at times seem a little stagnant, was high, cold, and clear. Audrey and I waded up to our hips. We didn't have our swimsuits on, otherwise we would have just swam. We saw huge tadpoles (soon-t0-be-bullfrogs?). Our plan was to go back later in the day, but...
We were getting hungry and headed back to our campsite and packed a picnic. We took it over to Alley Spring and ate next to the river. We then walked to the Red Mill and started the very familiar walk around the spring. I let Eric take the girls ahead while I put the camera in macro and took pictures of flowers and dragonflies. While I was on one side of the spring, and they were on the other, I heard it- Ava crying. I knew she fell. I knew she was probably fine. I also knew that she would only want me. I kept on snapping pictures and decided to let Eric handle it.
I finally made it to where my family was. Ava had a skinned knee and refused to stand or walk. Luckily she was parked on a tree stump next to an area at the spring that was covered in dragonflies. I found a new subject to focus on.
I had just about finished taking pictures when Ava decided that she was ready to move on. I walked past her over to where Audrey was impatiently waiting. I was to the left of Audrey looking to the left at Ava. Miss. Skinned Knee was miraculously walking just fine. Then I turned to the right just in time to see Audrey immediately trip and fall HARD. Screaming, blood, a deep gash across her right knee. She fell perfectly on a sharp jagged rock that was just peeking out of the ground.
After making it back to the parking lot and cleaning it up (not before I took pictures of my bloody subject), it was decided that we would be paying a visit to the clinic in town. Drama, drama, drama, over the possibility of stitches. Luckily, the fine folks at the clinic thought a little glue would work.
So there we were, on vacation with an injured kid who needed to take the rest of the day off. No swimming. No hiking. We were forced to change our plans and change them we did. We decided to do a little exploring car style. First, we headed to a place off of V to look for wild horses. No wild horses though. We checked out the little campground nearby that is right on the Jack's Fork. It was small and nice minus the van with a loud-as-hell generator running to keep a huge air conditioning unit running. We ran into some locals on the river and after asking them about a spot we had seen on previous canoe trips, we headed down 106 to see if we could find it.
We took a certain county road way back and found exactly what we were looking for. The road branched off 3 ways and we explored all of them. The third branch was the one we were really looking for. Goose Bay. Remote, rustic, gorgeous. Unlike most of what we had seen, the area wasn't surrounded by forest, but rather woodland with lots of stinging nettle. We didn't know it was stinging nettle until we left.
To get back there, we crossed a winding creek a number of times. As we were driving along side the creek, Eric hollered at me to stop and back up quick. I did. There, in the creek was a huge snapping turtle quickly making its was up under the roots of a tree. I hopped out of the car with the camera, walked through what I would quickly identify as stinging nettle, and got a couple pictures of the turtle.
Back to town we went. I thought it might be fun to stop and look in a shop since our activities were limited. I knew the girls would love the tack shop; so in we went. We looked around for a while-speaking to the owner and playing with his dog. Audrey found a display of hoof picks with various designs. After careful consideration, she chose one that said, "Cowboy". As I was paying for it (and a curry comb, and soft and hard brushes), the owner asked if we would like it engraved. Fancy. Yes, of course we did! We left so that he could engrave "Audrey" on the back of the pick. When we returned, we discovered something interesting. Somehow, Audrey's "Cowboy" hoof pick wasn't the one engraved. Instead, "Cowboy Up" had the name Audrey engraved on the back. We took it as a real sign. That was Sherman's word for Audrey and it came right back to her.
Friday night, Brent, Vincent, Mike, and Mia made it down. It was very late and they were very tired. Jack and Cloe were at a horse show that day, so they made it down around 2 a.m. We stayed up waiting for them. I felt so bad for them. We had had an incredibly relaxing two days and they all were exhausted. It was the first time we had met Mike and Mia. Mike and Eric had a ton in common and knew a lot of the same people-skating, fishing, and cooking. Crazy weird.
Saturday we floated the Current from Two Rivers to Powder Mill. We saw lots of interesting birds, lots of turtles, and Audrey and I saw a snake in the river about a foot from our canoe. It was small and very pretty. Audrey and Cloe shared a canoe for most of the trip and the girls did amazing.
We made many stops along the way. We swam, drank, fished, and caught lots of tadpoles and crawdads, and...one leech. I caught it in a net and gave it to Mike to use as bait. I think these green spotted leaches are so pretty. I've never had one on me though, that might make me change my mind on their beauty.
Saturday night was pretty mellow back at camp. Sunburns and exhaustion kind of took their tole. Jac and Brent did play music while Mike prepared dinner. The kids were a bit cranky and the word "bored" might have been used a lot. Next trip-NO KIDS!
Sunday was the end of the trip. Mike got up early and fished our swimming hole on the Jack's Fork. He saw an otter catch and eat a fish. How cool.
Before we left, we met at Alley Springs and walked around. We saw a muskrat in the spring. It is still my favorite place in the world. When I was planning my wedding, I really wanted to get married there in a small, intimate ceremony. I didn't. I still kind of regret it. Gosh, I just love the country so much. It feels like home more than anyplace else. I ache for it. I do. I wonder when I'll be reunited with my home.
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