How It Was Before / Girl With a Camera

It was a pleasant summer day, more like the kind you remember from childhood. Some sun, the high in the low 80s, not as humid as it's been. Warm in the sun, comfy in the shade. My husband and I decided to go swimming, and for me, this would be a new record: four swims in seven days! 

We visited Bald Eagle last Monday, Whipple Dam on Thursday, Black Moshannon on Friday, and then Bald Eagle again on this day. I swam at each park, and then showered after. I hesitate to tell the truth, but I've taken more showers at state parks this summer than I have had at home!

I also saw a burger and fries in my future. All of the fast food places have a $5 deal this summer. Wendy's calls it a Biggie Bag. McDonald's calls it  the $5 Meal Deal. Burger King calls it a Your Way Meal. We like Burger King's; and mine (after the swim, but before our visit to Spring Creek) would include a Whopper Jr., small fries, four nuggets, ranch dip, and a refillable sweet tea. "You can have that any way you want it," the dude who took our order said. Oh, nom!

Anyway, sorry, I got distracted by the burger thing there. And who can blame me? :-) We went to Bald Eagle to swim, and that's pretty much all we did. Sometimes we linger, but we wanted to get in and out before things got too crowded. So we went there, we swam, we showered, we left.

There were people on the beach who made good photography subjects. There was a girl dressed in black who just sort of made every shot she was in better. I almost laughed at the point where she walked into the water with her camera in her hands. Why, that's the sort of thing that *I* would do. You may see that photo of a girl with a camera (who is not me) in the extras.

I hate to tell you this but the water, which was lovely and clean last weekend, is now quite dirty. I did take a lot of pictures on this day, and I'll tell you the reason: I'm not sure we'll be going back. Typically, by mid-July, we cross Bald Eagle off the swimming list due to the quality of the water. So, you've been warned.

We were starving by early afternoon, and went and got our meals at Burger King; took our time; ate our burgers and fries; took our nuggets and dip along for later; drank lots of iced tea that was really pretty decent. My appetite, which has been dicey in the heat, was back with a vengeance: "I'm FIVE DAYS worth of hungry," I told my husband, and he marveled at the gusto with which I chowed down. Yay, me!

We left Burger King, and he asked if I wanted to go shopping. What about a stop at Ocean State Job Lot, which is my new happy place, for a little retail therapy? Well, there wasn't anything we really needed and so I demurred. Probably not today.

Maybe we should go home the back way then, he suggested. And so it was that we ended up driving home along Spring Creek. "Say, isn't this the place where they will be taking out the DAMS?" my husband asked. And my ears perked up. It was the first I'd heard of it. What!?

So we stopped at the Spring Creek access by the rusty bridge, where I have stopped so often, typically on a winter's morning. It is the place with the spillway where I've photographed the colorful leaves and the reflections on the waters; and on more than one special morning, the Spring Creek Madonna, in her various incarnations. How precious those memories and stories are to me.

There are signs up indicating the parking lot and hiking trails at Rock Road will be closed 8/5 to 8/16. But a news story I found online indicates that work on the project begins MONDAY, July 22, which is the date I'm typing this story! Can you believe we actually made our final (accidental!) visit there, to see it the way it was before, on its Very Last Day?

Now, I am aware that the dam removal project is expected to improve the quality of the stream. That will make it better for the fish, and for the fishermen. So I GET it. I really do. And I'm in favor of all of that, at least in theory. But there is a part of me who really LIKES THINGS JUST THE WAY THEY WERE!!!

So, to sum up: we swam in water that wasn't quite so clean, I took a ton of pictures in case we don't get back anytime soon, we had some marvy burgers and fries and iced tea, and I visited a place I love that won't ever be the same again. So this was a day full of happiness and sighs. Isn't that life?

My soundtrack songs are: Sinead O'Connor, with Last Day of Our Acquaintance, and Crosby & Nash, with Camera (music starts about two minutes in; you'll learn a thing or two that might surprise you during the initial remarks).

Here are a few more memories of this place:
The Valley of the Low, Low Sun
Blue Canyon
Peace
Didn't We Shine
Paint By Numbers
Spillway in Monochrome

Oh, and P.S. I saw a hummingbird moth, aka "fancy bug," along Spring Creek! It was one of the big maroon ones. I was despondent because I never got a shot. My husband's response: "So what. You missed the shot. One person in the WORLD got to experience something special, nobody but YOU. You were there and YOU saw it!"