Exploring with Eric

We had the fortune of having Eric and Kirsty visit us over Labor Day weekend. Kirsty was here for almost three days and Eric for almost five. Since Kirsty primarily wanted to check the place out for her wedding next year (September 27, 2008), we didn't spend much time exploring areas that we had not been to yet. However, her assessment was an emphatic "Yes" that our garden and the local area will be perfect for the wedding. And we found the most delicious cake for the wedding, and also had an open house, so our friends could meet the kids. (Nancy believes it to be the first party she has ever thrown for adults) We still have some work being done in the house, and will post pictures when it is all done. But the painters have finished, and we are totally impressed with their talents - we miss them already!

We took advantage of Eric being here a bit longer to explore some other areas and were pleasantly surprised by what we found. After dropping Kirsty off at the airport dad and Eric decided to hike up to a shrine in the mountains behind our house that has a fantastic view of the lake. Ten minutes walking distance from our house is the trail head to some local waterfalls but not to the shrine. It had rained most of the night before, and the road leading to the trail head for the falls was actually a river pouring all the way past the highway. We thought a water main had broken. But Eric and dad found out that it actually was that the waterfalls had overflowed. We took photos of the river running down the road and then the waterfalls. In these pictures you can see the "road river" and the three waterfalls we got to see. The climb up the trail from the trail head is only about half hour and not a very strenuous climb at all. The only problem was that the water crossed the path several times and it became tricky trying to "stone-step" across. Dad gave up first and just started wading through the water. The waterfalls are so close to our house and it is a very beautiful hike up to them. Now that the rain season is approaching its' end, you can see how sparkly blue the sky is becoming again.

Then the next day we decided to see what it was like on the other side of the lake. From our terrace it always reminds us of Kauai, our favorite family vacation spot and "almost" retirement spot. So we drove over to the other side and found, as we drove down the highway, it reminded us even more of Kauai. Now we have seen some of the other villages first hand. You can see a church from our terrace and in one of the pictures, you can see part of the church. We didn't actually go all that far around, the lake is much bigger than it seems. Plus we were hungry, and had a craving for real Angus hamburgers and rock and roll music, so we headed to "60's In Paradise" in Ajijic. As we continue our explorations of this incredible area we will keep you posted.