Low-Water Bridge to Clarion Lane

This week saw our first days and nights together as a family in the cottage.  We did all the typical vacation stuff, like playing in the river, grilling hamburgers, sitting by the campfire, and watching the stars.  Our two aging dogs accompanied us, although the collie preferred to stay downstairs.  A good time was had by all.

After a quick visit to Bob's Tire we embarked on our first tubing adventure.  The journey from Low-Water Bridge to Clarion Lane lasted just over two and half hours.  Coincidentally, earlier this summer on our very first house-hunting trip, we had been rerouted when Power House Road was closed at the Low-Water Bridge.  Our joint memory was that the bridge was completely gone, however, we found the bridge in tact this week.

A local fellow, a burly home-builder, and his teenage daughter kept us company for the first quarter mile.   They must have been walking home when the earthquake struck.  We were oblivious to the 5.8 magnitude quake from our vantage point on the water.  Being that the river is lowest in late summer, the only thing we felt were the "butt rocks" as my sons like to call the shallow rapids.

On the following day the cousins joined us for a one night stay.  Back to Bob's for more tubes and seven of us floated from the common area to somewhere near the farmhouse.  We would have gone longer but I misinterpreted the take-out so we had to walk home from our neighbor Chuck's place at 873 Clarion.

Neighbors Nick and Rachel were especially kind to us.  They surprised our youngest son with a gift in the form of a river frog.  Nick showed me how to fix the shared well with a stepladder.  They even lent us a "cup of Internet" so somebody could check her e-mail.

Yes, this is the stuff that memories are made of.  Mommy used her novel to test the property's many lovely sitting spots.  Daddy got a bait trap ($6) and his first West Virginia fishing license ($53).  The kids spent hours playing with Beyblades, building electronic circuits, and watching fish.  The wildlife is abundant.  Sitings included deer, groundhogs, squirrels, a blue crane, crayfish, butterflies, hornets, and a bazillion spiders.  No sign of the bear yet, but we did hear the wild turkey at nightfall.

Tonight we are back home for the second of two quick visits to care for our chickens.