HA! Just Kidding..

This is NOT from the end of today's excursion..my mom just thought it would be hilarious to take my picture during one of my much enjoyed cat naps...the cat doesn't look like he's enjoying it very much though :) In case you didn't know this about me...I sometimes take naps in VERY acquared positions...this COULD have something to do with why I'm always sore when I wake up!

Doesn't it look inviting?

This picture turned out so well, it almost looks like I went to Hawaii for the day! Can you believe this is in West Virginia?!

Well, today was SUPPOSED to be a perfect day for swimming. And, it was. Except, everything in the world was keeping ME from enjoying it! Let me give you a quick review of what my day was like today.

HOT! I took a nice short walk (1 mile) with my mom, and then declared that it was a perfect day for swimming. Although she didn't want to swim, she was sweet enough to agree to come with me for the day. However, she preferred we go to a nice quiet state park, instead of a crowded, noisy public pool. PLUS (and this is a KEY POINT in the story) we wanted to save about $3.50 on a pool admission ticket.

Ok. So, we looked through some West Virginia State Park pamphlets and decided that either Tygart Lake State Park or Audra State Park would be nice places to swim. I called Audra and they said the swimming season was open, and there were no life guards anymore, so no admission. PERFECT!

We get in the car. I'm wearing my bathing suit because I can't WAIT to get into the nice cool water. I pack the towels, water bottles, etc. and we head off. As we are driving out I look at my mother and ask, "Should we go to Audra or Tygart?" Audra is a nice park, but Tygart is BEAUTIFUL and they are basically the same distance from home. So, we decide Tygart would be nicer.

Hear comes the adventure. First, we drive through Bridgeport, where we see a DETOUR sign. There is a huge sink hole in the road. So, they have to send everyone back around Bridgeport, towards Shinnston, and over Rt. 50 past the F.B.I. center. We had to drive all the way around, just to avoid a 4 mile strip of road, because there is a gigantic whole in it.

Still determined, we continue our journey....la, la, la, la...we are taking our good old time and chatting, laughing, just enjoying the nice quiet and sunny day.

OK. We arrive at Tygart. So, we drive, and drive, and drive, and drive, AND DRIVE!! WHERE IS THE SWIMMING ENTRANCE????!!! We can see the lake the whole time, but don't know how to get into it. FINALLY, we stop at a park ranger station, where people register for camping. I get out and here comes the rain on my parade.

"I'm sorry, but we don't have swimming this season."....wait a minute, "WHAT?!" No rhyme or reason, but I can't go swimming, even though there is a HUGE lake of beautiful, warm, clean lake water. The park ranger tells us we can only go swimming IF we have a boat to swim off of. Does that make sense to you?

So, I go back to the car, deliver the disappointing news to my mom, after a short bathroom break (we've been driving for about 2 hours to get here!!) we continue on....distraught :(

Suddenly, happy, cheerful, talkative Elizabeth is solemn. As we drive AWAY from Tygart lake, we decide to stop at the lodge/restaurant and at least enjoy some ice cream over the lake view. Those are the pictures you see here. Isn't it beautiful?! Can you feel my pain?!!

Once the ice cream was finished, and I parted with the beautiful lake, we continued home (still considering driving somewhere else to swim for the day!). As we drive, several miles, we run into ANOTHER detour sign!!! So, we have to drive all the way back towards the park again, and start over! Ugh....

While mom and I were driving, she was asking, "What do you think God had in mind for us today, that we would come all the way out here, spend our whole day looking for a place to swim, and find nothing?"

Well, an hour and a half nap later, once I have calmed my emotions of disappointment, I think I have some fresh perspective on the day.

1) That was the first quiet, non-stressful day away from home my mom and I have had together in a long time. We get plenty of days at home together, but we are both great at busying ourselves. If you are in the car, driving through the woods, there isn't much left to do but watch the road, and talk, or listen to nature.

2) Although I didn't get to swim, the lake WAS beautiful. We watched boaters, and water-ski boats skim the water. Watching them have fun, was almost as fun as doing it ourselves.....almost :)

3) I was able to experience the generosity of my mother, who filled up my gas tank, after a long day of driving in circles. Not like she isn't generous to me quite often (she and my father), but today I was particularly thankful!

4) Our day together meant I wasn't sitting at home reading a book. A book that I thought I had to read 3 chapters of by tonight, but later found out the meeting was cancelled, and I would have made myself do all that reading today for nothing! So, instead I got to be outside.

5) We discovered the "no swimming" rule WITHOUT my dad, who most likely would have been quite upset, had we driven with him all the way out there, and then had to admit "No, we didn't call them before we left the house, to make sure they were open!"

6) We now have a paper with info. on boat rentals that we may use in the future if we get a group together.

It's 8:30pm, and getting dark outside. Enjoy these beautiful pictures, and think of me....hopefully I WILL make it to A POOL (notice how I'm not being very picky anymore?!) this week.

:)