Lake Gregory...

So I'm coming down off a whirlwind of 3 trips almost back to back.
Laughlin, Bishop and now Lake Gregory.
Whew!



I was a bit nervous about this one.  There was going to be 11 of us under one roof and I was the odd man out again, hopefully not whacking out the dynamic.  Plus Pat, myself and his kiddo were all sharing one room.  Pat's friends the Hernandez Clan goes every year over 4th of July weekend with their family.  Mandy was filling me in that she's been going since she was little.  Sounds like my yearly trips to San Clemente since I was a wee one.

Well lemme tell ya - it was a great time!  I seem to fall right into the groove with the crew.  It's only about an hour out of town - which is awesome - and there is a swirly mountain road with some ear popping non fun, but it's not that long.  I actually did ok!!  Yay!!!

1st we hit up a super fun BBQ at Pat's friends home.  They know how to throw a block party!  We didn't stay too long but it was fun while we were there.

She rented a cute little ice cream truck!

I was feeling a bit less whacked out (We had an earthquake earlier that day that almost triggered me) and off we went!

The Hernandez Clan has been renting this same cabin for years.  It's 2 story and right across the street from the lake.  The downstairs is kind of basement-esk and where most of the kids/young adults sleep.  There's a bunch of beds down there, a pool table and they set it all up for their gaming joy.  (Lots of video gamers in this crew).  The upstairs is the main area with a living room, kitchen, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  One bathroom is in the master bedroom so let's just say it was interesting with 11 peeps sharing 2 bathrooms.  Then outside the main area is a huge deck facing the lake with a table, plenty of chairs, BBQ, love seat and a bunch of bird feeders!  It wraps around the corner then there are stairs that go down to the street where you can cross to the lake.

My 1st view from the deck!

Being initiated in!

The rest of the crew had arrived the night before, so we got settled and decided to head into town to the little bowling alley.  I was super mortified by how horribly I bowled.  I chalk it up to weird balls.

My boyfriend kicked all our asses

That night Mandy made tacos which were Delish!!!  We just hung around the cabin and it was just lovely!   I realized late into the night that it was the 4th of July and I didn't hear one firework.  Fucking glorious.

Friday morning I had a little time by myself out on the deck since I'm probably the earliest riser (and wanted to make sure I got shower time).  The owner has lots of bird feeders and one of them had babies in it!  I loved watching the mama fly back and forth the whole time we were there feeding her babies that you would hear each time she arrived.  So friggin cute!!

My kind of morning

Hi Mama!

I loved hearing the babies!!!

This was the beach day.  The crew usually takes a day and goes to the part of the lake that has a beach and play area.  You have to pay to get in, so you plan to go and stay there.  It's walking distance from the cabin which was rad!  The water was a little too cold for me, but most the peeps enjoyed it.  Then a group headed over to kayak.  Elise and I stayed back since I can't boat anymore (Sad Panda) and chilled at the beach.

Got our spot

Our view

The crew chillin on a floatie

Pat got pics of everyone - Vince

Mandy and Jose

Issac

That night we had yummy burgers and brats!  It was also face mask night!  I love that Mandy always brings this stuff and I love even more that the boys almost always get involved!

Yummy!

Eddie was in!

The boys were in as long as they could keep playing video games

Ladies!

Even Nicky got in!

There were 2 interesting occurrences this evening.  1st one was not cool - another fucking earthquake!!!  It was apparently a 7.1 and a real rolly one.  We were so lucky that we only sort of saw it on the deck rather than felt the rolling.  Valerie, Elise and I were out there when the sliding glass door started shaking and all the bird feeders swinging.  As we jumped up the boys were running up from the downstairs and we were all like earthquake?!?!?!  Yup.  I guess so.  Reading all the posts about how nauseous people were feeling and my phone blowing up with concerned texts (I love my friends/family who are so sweet to check on me and my condition) that it was a doozy.  I really lucked out this time.

The other moment I want to share is the brilliant moment that yes - you had to be there to find it as funny as it was - but I want it here to remember.  So this deck is huge.  At one point Valerie and her brothers had gone down to the lake when it was dark to find something they left.  As we can hear them starting to come back, I notice a rather large animal running full speed towards me on the deck.  For some reason I had a huge delay in realizing what was happening and the 1st thought that rolled into my head was "Who brought a dog?".  At the same time, the 3 or 4 other folks on the deck heard the animal running but didn't have the view I did and were also aloud starting to say "WTF...."  It looked up - saw me - and did a full 180.  It was a raccoon.  I have never seen a raccoon run so fast in my life which may have led to my confusion as to what it was at 1st.  As it spins around, it's booking towards where the crew is coming back up from the lake.  Some of us start to get up out of our chairs to yell a warning to them - but too late - we hear Valarie scream and the boys start shouting many WTF's.  I honestly cannot remember when I've laughed that hard. 



After the youngsters retreated downstairs we all played Cards Against Humanity and Jami may have had one too many glasses of wine....

Saturday morning was a little rough going for me, but I was able to rally.  This was the day we were going to attempt to go to the hike they do every year.  Unfortunately this was the same day as Jamboree Days, the event Lake Gregory has for the Independence Day Celebration.  They close off streets for a parade and a street fair.  We tried...we went through swirly mountain neighborhoods trying to get out of town, but to no avail.  We gave up and headed back.  Lord.

But - all was not lost - we decided to walk around the lake and go Geocaching!  There was a whole bunch around the lake so off we went!  Valerie and Mandy decided to do the kayaking again, Eddie and his boys stayed back but the rest of us trekked out.  The entire walk around the lake was about 3 miles so a really great walk!

Found our 1st one!

Pat told us to act like we were looking for a cache...

The treehouse cache that I was super nervous about!  So many muggles!

Vince had no fear

Loved the googly eyes on this one!

Me and my love

This one was so cute!!!! It was called gone fishin or something!

You're supposed to add water to this one and the cache floats to the top...I think...but we didn't notice there were more than one hole and we didn't have enough water.  Damn!  Until next year!

What was also cool, was the lake is pretty small so we kept seeing Mandy and Valerie!  And Mandy randomly caught a fish! Ha!

Such a pretty walk!

Hi girls!

The random fish Mandy caught

After we got back and cleaned up a bit and played with hair color, Pat and the girls headed into town to wander around the street fair.  It was really cool!  I would have liked to pick up a couple of sundresses, but I was trying to be a bit careful with the funds.  So many cute vendors though!  The crew decided to order pizza so Jose came down and picked up Pat/Elise and the pizza while the girls and I got some more libations and wandered a bit more.

Ladies!

That evening was the firework show over the lake.  It was so cool to just be right there watching from the deck!!!  Now, there were lots of trees in the way, but you could see the high ones.  Everyone went down to the lake to watch, but Pat, Elise and I stayed up on the deck and it was just lovely!  My phone didn't work with firework shots, but Pat took a bunch!

I did get a rad shot before it got super dark.  No filter needed!

Waiting for the fireworks and using my flash for the 1st time on my phone. LOL

Later that evening we again landed at the large dining room table playing you know what....

The next day was a bit sad since we had to leave, but we didn't have to rush out of there which was awesome.  So we took our time packing up, having breakfast and enjoying the last moments.

The whole crew!

I loved being included this year!  It was a great weekend away that's not far from home at all!!  There's talk of staying longer and spreading to 2 cabins next year, so we'll see what happens but I'm super stoked to have something to look forward to over my least favorite holiday! Ha!  A beautiful location and a beautiful relaxing weekend!