Belknap Springs

Belknap Springs still displayed showy flowerbeds last weekend during our late September camping trip.  We tried something new this trip, inviting my little brother Doug and his lovely wife Anisa, to share our 5th wheel with us. (We kept the bedroom and gave them the living room hide-a-bed.) We are such amazing hosts, we even left Zeek at home so they wouldn't have to room with him! My brother Galen and his wife Carol parked their RV next to ours in a spot very near the upper swimming pool, fed by hot springs.  We enjoyed some wonderfully relaxing soaks in that deliciously hot pool, day and night.

We posed for pictures in all kinds of lovely spots, I'm not sure why none of us are preening on that particular bench.

Their jazz band sculpture became a little more weatherworn in the past 10 years since I last saw it.

The gang is checking out the boiling hot water that comes out of the hillside and obeying the sign that says "Do not touch." Hi, Doug.

A feisty snake darted out in front of me on a trail. I believe I reacted in a surprisingly mature fashion.

We explored the Secret Garden. Hi, Doug and Galen.

Doug and Anisa enjoyed some romantic interactions.

They're so inspirational. I can't remember the last time my own dear husband beseechingly got down on his knees.

Hi, Doug.

Aren't they cute.

Galen and Carol pose with the bears.

Awww.

I love this, on the riverside patio.

Gorgeous place to soak in the beauty of the McKenzie River.

We had many deep meaningful conversations over the weekend, and I'm happy to share that we made some real headway in getting my little brother Doug to confront and deal with some of his childhood traumas. Just how many years were you in kindergarten? How old were you when Galen announced his engagement to the lovely Carol? (After a few arguments and much math, I believe 7 was the correct age.) Doug and Dave (who would have been 8 or 9, we didn't do the math on that one), bitterly resented the arrival of Carol into the life of their beloved big brother. At the family dinner where Galen and Carol passed out engagement photo announcements, Doug pointed to a label on Galen's trousers and declared, "F is for foolish." Doug and Carol had further friction on down the road, when as an 8-year-old recently bereft of his mother, Doug would go stay with Carol after school while the older siblings were still in school. One day Carol offered him a sandwich, made with the cotto salami containing black peppercorns. Doug refused to eat it, and Carol said he couldn't have pie until he ate the sandwich. Little Doug cried. Doug got pie. And we have laughed about it a million times over the years.

Doug wondered why Sister Beulah spanked him, a timid first grader (or was it kindergarten again) at Elliot Prairie Christian School, just for playing Train with all the other boys, with their fingers in the back pockets of the boy in front of them. Could they help it if someone's pockets got ripped? And why did he next have to suffer a crabby elderly teacher at Tennessee School in 2nd grade, one who was known to rap you on the head with a ruler if you displeased her? Poor little Doug. Fortunately, he had the love of his family to carry him through, and we love him to this day.

It is so much fun to enjoy the present day and reminisce about the past with my oldest and my 2nd to youngest brother and our patient, long-suffering wonderful life partners. And to the rest of my 9 siblings, we missed you! When is the next family reunion?