Hiking Mt. Vegroovious

I felt like I had missed out on something after Cliff, Lidia and Sawyer's hike a couple of weekends ago. So last Sunday, we all went hiking.  Back to Mt. Vegroovious (the name given, by Cliff and L&S, to the huge hill/small mountain across the lake from us).

We got all dolled up because our first leg took place in the boat. And although the sun was shining, the wind from the boat ride would cut right through you.

 The Highlights in Photos:

 

1) Lowered lake water levels reveals a sandbar of sorts

 

2) A quick stop at the Greenwood State Park

 

3) Sawyer drove us back across the lake.

 

4)And then it was snack time.....Lake Sushi - sardines and soda crackers. A true southern fisherman's staple. Although a born and bred southerner, in all my years, I had never eaten sardines before.

That was history in the making, right there. And you know what?

They were actually pretty good. Lidia and Sawyer love them.

 

 

 

5) Just a stone's throw from our house, the dam, named Buzzard's Roost, is at the end of the lake and then the Saluda River is on the other side. Since kayaks and such, can not cross over the dam, there is an area called mandatory portage where someone in kayaks, for instance, can take their yaks out of the water and cross over on land to put in again in the Saluda River. 

This is the Saluda River side of the Buzzard's Roost.

 

5) Mandatory Portage

 

6) We revisited the cairn they made a couple of weeks ago.

Sawyer and I added more stones.  

 

7) Hike up and over Mt. Vegroovious.

 

 

8) Treasures - Cliff and the children always find some sort of treasure.

Today, Cliff found an old Texize jar. Texize is a company that makes cleansers.

I looked on eBay and these jars are going for $28.

We cleaned it up and will hang on to it for awhile.

I may display it somewhere in the kitchen or laundry closet.

 

9) There was a beast waiting for us at the end of the hike. The mandatory HILL. Good Lord, this hill is not for the faint of heart. Lidia was the first to make it up to the top, then Cliff. I was next and then poor Sawyer was last. By this time, he was so tired and out of energy that he could hardly walk a few feet before flopping down on the grass. He finally took his life jacket and threw it as far as he could....walked a short distance and repeated until he made it to the top. He could hardly go when he got to the top. He leaned on me until we made it back to the boat.  

 

 

 

What a great day with the grandkids! I'm so thankful we have the time and energy to be able to make memories like these. I know Lidia and Sawyer will remember them always.

 

Til our next adventure,

Laurie

 

P.S. I've been experimenting with my camera in manual mode. I'm sure there will be lots of mistakes and bad pictures until I get this thing figured out. But, oh my goodness, when I do....well, I just can't wait to see what I can do.

 

 

Things That Make My Head Turn

Saturday morning in the upstate started out rainy.

But as the day unfolded, so did the sun.

I love barns, old and new. This one has seen better days. It never fails, though, that every time I pass by one it makes my head turn.

Until the next one,

Laurie

Seaside Monday

 

I had a nice run today down by the ocean.

 

It was peace and calm as far as the eye could see....

 

 

 

Although you can't tell from this picture and you wouldn't know any difference unless you're from here, but the tide seemed especially low today. I wonder if it's because the sea was so calm and serene.

 

 

Laurie

 

 

 

 

Explorations and The Hard Place

We bought our house at the lake for this very purpose....to be closer to Lidia and Sawyer. We live for days like these. From the time they arrive on Fridays after school until they have to go home Sunday evening, they are in adventure and exploration mode. And Cliff is their captain.

Now, to be able to explore you have to have certain gear. Christmas gifts for Lidia and Sawyer (also known as L&S) this Christmas included hiking boots, warm clothing, gloves, toboggans and camping dishes and utensils. Their new camp in the woods at the lake is partially on a huge rock. Their camp's name is The Hard Place. Between a rock and a hard place....get it. Ha! They have a fire pit and a grill to sit on top so they can cook. The usual camp meals are hot dogs and things like that unless Cliff has a stash of squirrel or venison in the freezer.  Last weekend, camp fare was squirrel. My job was to boil the squirrel until tender and then they would cook it over the fire to give it that smoky campfire taste. But first, they had some exploring to do.

Saturday, it was misting rain and so cold that L&S wore their camouflage coveralls over clothes to keep warm. They stayed outside all day long with Cliff, exploring the area around the lake.

During the winter the water level in the lake is lowered so residents can do maintenance on their retaining walls and docks, etc. The lower water level gave them the opportunity to discover hidden treasures.

 

Cliff said, "Found a perfectly good chair left after lake level down three feet".

 

 

 

Artifacts recovered - musselobster, moonshine jug spout, 8th century candle,

Native American headpiece and ancient fossilized driftwood.

Sawyer eating mud ice....because I'm pretty sure Bear Grylls does.

 

Their exploration wasn't limited to the shore line, they went deep into the woods, too.

 

Into the woods.

Erecting a mound of stones as a marker, also known as a cairn.

 



Lidia and Sawyer's signature cairn at Mt. Vegroovious..

 

 

I can't stop laughing at this video. They were obviously thirsty at the end of their day. They look like the babies I remember sucking their bottles. 

 

 

 

Sunday, back at The Hard Place, Cliff prepared the fire for cooking their 'end of adventure' meal. Squirrel. I imagine that one day Cliff will also teach them to hunt squirrels.

 

 

 

 

Lidia with misty rain in her hair and blue nails sitting at The Hard Place eating squirrel.

 

No doubt, L&S are going to be the most outdoors savvy kids by the time their Papi gets through with them. And, Lidia and Sawyer love it. They don't miss television or video games. They never complain about being bored. Their imaginations run free. Oh the memories and stories they're going to be able to tell their kids one day. Adventures and explorations of a lifetime! 

 

Until the next expedition,

Laurie

 

The Epilator Incident

My friend, Pam, loves QVC. She keeps the QVC Channel on her television for background noise like I do the Weather Channel. You remember that my birthday is the week before Christmas, right? Well, for my birthday and Christmas, Pam gave me some Perlier Honey Miel body lotion, hand lotion and body wash, found at QVC. I absolutely love the stuff. I get it every year. She also gave me some Wen Shampoo and a sweater like one of hers that I had admired. I'm telling y'all, girlfriend hooked me up.

So, as we sat oohing and ahhing over our gifts and sharing products and good ideas as we women tend to do, she made me really excited to check out QVC for myself. I shared with Pam that I had wanted to try the Clarisonic cleansing system for your face and I thought that would be a good item to start. I ordered it, and love it. I was bitten by the QVC bug. I couldn't wait to see what else I could find on the Q.

After looking around on the QVC website, I noticed another item that sounded like something to try. I even watched a video about it.

It was an epilator.

Not just any epilator. It was an Emoji eRase Pro 60-Disc Epilator. Again, I watched the video and read the reviews. Anything that promises to prolong shaving your legs for 4-6 weeks had to be in my arsenal. Now, this epilator uses 60 tweezers to remove the hair from the root. It was designed for comfort and efficiency, with the description saying that the first time you use it, you may feel a pricking sensation. Pam has one. Well, ok then. I had to try it.

The epilator came the other day and sat in the box until I worked up the courage to try it....tonight.  I plugged that bad boy up and started sweeping the thing up and down my leg. 

O.M.G!!!

Do y'all remember Jerry Clower? Do you remember that holler he used to do when he was talking about coon hunting. Well Jerry Clower didn't have anything on me when I commenced to using that epilator.

Hawwwwwwwwww!

Pricking sensation my foot! I broke out into a sweat and felt my face get hot. I was sure I had steam coming out of my nose and I was afraid to look down because I just knew that the 60-Disc tweezers had just eaten my leg up. Everyone of those 60-discs were working on me....yanking out leg hair after leg hair. But as painful as it was, I couldn't stop. Because, how was I going to let one leg go 4-6 weeks in between shavings and the other one...every other day. No, I had to keep going. Y'all! It took me 30 minutes to epilate both legs.

Hawwwwwwwwwww!

Painful, yes. But in the end, I now have nice smooth legs. I can't stop rubbing them. Ha! And thank the Lord that Pam hooked me up with the Honey Miel. I'm super soothed now and going to bed. That was an exhausting experience.

I've got a yoga class in the morning. I'm going to need it.

Talk soon,

Laurie

Just Get Some Real Shoes

When does old age start? Anyone know? I think it might be at my back door. Why? Well......why else would I be falling and such? Or...could Cliff be right? 'It's all about the shoes'.

On the trail run at Huntington the other day, I twisted an ankle. It wasn't bad, but enough to make me acutely aware of every step I took. Twisting an ankle on a trail run is probably par for the course. You know, because of the terrain and all....roots and holes covered by pine straw. I'm not the only one to ever twist an ankle on a trail run. Again, it was not bad. It doesn't even hurt. But, when you start adding up all the little incidents like that, one might start wondering. Am I getting old and feeble? Is this how it starts?

Just last night, Cliff had taken Lidia and Sawyer to the indoor pool at Lakewood and I decided to walk down there a little later. My "acute awareness of every step I take" was still on high alert. I had a few steps to walk down in the dark and it had been raining, so the steps were damp, if not slippery. Again, I was acutely aware of this. So I started traversing the steps slowly. I got to the bottom and the whole earth just dropped out from beneath me or so it felt. I had missed the last step and couldn't feel where to put my foot. I caught myself falling forward and quickly grabbed for the rail and lunged backwards. When I did, my legs bent into a very deep squat and I twisted my right knee, fell on my bum and scraped the heck out of my arm on the rail. And, the tips of my fingers grabbed something so fiercely that it has left them partially numb. I came inside and pulled myself together. Nurse Emily, our daughter, checked me out and nothing was broken. So I stood and everything was working properly. Once again, even more acutely aware of my surroundings, I left for the pool again.

This time, I turned the porch light on. Ha!

See?

The mind might be going, too. Why didn't I do that in the first place? Million dollar question!

Anyway, with the light on, I could see where to step and I took off down the pitch black road with dips and water puddles from the rain. I was so alert, by this time, that I saw every stick and pebble. 

When I got to the pool, I told Cliff about me falling and after checking to see that I was alright, the first thing out of his mouth was, "Well, if you would wear real shoes....".

Men!

So the rest of the conversation went like this:

Me: It was not the shoes, I missed a whole step.

Cliff: But still, your shoes are like high heels. Start wearing something that the heel is wider than your foot.

Me: I walk just fine in these shoes.

Cliff: If you're starting to fall, I'm going to have to put you in a wheelchair.

Me: HaHa! Or just get me one of those walkers with the tennis balls on the bottom.

Cliff: Just get yourself some real shoes!

 

Old or not, real shoes or not.......

 

I'll be back soon,

Laurie

A Trail In The Sand By The Sea

I didn't write a post yesterday, the first day of 2015. It was just Cliff and I....the kids have all gone home. I didn't feel well so I didn't do much of anything except cook our usual New Year's Day lunch....black eye peas and collard greens with cornbread. 

However, today, I wanted to run or ride the bike or something. So......after a late breakfast, Cliff and I decided to go on a trail run at Huntington Beach State Park. This particular run was threefold. The first was a trail through the woods, the second on the beach and the third on the jetties.

Part 1:

The wooded trail......



The trail was sandy, covered in spots with pine straw and had it's fair share of roots. I only twisted my ankle once and got stuck in the foot by a stick, once.

It even had some hills.

 

There were some pretty vistas. The path parallels a long pond. It's hard to see here, but ducks were plentiful. And if Cliff goes back there in the morning to duck hunt, I may need to start a fund for his bail money.

This is an oak, believe it or not.

Cliff thinks he may move in and build a house among it's branches.

I love running on boardwalks. We crossed two or three. Plus a major one that leads to the beach.

 

 

Part 2:

The beach trail.....

The major one.

The beach.

Do you see that thin black line in the middle of this picture? That's the jetties at Murrells Inlet and our destination.

 

Getting closer......

 

 

Part 3:

The jetty trail...

The destination.

 

The sea was so calm today.

Not much splashing on the rocks.

 

On the way back, Cliff caught crabs....

 

 

A crab, I mean, a crab. A horseshoe crab. LOL!!

 

 And, I thought I heard Cliff singing....

 

I got my toes in the water, toes in the sand
Not a worry in the world, a crab in my hand
Life is good today, life is good today

 

......under his breath.

Although, Zac Brown might want to slap him for monking with his song.

 

Just saying...

 

Well, this out and back run was nearly 6 miles. We had a great time and got some much needed exercise, as well. If I can keep Cliff out of the slammer and Zac off his back, we might take the bikes back tomorrow and ride them on the hard sand near the water's edge back to the jetties.

 

Til then,

Laurie