Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Anklevich Reunion

It's been two years since our last family reunion, so it was time to bring the clan, or at least those that we could get to show up, together again for some fun and merriment at a cool mountain lodge.

 It was a really nice place with a great big main lodge with several bedrooms in the front, and a bunch of little sleeping cabins in the back. We got cabin two.

 I have to admit, the cabins were pretty dang hot. You did not want to spend any time inside them during the day. It cooled off enough at night to make it bearable, but only if you left the windows open. This made my wife miserable, because she is allergic to EVERYTHING...you think I'm kidding, but I'm not...SHE IS ALLERGIC TO EVERYTHING! She went to an allergist and did a scratch test. Her whole arm was swollen and red from the tests they did.

So, she was up all night long every night of the trip sniffling and moaning. Luckily, because of her job schedule, she's already well used to getting little to no sleep, so she was still able to have some fun during the day, despite feeling like she constantly needed a nap. We'll have to make sure we get the room in the lodge next time with the air filtered through the air conditioner.

This was the scenery right next door:

I suppose it was half the reason my wife was having so much trouble with her allergies, but wasn't it beautiful?

Just up the street, there was a shady, paved trail that ran for several miles through the pines. We hiked the trail a couple of times while we were there. It went past a reservoir that we went fishing at a couple of times.

Of course, I never caught any fish in any of that.

Just up the road, there was a beautiful old New England-style church.

 A great big group of us drove out to take the tour that they offer.

It was a very pretty old church, and in great condition all these years later.

There's not a lot of things that are all that old way out here in the west of the country.

One cool thing we came across back near the lodge was this swarm of bees that had come to rest on a fence post:

It was really neat stuff. We all went over and took turns taking pictures of the bees. I put my camera on the end of a selfie stick, and tried to get some nice close-ups. Unfortunately, they were all out of focus. My niece and her husband have a Go-Pro camera, and they did the same thing, and got video of the bees that was in focus. Take a look:


Really cool, huh? I actually talked with my brother, who has a few beehives at his home, about finding a beekeeper nearby to come collect the swarm and give them a home. Hive Collapse Disorder is something that has concerned me for several years since I first heard of it, and the last thing I wanted to happen was for someone to call an exterminator to come out and kill the bees. We were unsuccessful in locating one, though, either by searching on the internet or asking the locals. I think that after a few hours on that fence post, the bees just moved on. At least, I hope they did.

It was pretty great to see all the family again, and I can't wait to see them again in two years when the next reunion comes around.

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