What We Did This Weekend - You're Standing On My Girlfriend Edition

Ahhh...what a difference a weekend makes.

I finally decided to just go to Packwood and force my back to comply with my wishes. It seems that two nights and three days of frivolity is just what the doctor ordered.

We took Grace with us...her parents are more of the five-star hotel type, so as you can imagine this was quite fun for her.

We got to Dave's place in the woods in the mid-afternoon and immediately took to the trail that leads to the waterfall. It is so beautiful there. Man, I love it.

When we arrived there was a middle-aged man standing at the base of the falls. The girls took the trail to the top of the waterfall, and I decided to hang back and let the man have his quiet time. After awhile her turned, walked down the trail toward me, and then said the strangest thing.

"You're standing on my girlfriend," he said.

"Excuse me?" I couldn't have heard him correctly, could I?

"You're standing on my girlfriend," he said again, pointing toward my feet this time.

Of course, I looked down, relatively sure that his girlfriend was NOT going to be under my feet. I peered around, then something caught my eye just behind my heels.

A small cross was meticulously drawn out with stones at the base of the tree. A plastic water bottle held some wildflowers.

Apparently I was standing on his girlfriend.

In a creepy, heartbroken way he pointed out what he said were some bone fragments. "We were going to get married here. I live in a trailer a ways down the trail. One day I woke up and she didn't," he sighed.

"Oh my gosh! I am really sorry. I didn't know she was here....I mean....I had no idea. Geez. Um, I've got to go check on the kids," and off I scrambled.

You just never know who you might meet in the woods. Or for that matter, who you might stand on.

Later Dave came up the trail after the scary guy left and we enjoyed celebrating Memorial Day... In the picture below you will see Dave and his dog Juno "standing on his girlfriend".

And here's a nice one of Juno with the memorial cross and flowers. I like to call this photo "Sitting on his Girlfriend". (Is this funny? Why does it just absolutely crack me up? Is it wrong?)

Later in the day we started a fire and started to collect a lot of people and their dogs. Juno is a lap dog, if you couldn't already tell.

This semi-pornographic pic is of the best dog I have ever met. His name is Frank. He is, get this, a cross between a dachshund and a pit bull. Everything about his says dachshund, but he has a robust pit bull head and brindle coloring. Frank is a gem. I loved him.

Here is a good representation of some of the camp craziness. Dave's "cabin" is actually more like a 1972 single-wide trailer - but being that it is out in the woodsy type area, we refer to it in the cabin-type vernacular. On the right, above Sophie's arm and to the left of the orange wiffle ball bat and 1980's colored bicycle, is Frank again.

On the left, with the group of three people, are the other dogs that graced our weekend. The reddish blur is a beautiful 7-month old red Doberman named Freya. And next to her is the little black Manchester terrier, Manny Biggs. And boy does he live up to his name.

It was like a dog episode of the Sopranos all weekend.

This is all of us heading down the road to the driving range. Dave has about 80 sets of golf clubs, just for the very reason that 35 of his closest friends may some day come camping and want to drive some balls.

Um...the driving range was closed when we got there.

So...we played wiffle baseball. Please note the air horn in Dave's right hand. I got to sound it at every inning change.

This smashed dandelion was third base. First base was a paper plate. Second you just sort of had to visualize for yourself.

Oh, and I'm safe.

A bit later in the evening I was serenaded for my birthday by Zach Zimmerman. He had a very romantic song that he wrote himself called, "Party in My Pants". I was flattered.

Then we all sang a very soulful rendition of Poison's "Every Rose Has It's Thorn" (and they all laughed really hard at me when I told them that it was the theme of my high school prom). There was not a dry eye in the house.

The next day we cooked some Jiffy Pop over the fire, but alas, it was really just hot air and about 15 popped kernels.

Gracie found a butterfly.

Maya was irritated with my incessant picture taking.

Sophie was trying to hide the fact she was drinking a soda for breakfast.

And the following picture sums up exactly why I will be friends with Dave until the day that I die. (The orange sticker reads "Special of the Week")

And some last beautiful pics from our hike back to the waterfall on Monday.....

Happy Memorial Day everybody!