Three Falls, Ooops!

No greater way to spend a sunny summer Sunday sabbath than swimmin' at the Chapman Falls. (Wow, that's a mouthful of S's.) We had our annual church picnic at the ranch yesterday and from what I could tell, everybody had a wonderful time. For any of you who have been to this mostly obscure Humboldt jewel-of-a-place, you know just how amazing it is. Nestled deep within the Chapman Ranch lies this refreshingly beautiful waterfall and swimming hole, accessible only to guests and friends of the Chapman family. Let me just take the time to say that I am most grateful for the opportunity to be invited to enjoy such an incredible natural wonder. TJ & Mark are two of the most caring, sharing people I have ever met. Each and every time I hang out with them, I am encouraged & inspired to grow deeper in the grace and love of Christ. You guys are exceptional people, I mean it!

This is one gigantic inflatable inner tube! Lots of kids and dads spent most of the day climbing and jumping on this thing!

Then there were others who just wanted to soak up some of that warm, SoHum sun.

The only way to get down to the falls is to hike down a really long, steep hill, (which some of us did. That made us more than ready to jump into that cold water!) or take a ride in one of the ATV type vehicles. So Mark shuttled people up and down in his cruisin' convertible. Once you arrive at this spot you still have to hike another 1/4 mile down a rugged, steep foot path to reach the falls.

Even Velma made it down the trail. What a gal! There was no way we could persuade her to stay back with the lawn chair crowd. She said that she was plenty sturdy to make it down there and that she only needed to hold Mark's hand to make it down. Graciously, he complied and helped her up and down the trail.
Later that evening we headed back to the coast that evidently had once again had remained socked in with fog for a majority of the day. We went from 85* temperatures to 55* in about 30 minutes! Many people are commenting that this is one of the coolest summers we have had in a very long time. Night time temperatures are still hovering around 50* still. But for those of us that have lived here for a while, that's Humboldt for ya'!