Another very nice day. Girls got their school work done without much complaining. They took a few breaks but got it all done. They were done around 2pm, and there was no stress.
I had some work calls, went for a run and helped them with school work. My run was nice today, no issues with people or dogs! :). I took the same trail but went towards a park rather than towards town and only ran by 2 other people, but no-one had dogs. The path went to a park and it was just the right amount of trail for me so I could put in a 4 mile run.
Carol worked on laundry still, got the bedding and towels done. Carol also made Hmong egg rolls, and fried them outside on a cast iron skillet. They were delicious! She made the hole thing from scratch. We had lunch outside, it was nice, actually quite warm.
The day turned out to be quite warm, I had shorts and a T-shirt. After the girls were done with school we decided we’d go check out the Ringing Rocks, which is about 20 miles from where we are, in the middle of nowhere, and it’s basically a pile of rocks that when you hit each different rock with a hammer, for example, they each make a different sound. We got our hiking shoes in the car and went.
The drive there took about 40 minutes, most of the mileage was highway, but once we got close, it was a very bumpy gravel road and we were going super slow. The gravel road kept going more and more into the mountain area, it was a very dry area, with some trees and lots of rocks. It was also very dusty, which kind of sucked because the truck was looking so nice and clean, and shiny hahahah… well, it is all dusty now.
We got there around 4pm and it was very warm. The road goes almost all the way to the rocks, and after we parked we had a very short walk to get to the rocks. It basically was a very large pile of rocks, of all different sizes, looked to have been neatly piled together. The sign said that those rocks were there naturally, and if any were taken out of there, they would not make the same sound, or any sound at all, and that it is due to the way they are piled together that you get the different sounds. We were told to bring our own hammers, so we did, but they actually had some there too, so we all had some type of banging device hahahah.
We went right to it, and started banging all kinds of rocks, and getting all kinds of different sounds.
The way the rocks are piled really invites you to climb them, and keep trying different ones, so we did… and little by little we were going higher and higher… and in no time, we were all all the way to the top of the rocks.
Very cool to be up there. Very cool to be climbing rocks, and to be in such a beautiful setting. Mountainous area, vast land, rocks and somewhat desert looking. We enjoyed our time up there, hung out for a bit, took pictures, called people and just climbed around. The girls love climbing rocks, and Bella was just having a super great time. Bia was enjoying it too, but when it was time to leave she got a bit scared of the way back. That was a really fun place to see and activity to do.
From there, Carol recommended we go check out another brewery, so I looked for one and found the Quarry Brewing Company. We drove right to there, it was downtown. Interesting place for sure. Access from the street we took made it feel like we were going down a mine, and they had decor to make it feel as such. Pretty cool. Space was darker, like a mine, and spacious enough.
They also had some games available, so we got our first batch of beers and house made sodas (Cream Soda and Root Beer) and started playing Dominoes (Mexican Train). That was fun.
We finished our first game, which took quite a bit, and then the girls wanted to play something else, so they got Battleship and moved to the table behind us and played for quite some time. They were having fun with their game and sodas. Carol and I were having a good conversation, talking about how thankful we are for the opportunity to do this trip, to be all together and for all we have. We talked about some plans for the near and mid future, etc.
Then the girls were done and came back to our table and we were chatting and laughing. It’s always fun with them at breweries! hahahaha.. We finished our drinks and drove back home.
Wed had something to eat, and as we were getting ready, showering and such we ran out of water, and the tanks were full. So, we can basically survive without trying too hard, for about 2 days with a full tank of fresh water before we fill up the other tanks and run out of water. Good to know! The girls helped me put some water in the tank. We had 3 gallon jugs they were filing by the laundry room, which was across the street. They took turns bringing them jugs to me, and I dumped the water into the tank opening. We put about 10 gallons or so, and that was enough to finish what we needed, and even have enough for tomorrow’s trip to Idaho.
And that was our last day here, low key, but fun.