I’m sorry, everyone. I had two days to get the last two entries on the internet, and I forgot. Then I had to go to band camp. But now I’m back and I’ll type both of them. Here’s this one:

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I woke up about 0900, I guess. I had some cereal and then I went outside. Every time I do this I end up with Sierra, tickling her or something to make her laugh. I did that for a short time. Then I went down to the beach in my swimsuit and water shoes. But I stood in the water and while it was very pretty, it didn’t offer much more than the dock where views came and I wasn’t about to put my head underwater to swim, so I ended up only staying one or two minutes. I walked back to the cabin and changed back out of that and retrieved Micah and we went fishing, with Dad.

I drove up to that cove we discovered yesterday. The wind started lazily drifting us as we cast our lines out and waited. Occasionally I trolled us. I caught the first, and, as it happened, last fish, a real fighter of a pike right next to the boat. Dad took us for a brief but interesting rest stop on a granite and grass peninsula around there, where both of us stepped in a lively colony of ants.

It’s interesting to think about the hills as you boat by them. They roll up and down to all sides of you, closing you into the lake, and they’re lush and green. And what really fascinates me is thinking that almost all the area I’m seeing has never been walked on by a person. Aside from occasional airplanes overhead and boat engines on the lake, for all the animals in the forest know there’s no such thing as a human. If I went bursting in there, and met a bear, it would have no clue what to make of me. And I would be the first person, ever, to set foot there. I think it’s pretty incredible to think that inspite of the millions of years people have been around, it’s still possible to be the first person anywhere.

We drove back, Dad tossed back a couple of beers with the folks, and then we went back out again, this time to go see the Falls. Dad had Micah drive, but Micah wussed out, so Dad drove. Halfway there I realized I’d forgotten my camera. I couldn’t believe it. Fortunately Dad’s agreed to go back tomorrow. It’s a long ride out to the Falls, crossing the entire lake. The Falls start with a bay at the far side.

The bay is edged with green reeds. It empties out through a small corridor into an imperceptibly flowing river of crystal clear water that seems just like the lake except that it’s narrow and the boat only drifts one way, which eventually I realized was downstream. Today we all cast our lines out and drifted haphazardly downstream, occasionally bumping off things on the bank, like parts of a fallen tree. Granite rocks made genial steep slopes at different places on either bank. Then the current took us into a broad, flat, shallow bay with bad fishing, so we took in our lines and Dad drove the rest of the way. Just as we came up onto the Falls, it was weird to see one little corner of the lake where instead of trees on the bank there was no bank at all and the lake slipped off an edge. We hoisted the boat up onto some rocks and tied it up and walked through some grass to go see the Falls close-up.

Boy, are they ever energetic this year, what with the water level up about a foot. The water slipping into them immediately hits a frothy oblivion sliding uncontrollably down a 45° granite chaotic slope littered with spare boulders, and, in somewhat dry spots, some really brazen bushes. It’s impossible to even stand in it on the very edge wihout being swept off to a scenic death. We had to admire it from the edges as it roared perpetually off down the rocks and churned the devil out of the lake water. I could sit there for hours.

But Micah went over to the ramshackle old dock nearby and somehow started finding things people had dropped off it: first a pretty nice reel repair multitool with a knife and pliers, then three green bottles. He got the multitool himself, but he was too freaked out to get the bottles. I was too for a minute, but finally I took the plunge of faith and went all the way under to grab one at my feet in three- or four-foot water. It was cold, but refreshing. And he gave me 65¢ in poker tonight for it. He made it $1.50 for that one and the two others, but later on he changed it to $1.25. We got in the boat, lazed up the river, and briefly fished a bay up around there. Dad caught a five-inch bass. It was downright cute. Obviously he threw it back.

We had a terrific dinner that we almost missed coming back late. I liked the fried potatoes especially. And I had two salads. A little while later we started poker. Everyone had drunk quite a bunch. So I should’ve been the best player around. But I wasn’t. I started out playing two hands really badly, letting Grandpa buy me out of a pair of Ks with a stone bluff on one. Then for the rest of the night I had absolutely turd luck. I never should’ve played poker tonight. I was down only, what, $4.45? Everyone kept urging me on tonight and I was reckless and I’m down $11.45. On the upside, barely any of it is mine. Mom’s giving me $5 for allowance and dad gave me $3 just because. And we might not even settle up. We didn’t last year.

Everyone checked out the stars, but there were no Northern Lights, just a beautiful clear sky. Then we went inside. And I read my Bill Bryson book for way too long. At 0215, Mom said, “Well, sun is gonna rise in an hour.” I hate trying to sleep un sunlight. I don’t think it’s risen yet, so maybe she was wrong.