The weather was absolutely gorgeous today. I was still in a slight bit of a funk, so rather than picking up the house I thought the kids and I should get out and about for a little while.
We had been hearing all week how the river was once again overflowing its banks, reminiscent of the two major floods that I can remember in my lifetime.
We figured our best bet for comparison was to head down to Ledges.
Yep, it sure looks like pre-2008 flood levels, but not up to the 1993 level thankfully.
The one nice thing about flooding is that it forces us to get off the beaten path. There are some areas of the park that I could navigate with my eyes closed, but others I haven't set foot on in years.
Walking through that forgotten timber produced hazy ghosts of memories.
It was July of 1993. I was 18, newly engaged, and barely pregnant. We had just returned from Cheyenne a few weeks before. We traveled from the dry hot winds into oceans where corn fields used to be. It rained terribly for the first two weeks after our return. It was a warm rain though and many nights we could be found walking through the flooded streets of town anyway.
A group of us decided to head down to Ledges on one of the few sunny afternoons to grill out & celebrate our return and engagement. We pulled the picnic tables as close to the water as we could get them and fired up the grills. The guys downed beers while the girls sat at the tables sharing the latest news and admiring my new ring.
At some point one of us declared that the heat and humidity was too much . We kicked off our shoes and ventured into the lagoon the swollen river had made near the shelter houses.
We spent the afternoon swimming in and out of this very shelter house, with an occasional rest seated in a windowsill. It was an afternoon to remember. Sadly it has been so many years now that I can barely remember who was there. I remember my friend Sunny, and of course my fiancee at the time, and possibly his brother and 1 of his sisters. I can assure you that there were a great many more people in attendance, but those are the ones I distinctly remember surrounding me with joy that day.
Towards the end of the day we were still full of horseplay when we should have been exhausted. I had some excuse to get out of the water, but quite what I no longer recall. I swam to the shore and started to trudge through the water covered mud that made up the last few feet of shoreline. Then out of no where he came! My fiancee was still full of 19 year old energy and horseplay. As he tackled me back into the water my stomach lurched in terror as I felt my new ring, which still needed to be sized slip off my finger and vault into the air.
I watched in fly up but never watched it land as my head went under the water. Already in tears I righted myself the instant I could find footing, but it was already too late. It was lost to the river, buried somewhere in feet of soft mud.
The entire group pulled together and searched the entire area. We sifted through handfuls of silt and mud but to no avail.
Every new flood I wander the shoreline there, curious to my ring's fate. Maybe, just maybe that beautiful 1 carat solitaire will resurface. I doubt I will ever be the one to find it, but maybe it will bring as much joy to the person that does as it did to me in the short time it was in my possession.
A break from memory lane, Sis decided to do a little exploring. Much like a young version of me at that age she has a need to feel and experience. The clay at the bottom of this creek bed caught her interest and she felt an intense need to touch it.
Apparently it wasn't quite what she expected as she declared it was slimy and muddy.
Further along the trail we came to this shelter house. I have an elusive memory of a fun night with a bunch of friends here in high school. I seem to recall that it was either after a play or band concert. It seems quite possible that as part of the tech crew we ventured out here after pulling off behind the scenes perfection for the high school drama club's latest production. I recall many other nights where we would venture around town stopping to play on swing sets, attempting to call up spirits with an Ouija board (in the chicken coop if any of you recall), or watching the end outcome of silly bets unravel at McDonald's.
What I do remember of this night is a game of hide and seek. I remember somehow climbing up onto the roof on the backside of this shelter house while the boys ventured off into the woods.
Ah, how I miss those young carefree days.
As I left the memory trail and joined back up with the kids I came across Sis laying on the side of the road. How can I reprimand her when I would have done such a thing at that age, and might even still, if the circumstances called for it.
Of course on the way out of the park we saw plenty of deer that were gracious enough to stop and pose for us.
I took a lot more pictures throughout the evening, but am choosing to hold those back as one of them just may end up being my submission for this week's photo challenge. The subject of which is Motion if any of you are interested in taking part. I know Chris would be excited to have more people participate!
