The view outside my Treehouse is gloomy. There is snow, slush, trees without leaves and gray skies. It's cold, wet and windy. It makes me wish for summer. My sister is currently enjoying summer in New Zealand. My friends on Facebook have been posting about wanting summer or going to warm places. All these thoughts of Summer make me think of my favorite Summer memories.
Lake Chelan
Every Summer from 1987 - 2000 we would pack up my dad's van and head to Lake Chelan. Days were spent going to the beach, eating around a campfire, sleeping under the stars, and exploring the town. We always went with a large group from my Cousin's church, so there were tons of kids to play with all the time.
The days were so warm and sunny. If you got to hot you'd just pop in the lake, fed by snow, to cool off. The beach at Lake Chelan State Park was so cool, it was made up off three tiers of grass. You'd claim your spot and then spend the day going back and forth from the beach. If you got hungry you'd head to the snack shack and buy too much candy, soda, nachos, or popsicles.
This was one of my favorite weeks of the Summer.
Family History Road Trip
The Summer after I graduated from high school we took a 3 week road trip to South Dakota and Nebraska. My parents offered to take me to Europe but I wanted to see my Great-Grandpa's homestead. So off we went in Dad's big white van. The first day we made it to Montana. Montana is such a long, boring state to drive across. Along the way we stopped at the State Capital and some museums. Once it South Dakota it was so hot, it made me appreciate our cool summers.
At one of our stops in South Dakota we popped down into Nebraska to see where my Grandmother was born. She grew up in Burton, and even taught school there too. The first think we saw entering Burton was a sign, Population 9. The town wasn't really a town anymore but the school my grandma went to and taught at was still standing. We drove to the end of the town and turned around, there was another sign, Population 8. Laughter ensued, as we couldn't understand how a town of 8 or 9 couldn't keep track of there citizens.
Next stop was Clark, South Dakota to see the homestead. My Great-Grandfather's land was actually in Crocker, but Crocker wasn't really a town anymore. The only buildings left were empty except the tavern. So my parents went in to ask directions and the man that answered had actually known my Grandfather's sisters. He even remembered their names.
The homestead was incredible, it's up on this large grassy hill. It was aptly named Hillview Farm. We wondered around for hours in the heat. All the stories my Grandpa had told me came alive. This was so much better than Europe. The next day was Sunday and we went to the church my grandpa and his dad helped build.
Back in Nebraska we saw my mom's cousins, her Cousin Kevin is a farmer. At Kevin's farm it was very hot. He toured us around and showed us all his fields and talked about what he grew. Later he showed us his tractor, it was air conditioned and had a cd player. I got to drive it, and it's the only time I've driven a clutch.
This trip was so incredible, we saw family history and explored museums. It was nice to come home to a nice cool summer.
Wyoming
The Summer I quit working for WaMu, I went to Wyoming. Some of my mom's cousins owned a Campground in Buffalo, Wyoming. For 6 weeks I cleaned bathrooms, checked in campers, worked in the camp store and read a lot of books.
It gets very hot in Wyoming, one day it got up to 116. When it gets that warm you really start to appreciate air conditioning. The camp office/store was kept around the 70s but inside my cousins house it was 64. They thought I was crazy because I wore jeans and a sweatshirt inside there house.
Summer 2009 - Hottest Summer on Record
Samuel's due date was July 27th and it was so hot. I remember we had dinner on my parents back deck. We all just kinda sat since moving was too hot. Two nights later I even woke Tyrone up around 11pm and told him to just drive me around in the car. I kept wishing that baby would come so I could go enjoy an air conditioned hospital.
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