Our Fake Anniversary

Wednesday, June 15th – Big Sur State Park, California - Day 124

We woke up and wished each other a happy 10th anniversary. We planned a special day. Mary was going to watch the kids and take them out for dinner, while Gen and I went to Nepenthe, a restaurant with the most beautiful view around. Neither of us remembered that our anniversary was the next day (until I started writing this blog post. Gen suggested that my cell phone was broken, she couldn’t believe it).

The kids and I went to the nearby river and set-up to swim. It was a lovely swim with shallow parts for John and a deep part so I could get a swim in. Another mother and her children came by shortly after to hang out. The two boys were planning on catching crayfish and cooking them for dinner. Charlotte and Aisling jumped on board and soon they were all working on catching crayfish. Aisling caught one but then it dropped back into the water. Gen and Mary joined us, and we relaxed by the shady river.

Next, we were told that there was another great swimming place at the end of a trail leading into a gorge. The start of the trail was a five-minute walk from our campsite. We approached the river and weren’t sure exactly how to proceed; we didn’t see the trail on the far side of the river. We had been told we needed to cross the river multiple times on our way to the swimming spot. Mary tried to climb on rocks to cross the river and promptly slipped and scraped her leg as she fell into the river. She decided to turn back and bandage her wound. We learned our lesson; we got our boots wet and walked against current up the river.

Walking through the river was very enjoyable. John was trekking through and at times he was chest deep. We were climbing over and around rocks and logs. We reached a small pool where there was a crowd of people hanging around. There was a cliff face, and some people were jumping off of it into the pool of water. We stayed away from the high rocks but there was a low rock Gen and I jumped off. The pool was cold but lovely to swim in. We made our way down river the same way we came up. Even when we reached the path, Aisling and Charlotte wanted to keep walking on rocks down the river, I accompanied them.

To be continued...

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