Thursday morning started out cool and cloudy. It turns out that sometimes they have to release water from the nearby dam but before they can do that they have to produce a sound somewhere between a fog horn and a tornado siren to warn people of the impending flood. Apparently this sound has to go on over and over again for no less than 20 or so minutes. Someone who makes the decisions thinks 5 am is the perfect time to do this so we were all a little annoyed and confused when we woke up. Dad and Mac left early in order to go out on a fly fishing expedition with a guide Dad had hired so Gramma Debbie, Gideon, and I headed out to explore the park. First we decided to find the train we had heard about the day before. When we got to the depot we saw that it wasn't going to open for another few minutes so we explored the playground across the street.
The boy loves slides
When the depot opened we bought our tickets and spent the 20 minutes before the train ride hanging out/eating snack/talking with employees/freezing our little buns off. For the last few minutes we ended up sitting in the car with the heater on (it was 43 degrees).
I was not expecting it to be so cold and hadn't packed any winter gear for Gideon, whose long sleeved t shirt and light jacket weren't cutting it. We threw an extra long sleeved shirt on him over his jacket and I rummaged through my car and found an old hat of mine and a hand towel that we used to bundle up the boy.
The depot was right next to stables filled with beautiful horses. I got to talk to the woman who runs the stables and you can tell she loves her horses, probably more than people.
Gramma Debbie toughing out the weather.
The actual train ride was short but cute. A teenager from Dallas shared fun facts and silly jokes with us over a loud speaker as we chugged along through the woods. We were his only passengers but he still made us laugh and even managed to call us pretty.
Ready for the train to go go go
train selfie
chugging along through the woods
After the frigid train ride we decided to find something to do indoors so we drove down the the forestry station for a look at the animal they had on exhibit. It was a lot of dead animals. A lot. Gideon loved the bear and the armadillo and the aquarium.
Armadillo!
Bear!
I swear he isn't picking his nose...
The clouds were seriously threatening to storm and I knew I wanted a pic of Gideon and the Old Man Head Totem Pole (okay maybe that isn't what it is really called, but it should be) so we headed back to the main office for some photo opps. Inside we discovered an enormous museum full of dioramas depicting the history of the park. Turns out Gideon is a fan of dioramas and he carefully studied each one while whispering "wooaaaaaa."
This picture was a must
Bear!
More bears!
some people see stuff like this and think "look how old that tree was!" but I think "look how much older that tree could have been," then I get depressed.
in case we look back on these pictures in a few years and think "where were we again? oh yeah!"
loving one of many dioramas
we thought it would be funny to have him sit in this old log chair. we were right.
posing with a large piece of something from somewhere
We were pretty tired after walking the museum and it was starting to rain so we headed back to our cabin for lunch. The guys returned later that afternoon with three trout and tales of fishing adventures (like when they stopped for coffee and dad had to go back to the cabin to use the bathroom). They are pretty much fly fishing experts now so I expect there will be more fish in our future.
this picture makes me smile. I can't imagine how cold that water must have been but you can tell they are having a great time. and my dad looks like a dork.
We passed the rest of the day indoors listening to the rain, playing highly competitive angry birds, being silly with grampa, and dancing.
poor grampa was trying to read
For dinner Mac stuffed the trout with lemon, garlic, and onions, sauteed some mushrooms in butter and wine, and steamed broccoli. It was so good I couldn't stop eating to take pictures. After the Giddy monster went to sleep the husbandit managed to get a fire going by finding dry sticks and leaves under the house (I tossed in a couple of pine cones that I am sure made all the difference) and we followed Debbie's instructions for making a campfire girl favorite, bananas stuffed with chocolate, wrapped in foil, and thrown on the fire. It was extremely delicious and the perfect way to end the day.
the little fire that could
watching the bananas cook and enjoying some warmth
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