A day at the "lake"

For as long as we've been friends with Graem and Brantley Clark we've heard stories about "Travis"...and if you know Travis you understand the need for quotation marks.  At most all the Clark events they've hosted we've always told he's going to be there but he's either been a no-show or his arrival was well after we had left the party. Travis is a childhood friend of Graem's and a few years ago purchased a "lake resort" in their hometown. A few weeks ago Graem mentioned Travis would love to have us all come down to Richardson's Lake and spend the day. Unfortunately warm summer weekends were limited and since Saturdays in the Fall revolve around football games we weren't able to stay as long as we might have liked. Arch claimed we would actually be swimming in a "pond" not a "lake"...which ended up being the truth...but it's not the first time I've gone swimming in a pond...and it's definitely the most fun I've ever had pond swimming! We arrived to a warm welcome from Travis...with free admission and the best seats in the house. The weather was fantastic...which I don't think Travis had anything to do with, but he might actually take credit for it anyway!

Here's our host and Roper...



The girls did a little sliding on the baby slide...





I'm not sure if this was breaking any rules...









But there was minimal supervision...



Graem had vacated his post when a much larger 10-ish year old little girl came down the larger slide right on top of Ruth Ann...she wasn't hurt, but mostly just scared. Imagine an angry bear stomping entering the water...that was me. I picked Ruth Ann and lectured the little girl about being more responsible. She apologized several times but I didn't care...I was seeing red. Another mother came up and asked if it had been her son that had caused the accident.  I told her no and explained what had happened...but from the shore Sally and Brantley thought this was the momma of the little girl I was scolding and perhaps things were going to get ugly. I'm not violent in anyway...but in the famous words of Graem Clark "It felt like good fighting weather." Had I been approached it most definitely could have turned ugly quickly...but that little girl's mother either didn't mind having a stranger scold her or she was noticeably absent...or maybe both...who knows...but the fun did continue on...

The boys played...



Travis passed out treats for the kids...



And the men played too...





The walkway looks really close to the end of the slide...even in person...but Travis said the goal of the kids who slide is to be able to touch the walkway with their feet. We saw one little kid get close, but I think you have to weigh less than 100lbs to achieve this goal...adults who slide look like this upon entry...



Then we sat down to eat a quick lunch and the ladies spotted a hot ride coming our way...



Oh wait, that's just our men being chauffeured by Travis in his baby blue El Camino...I'm told it also a sweet sound system...a boom box...classy!



We finally headed back to Columbia so some of Gamecocks in my life could get home in time to watch their football game...even though I missed the first 3 quarters of mine, but I'm willing to make sacrifices for a good time...and a good time was had by all! We're looking forward to more time spent "pond side" next summer! Thanks again Travis!