Even More Things

I did so much in August and early September that I needed another post just to fit in all the randomness!

The week after Zach came down, Mark and I decided to see how Bacon liked kayaking. This time we got smart; we only took one kayak, and my job was to hold her. It seemed much more manageable that way. She wasn't completely sold on the whole boat thing at first, but once we got going enough to get a breeze in her ears she seemed pretty happy.

She kept wanting to climb back to sit with Mark, though, which was tricky because she had to walk on the edge of the kayak to get back there. We managed to keep her dry, at least...no unexpected puppy swimming.   :)

Remember how I said my fig tree was going crazy? I wasn't kidding. I'm bringing in this many figs two to three times a week! Luckily one of my friends at work likes figs, too, so I've been keeping her well supplied.

Our friend Scott has lived in Virginia longer than we have and had never been hiking in Shenandoah. All three of us had the mid going into Labor Day, so after some short naps we met up and drove up to Skyline Drive. Visibility was amazing!

We decided to do one of our favorite hikes, Rose River Loop. It snakes back through the woods, follows a stream, and has several waterfalls along the way.

We stopped at one of the waterfalls and climbed down near the water. Mark and Scott spent a few minutes skipping rocks before we moved on.

After a little while, the hike moves on to a different trail and gets a lot harder. Mark and I were slowly making our way through one of the steep bits when we heard something scratching nearby.

It was a little bear! It was only a little way off the trail, and was scratching at a fallen tree (I'm guessing it was looking for tasty bugs to eat). It completely ignored us and did its own thing, so we watched it for a couple minutes before moving on.

The hike may have been kicking my butt, but at least it was pretty.   :)

After the hard part, the hike moves on to a fire road that takes you back to the parking lot. That is, unless you want to hike an even steeper section that takes you up to Dark Hollow Falls. I think Scott is part mountain goat because he disappeared up the trail for a little while. I sat on some rocks near the waterfall and waited instead.

A couple days later, Bob invited me over to his shop again. This time, I was going to help him on his actual project!

I'm a bit jealous of his basement shop; it's really nice to be able to just go downstairs and jump right in. We spent the afternoon building the floor of the front baggage compartment for his fuselage.

Bob got a couple pictures of me for his builder's log. He actually trusted me to drill holes in the side of his plane!! (They turned out just fine haha.)

It's definitely handy to have an extra set of hands sometimes. By the end of the afternoon, we had finished the section we were working on and I'd learned a ton more. (Then immediately went home and ordered even more tools hahaha.) It was really fun!   :)