Today we went on a road trip with three stops. First stop, 3 Valley Gap Ghost Town. We arrived after a two hour drive. A portable DVD player kept the "Are we there yet" whining to a minimum. The only persistent question was where are we going. My answer, we are going on a treasure hunt.
Carmen took advantage of the caretaker's over the top flirting to get us the family rate, $30. Since the kids are all under 11, we saved $6. But hey, $6 is $6!!! After paying the fee, the man gave maps to the Brendan and Dawson informing them if we got lost they should ask the ghosts for help. The boys did a double take before getting down to diligently studying the maps.
The town is very large and in the end we didn't see all of it. But what we did see was pretty neat. We could roam on our own to a church, blacksmith shop, jail, saloon, general store and many others. At the far end of the compound was the railway roundhouse. Dave was in his element here. He loves trains more than any of us and spent some summers as a porter on the Canadian Pscific Railroad. One of the cars we toured was just like one that Dave served on so he was our tour guide for that. He showed us how the rooms were converted to sleeping cars and how the passengers could put their shoes in the slot for the porters to take out and shine to be returned before the passengers woke the next morning. The rooms were actually a bit bigger than the one Dave and I had for our trip but the trains are not the same.
Well the two hour ride meant that by now it had been a very long time since breakfast and the boys were starving so we headed back out to the van for a picnic lunch tailgate style. I forgot to mention that when we arrived, eagle eye Dave spotted rock climbers on the mountain behind the Inn. We found them again as we ate lunch. They were on there way back down now.
After lunch we opted to move on to our next stop rather than go back in the ghost town. Next stop, Crazy Creek Falls. First we walked up the trail past waterfalls to the suspension bridge. Admission to the suspension bridge is free on Sundays. Today was Sunday :) One look at the suspension bridge which went over the falls and I decided, free or not, I was not going over it. So the rest did and Dave kindly took pictures including a picture of the support structure supposedly to make me feel that I would have been perfectly safe crossing over. I felt perfectly safe where I was thank you very much.
We walked back down to the car and headed to stop #3, the Enchanted Forest. I have to admit to not being keen on the idea. It sounded like a hokey tourist trap to me. I kept thinking about a place we pass on the way to the shore sometimes that IS a hokey tourist trap. I forget the name of it. Anyway, I was pleasantly impressed with this place. It is not hokey at all. The idea for the forest came from a woman's hobby. She created figurines out of cement without molds or patterns - in other words free form. She searched and found this forested area to showcase her work and it grew from there. Click the link to read more specifically how it came to be. It's a neat story. Anyway, it was an awesome treat. All the usual fairy tale characters and then some. The boys had a blast and all four of them (grandpa included) loved climbing the gigantic tree house. We really did find treasure! :)
After an enjoyable trek through the forest we headed home to a dinner of salmon caught fresh by a friend of Carmen and Todd's. It was spectacular!!
Ok I have to tell the whole story of the day which unfortunately did not end well. Casey, their dog, had not been doing well. They knew the end was coming and tonight was it. She had hidden herself in the hedge during the day and couldn't move to come out. Carmen took her to the vet late in the evening. Todd and Cole were devastated. Casey was 14 years old, Cole is 10, it was very hard on him and his dad. I'm sure they will have their ups and downs for a while as they remember different good times they had with Casey. However, I knew that Cole was feeling better, if not philosophical about it when out of the blue the next day he says, "Well, Bonzai finally got her wish!". Bonzai is their cat. Bonzai and Casey were not friends and Bonzai barely tolerated Casey's existence in her queendom.
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