Awana Boys Overnight at Bent Tree
January 15-16, 2010
Brenda had fixed hotdogs and chili for supper. After supper they played UNO and games downstairs until bedtime. |  |
 | Brenda prepared a big breakfast with eggs, bacon, sausage gravy, and grits, so we all enjoyed that time together. Then we headed out west from the house to go to the ice falls.  Heading across the slope of the mountain, we were soon in view of the ice formations.  Going across the steep slope was harder than I expected. Here Logan holds onto a small tree on the steep mountainside. |
The tough hike soon brought the reward of a wide view of the ice falls on the mountainside.
Logan Todd, Hunter Rowland, and Connor Smith by the high ice falls.
Near the middle of the ice formations was a mass of ice sort of shaped like a toboggan run. Hunter tries the slide, then Connor. There were lots of hands to catch them to keep them from just tobogganing off down the steep mountainside.
Connor peers out from the ice cave and Logan heads down the toboggan run to join him.
 | The boys enjoyed getting in the ice cave under all the icicles and breaking them off. |
Logan collects an icicle |  |
This certainly brought back a lot of memories for me. We have been coming to the ice falls for a lot of years -- at least as far back as 1978 when Jeff enjoyed playing here like this.
 |  |
Above left, Johnny stands by a column of ice that must be more than 12 feet high. Stan collects a large icicle from the columns of ice.
 | The boys had a ball hanging out behind the ice curtain and breaking off big icicles. |
Connor climbs a ledge and finds a big icicle to harvest.
As we had hoped, the trip to the ice falls was quite and adventure for the boys.
 | We returned to the house for lunch and then drove down to the lake to see if there was still any ice down there. By looking up the stream to the lake and then to the top of the mountain, you can see where we had just come from. Our house and the ice falls are close to the top of the mountain just below the tower on the top. We did find some ice formations remaining along the stream, but nothing like what we had found up on the mountain. |
We always like to see the falls. They were running strong, and there was some ice along them, but not like up on the mountain. Logan and Hunter with the falls in the background. |  |
 | Boys always want to throw rocks in the water. It must be some kind of primal urge. |
We are trying to get everyone together for our traditional picture on the dam. So far Buzz has gotten Hunter and Connor is with Johnny. It started to rain on us at the falls, so we are preparing to launch for home. |  |
Finally the group is together, sort of. Hunter Rowland, Logan Todd, Connor Smith on the ground. Stan, Buzz Rowland, Johnny Huffman behind. We head for Atlanta, feeling blessed by the trip and having just missed the rain again - it started pouring rain when we got to the highway. |
| Dorothy Watts' 75th Birthday |
2010