Secret Lakes and Well-Known Waterfalls

Many who know us via Facebook have already seen the pics, but there were many stories that can't be accommodated there so I thought I would repair to this lonely blog and record a few of them. Since I have the space I might as well give the back story as well.

Rachel was away from Thursday night through Saturday night so the boys and I were forced to plan our own fun. This began with me returning from a trip to Southern VT and trading tiny car (the Yaris that has replaced "Blackie" the silver Volvo, if you care) to Rachel in exchange for Beigy (the silver Volvo we kept) and the kids (who find their way home no matter what we do).

The boys decided on going to Al's for dinner, a move they knew would get no resistance from me. Check it out: http://www.alsfrenchfrys.com/ This place is a fairly famous local eatery but it is sort of low-brow so we don't often think to take visitors there. Remind us if you would like to try it when you are here next. The fries are very dark and caramelized and both boys prefer them to fast food. And, it isn't that much more expensive. The rest of the food is good, but you go for the fries.

Friday, Ellis got to go to day camp with a neighbor. He resisted and then had a blast. I reaped the benefits as well in the form of this duct tape wallet:

I will say that the cards in there aren't just for the picture. I am indeed using this crazy wallet as any other option would have broken Ellis's heart. He arrived from camp like a door-to-door duct tape wallet salesmen touting its versatility and toughness. Every time I get it out, he erupts with some comment like, "yer really lucky I found the yellow and the orange duct tape aren't you dad?" or "I was pretty smart figuring out how to put a coin area in it huh?" I just tell him it is great and don't say anything about the fact that nowhere does it have a pocket appropriate for a United States note or Euro note of any denomination. I think that its best feature may be that it is nearly unrecognizable as a wallet and therefore it is unlikely to be stolen. Well played Ellis.

While Ellis went to camp, Maddox came to work with me. I had a pretty good feeling about this idea because the kid can be hypnotized by TV, and indeed it worked, even on a day that wasn't an easy work day for me:. 

A pillow, blanket, iPad and a snack packed by Ellis resulted in a very happy camper. We called his little area there his "desk" which worked very well when I said things like, "you can eat that apple while you watch a movie at your desk." He lasted a full work day. Thank you Netflix.

Saturday they were on top of me at about 5:30 am. So I suggested we go on a hike (hoping to wear them down). A coworker had suggested a slightly hidden lake along the Long Trail as a fun hike for kids since it was sort of secret. Plus along the hike there was a fun creek the play in. So we ate, Ellis helped me pack some snacks and get his brother ready and we hit the road. We were on the Long Trail by 8 am. Here we are crossing the creek the first time:

 And here we are in the stream that kept us from reaching the lake because it was so much fun. The waterfall behind them had a double cascade.

 The stream flowed over solid rock with 10 and 12 foot drops and nowhere was there enough water to be dangerous, even for the daredevil Maddox. Ellis wanted to explore to find out just how far the solid-rock river bed went up the hills and Maddox wanted to lay on his belly peering into a 6 inch deep pool looking at tiny rocks, or, more precisely, trying to handle every rock. Surprisingly, Ellis was the one who didn't care to go find the hidden lake. So we spent about 3 hours going a grand total of 3 miles, little of it with much direction.

The best part of doing this sort of thing is the crazy things the boys say and their unique ways of enjoying it. Ellis largely roams out ahead following our well established Marco Polo rule. (If I say "Marco" he better be close enough to hear and respond with "Polo".) Maddox is usually perpetually distracted by something be it a bug or a leaf or another hikers dog, so I am always having to boot him down the trail. Maddox hiked the first 1.5 miles with his shoes on the wrong feet, usually hollering "Marco" right after me in the time window that I expected to hear "Polo" from Ellis.

Among the highlights were Maddox randomly announcing to me, "Dad, I smell green." I hope this was a metaphoric statement about the rich loamy, fungusy smell of the woods and not, perhaps more likely, another indication that the boy isn't wired quite right.

Ellis proved to have internalized quite an understanding of how the trails worked. At one point he was far ahead of me and I thought he might have followed a side trail. I hollered up to him if he was sure that was the right trail and he hollered back, "yes I checked both sides of the last blazes to make sure." And, he was right.

Ellis also reminded me of his mother when he pointed to a dead tree that had 4-5 branches sticking out of it, including one that looked like a thumb, 25-30 woodpecker holes, and a great big gash and said, "hey, that tree reminds me of your hand." (Note for those of you not following our family closely, I had a small accident where a tool cut the back of my hand and sliced an extensor tendon resulting in a many stitches and 25 shots to numb the hand over the course of the treatment.)

The winner of the silliness though had to be Maddox. Every hole he saw, be it in the ground, a rock, log or tree, had to be investigated. It usually went like this:

Me: Maddox, where are you going?
M [pointing at the hole]: I am going to get a better wook in der.
Me: Please hurry up.
M [with his face nearly in the hole]: Hewoe in der. Any body dere?
M [now shaking his head]: Nope, nobody home.

I like to imagine that in one of those trees there was a porcupine just out of site that died of heart attack from my three year old getting up in his grill and screaming at him..