Lake Tugalo

Last weekend my brother and I took Zachary up to Lake Tugalo in the North Georgia mountains for a little rest and relaxation. Unfortunately neither of us brought a camera, which is just as well because we really don't want anyone else finding out about this little slice of heaven. It's unbelievably hard to get to, in that Georgia Power has the nearest access road closed off, so you have to carry your boat(s) (in our case kayaks) about a half mile up a gravel mountain road. It's absolute torture, believe me (I'm still sore), but once you get there it's absolutely magnificent. As you paddle around the lake you can find nearby waterfalls by sound, paddle over and have a look, or if you're into fishing you can try your hand and catching the largest bluegills I've ever seen. I don't fish, but Ben didn't catch any that were smaller than is outstretched hand (sorry fisherpeople, I'm not that great at telling fish stories).

Zach enjoyed swimming around in his little life-preserver/swim suit, and we had lots of fun on one of the scariest rope swings in the south. Someone had strung a rope out over a precipice that dropped off into the water far below; you had to watch your footing as you climbed high up into the skies before taking ahold of the rope and sailing forth into the wild blue yonder. Each time I climbed up I got a very strong feeling that I was about to do something really really stupid.

And I was right! On my last and final attempt, the rope got tangled around... myself, and there was almost a horrible accident. Ben likened the expression on my face as one "trying to survive", as I desperately tried to "make things right" before plunging into the tepid waters. I saw my family flash before my eyes, if you catch my drift. Let this be a lesson to us all: when you feel like you're being stupid, you probably are.

And speaking of family, if ya ain't heard yet, Monica is officially pregnant with twins. We don't know the gender, or if they're identical, although fraternal twins run in my wife's family, so they're probably fraternal (her Mom was a twin and had twins). If you have a Honda Odyssey with less than 100,000 miles you'd like to sell, call me.

And in other news, today was Ben's last day at work. Weeeeep weep weep!! Ah well, life marches on, and I'm sure he's indeed going on to something better. But it was nice working wif my bro while it lasted. C'est la vie, mon ami!