We sure love the beauty of the flames (as long as they are well-contained, that is!:)
(This pic was suppose to show up at the bottom!:)
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Gee... Once again I thought I was really gonna' have it down this time, and insert my photos 1st, AND all in order, and that it would look RIGHT when it was all done... but no.... it didn't work that way at all.... so how I do that I DON'T know...
Someone... PLEeeeeeeeeASE HELLLPPPPP!!!!!! ;)
Anyway, this may not make any sense now, trying to tell a story w/ the pics in allllllll the WRONG order.... BUT..... we'll try...... ;)
(You'll have to try it figure it out... What a challenge!! :)
1st of all, we did have a GREAT time! It was gorgeous and peaceful.... serene.... God's awesome beauty and creation all around....
Our 1st day we spent unpacking and getting settled in. We roasted hotdogs the 1st night, along w/all the other good stuff....
Our 2nd day we were gonna "hit the trail(s)".....
We were told of a .6 mile hike up to a smaller waterfall. We figure... "Okay... We can DO that one!" It was beautiful! It was full of adventure and wonder! ...... It was NOT .6 miles long!!! :) I think Chris said it wound up being almost 2 miles, 1 way, and we hiked UP hill quite a bit, and ran DOWN hill, some....
3/4 of the way there, we ran into our campsite- neighbors who had been right behind us. We hiked the rest of the way w/ them (another family of 4). The all of us were wondering just when would this hike end??? There were times we were all tempted to go back.... none of us wanted much more of this... it was getting tougher and tougher....
We hiked up and up and up.... and up.... and then all of a sudden we were going down, down.... WHY???? What kind of waterfall is going to be DOWN???
Both our families were amazed to see the teeny tiny waterfall that we had NOT hike .6 miles for.. but much more! :)
But we were so glad we didn't turn back, because as it turned out, the men discovered if we just took the paved road back to camp, we'd be there in a cinch.... and they were RIGHT!! -Probably only 15 smoothly-walked minutes back to camp!! Good thing we didn't turn back!! ;) Whew!
And to think that's how close we actually were to the waterfall, but we took the lonnnng way! :)
-Course--- we wouldn't of traded that for the beauties and adventurous experiences along the way! :)
All that reminds me of Galatians 6:9
"Do not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time, you WILL reap a harvest, IF you do NOT give up." There's also verses about "standing firm 'til the end"......
-Good stuff... GREAT stuff!.....
So.... here is the steps we had to go back up, up, up.... to get back out of seeing our lil waterfall..... It looked like a pretty postcard or such... ;)
This is the front of our camp space, and the road to the restrooms.... BEAUTIFUL!! :)
Our camp site, from the porch of our tent cabin...
This was the bird that stayed near us the WHOLE time we were at our camp site. He seemed to definetly be watching for food to drop or be given. So finally I threw him (or her) some cherries. He ate several. He came up real close, and seemed to be quite used to people, not scared at all. In fact, we later regretted ever feeding him, because he then began landing on our table again and again, and that was NOT okay w/ US. ;) (We had the same experience w/ the seagulls at the beach, last year... -Guess I didn't learn my lesson.)
2 spaces down from us was empty, and IT had TONS of places to roam right within its space. (Ours was very small and confined.) So we spent some time enjoying that place, hiking, checking stuff out... laying on a blanket, looking up at this, or reading God's Word.... I would have liked to stay there longer..... but the mosquitos kept getting in between me and the Words.... though I'd prayed and prayed God would get rid of them so I could indulge in more wonderful reading.... AND..... Chris also called me back, because "We had trouble......" SOMEBODY locked the keys in the cabin... (I won't say who... but it wasn't me). .... (Although just minutes before I ALMOST could have done that....) So back we went... good thing Chris had his knife- all he had to do was unscrew the screws that held the _______..... gadget on. And we got back in! Yay! :)
Part of the beautiful (NOT .6 mile trail)... VERY beautiful.....
Anybody need a postcard??
The incredible leaning tree..... one of many of leaning trees.... We were amazed how many trees leaned SO much, and still hadn't fallen yet..... It made me think of the song "Leaning... Leaning... Leaning on the Everlasting Arms...."
-We gotta' have deep, strong roots so we don't fall over too.... ;)
The lil waterfall we finally came upon... THANK YOU GOD!! :) It WAS pretty..... We just were sure hoping for more after all our hard work!! :) We stayed there and got to know the other family a bit more, and they offered to share their lunch w/ us.... They were very, very nice people. Both our families were so glad we had the company of one another.... amidst our trial.... I mean our trail.....
They were holding down this rock so it wouldn't get carried away by the water...
I mean they were riding this rock......
Okay, no.... It was a cute picture... and really the rocks were much more beautiful than pictures show. MANY of these pics were a disappointment, because the pics did NO justice, to what WE saw, in 3D reality.... :(
And it is also amazing as I think of how God made our eyes to see so much in so many directions all at the same time... and so well, at that.... And I have a great family too! :)
We've had alot of trouble finding the right light setting for the camera . The forest is so mixed w/ light and dark. Most of the pics come out too dark to make out. We found the landscape setting to work good..... the right light.....
Until we saw them on a bigger screen (the pc)... and found that many of our pics actually turned out blurry, such as this one....
But nonetheless.... here's the kids at the creek. I think EVERY kid should get to experience playing in a creek! :)
Here's another postcard quality- pic..... Pretty! Pretty! Pretty!! GOD IS GOOD!! :)
Glassy waters..... Aw........ ;)
I took our campsite photos last, being as I hadn't done so yet. Here we are packing up to go.... From where I was, and looking thru the tiny screen of the camera, I found Chris there holding _______??? It looked like 2 rabbits!! :) But no...... shaking out his 2 shoes!! :) Cute, anyway!! :)
Our 1st night SLEEPING ( I mean TRYING to sleep)..... Here we were trying to get peace and quiet.... and as soon as we lay down, I hear beep, beep, beep__________ beep, beep, beep____..... and on and on it went.... "Hey Chris- do you hear that beeping??? WHAT is THAT???" He says "What beeping? I don't hear anything." And this went on, back and forth for 10 minutes. I finally get out of my warm cozy sleeping spot, and go outside to take a better listen..... "Beep, beep, beep_________...." I am so irritated that someone would do such a thing... and that someone closer should stop such a thing, if it's not something being done on purpose, or is in somebody's control to do so....
I was not looking fwd to going on the whole night like this; and w/ NO sleep... :( I wondered if it could be a fire alarm (it sounded like what it does, when the battery is dying).....
But still, I yelled out, as an attempt:
"Can somebody turn that off?! I can't get any sleep!" ..... :(
Yeah... I know..... I was that desparate.... turns out nobody heard me anyway...
But Chris kept hearing me.....
"Honey, I can't get any sleep..... Can't you hear that beeping? Can you pleeeease go track it down, & take the batteries out? Pleeeeease???"
He did. What a great guy! :) I prayed the whole time that God would lead him to it quickly, and keep him safe also....
Apparently, it was 3 sites down, to our left....
Ah..... PEACE, at last!!!!!! :) :) ;)
Our 2nd night, as we were just shutting down for the night, and bringing stuff in before it got any darker, a raccoon showed up, just as bold and un-shy as can be....
Chris shewed him off several times, but he just kept coming back, as close as could be. We're glad the kids (and I too) got to see such a site. Cody kept wanting to help scare him off too, but Dad didn't let him, of course! :)
I had a hard time finding this guy... (being as he was in camou & all).... but I got him now and I'm not gonna' let him go.... ;)
This cute lil gal was also hard to find, (amidst the camou) but after much searching I found her too, and took her home also....
This adorable lil boy was a lil easier to find since his bright orange hat gave him away.... He tried hard to show me how manly, brave, and strong he was.... So I finally took him too.... ;)
Ooooooh.... Roasting marrrrrrrshmaaaaallows........ Mmm.....
Our 2 families took turns taking pics of eachother at the fantastic waterfall destination.... ;)
Daddy & kids trying to hide from me ( Can you see them?? I'm not sure if you can make 'em out in all that camou--)
One of the 1st things that we did, was come upon this giant, enormous, unbelievable slug!! Look on the log!
Banana slug...... Banana milkshake anyone??? YUCK!!
Pbth!! Yuck!! .... Still.. amazing though!! We couldn't believe our eyes! This was OUR 1st time seeing such a big slug/ banana slug. Whew!! :)
Chris took this pic of me, and it's rare that I ever LIKE and approve of a picture of ME.... and I like this one... so here it is. I thought I looked alot like my lil sister Marnie here. (But didn't yet tell Chris.) He told me he thought I looked like Marnie here..... Facial expression and smile like hers, and I agree. .... So then I HAD to put it up. 
-This was much prettier than what the pic reveals..... 
This was an AWWWWWESOME picture Chris took!! WOW! Breathtaking! Gorgeous!! :) Glory to GOD! :)
Chris took an even better pic of this view from way back where he went to get this shot. It's great! :)
Not a bad picture...... Pretty nice.... ;)
We found this chipmunk on our tentcabin porch.... ;) ( A close-up)
The chipmunk (not close up)
This tree's "bent all out of shape".... What a sight! :)
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