Back to Lake Chinnabee/Phone Search

Daniel has lost his phone. Isn't that just the worst feeling? Or maybe you've never done that, but I certainly have. His job has been really rough lately, too, so I wanted to do everything that I could to help him find his phone. After searching the house & car, I called all of the places we had been to see if anyone had turned it in to "lost & found." No luck. The last place that we remember seeing it was on our hike on Monday. So, yesterday Mom, Dad & I drove back up to Cheaha.
It was much warmer than Monday had been, and nice and sunny. We hiked slowly, looking as carefully as we could, hoping to see the phone. I guess that's why I saw the snake first. Is it just me, or do you other hikers see a lot of snakes too? This one was only about a foot long. Dad said it looked like a copperhead. He casually tried to kick it off the trail, while talking about how slowly they move when it's this cool. I was standing WAY BACK, watching. Hehehe, you should have seen him when that snake started slithering lightning fast into the leaves!
The rest of the hike was nice, but uneventful, until we got to the stream. On Monday, Daniel & I had looked for a good place to cross, but the water was pretty high. It had gone down a little by Friday, so getting across was pretty easy. The three of us had gone across it several times, looking for the phone, but we'd finally given up and were ready to head home. We had to cross the stream one last time. You know what's coming, don't you? I can't say exactly what happened. I'm pretty sure that my left foot went left, my right hand went right, my bum smacked the rock, my head snapped back, and my feet splooshed into the stream, sending a spray of water over my entire body. I tried to scramble out pretty quickly, to keep from getting any more soaked, but that was pretty useless. I gracefully (ha!) scrambled up the bank, then turned to see my parents on the other side, while wiping water out of my eyes.
My parents had very different reactions. Dad was standing stock-still, with a look of horror on his face. He was sort of reaching towards me, wide-eyed. Mom... Well, I love my mother, and I know that she loves me. She's very sensitive and sweet-usually. Usually. She was bent over, roaring with laughter! "Giggle, giggle. Are you okay? Hahaha! Did you hurt anything? Chortle, snort!" I tried to smile graciously. It came out a little sick, but it was the best that I could do, at the moment! Then I squished the last mile of the hike.
Luckily, the sun dried my clothes, and I only had to drive home with wet feet. And I've discovered a new pedicure option! Next time you want to work on your feet, just wear soaking wet shoes and socks for a few hours, then do a foot scrub- works great! :-)