2025 September 8, Dismal Falls

DISMAL FALLS.......... these falls are anything but dismal! (sometimes referred to as FALLS OF DISMAL)

Bucket list:✔️ and #11 on my *NewToMeAt77 list. Yes, I'm aiming to go/see/do/learn 77 new things this year! 

"40ft. width with a 12ft drop into a single whirlpool. It's an easy hike for those who are less eager to venture far off the beaten path. From the community of White Gate on hwy. 42, just off Rt. 100 from Pearisburg, it's a short jaunt of a little over 10 miles(The drive from Rt 100 to Rt 42 was spectacular. Open fields, cornfields, rolling hills, no traffic, mountain views, blue skies, listening to Josh Groban's The Prayer, .....PEACEFUL.  . You will take SR-606 to SR-671 and soon see a sign and pull-off on your right for the falls." *****We drove I81South to exit 98, which is Rt 100 Cleburne Blvd.The drive took 1hr 25 minutes (79 miles from our house)

"The ledges on the left side of the falls are step-like while the middle and right ledges are more of a straight drop. In lower water, the middle and right are not covered and the stream is much narrower. "

Monday's spur of the moment trip was ideal! Temps were in the low 60s, and we had the place to ourselves!  (Click on video below to see panorama of the area)

Dismal Falls is a hidden gem...and a relaxing day trip. 

2025 August 13~ Camp PapaKK

Summer of 2025: The Great Blur 

Somewhere between mid/late June and "Wait, is it Tuesday or is today Friday?" the weeks at CampPaPaKK melted together like an ice cream cone in July🍦. We lost track of the calendar, and we were waaaaaay too busy hiking mountains, tubing down rivers, and chasing model trains to care.

Our days were a delicious mix of painting and upgrading a 40-year-old treehouse(which now has more coats that we do), fishing like pros, mastering archery without losing any arrows or campers, and watching movies at legendary sleepovers.

We learned new tech skills from the grandkids(apparently "click here" means "I'm about to open 47 tabs"), ate ice cream like it was a daily vitamin,

and squeezed every ounce of fun into the season. (Thank goodness, my phone pics were saved with the dates😂😂😂). Trips to the zoo,

 birthday celebrations,

summer reading enforced,

I mentioned earlier that we watched movies. I COULD NOT BELIEVE THAT MY GRANDS HAD NEVER WATCHED THE SOUND OF MUSIC! This turned into a strategic quiet time with a promised quiz at the end😂. Yep, their favorite flower is now the Edelweiss, and they sang DO-RE-Mi together, without laughing! 

Buc-cc's,

obligatory trip to Mill Mountain Star/Wildflower garden, 

and an impromptu visit to the Bedford D-Day Memorial for some valuable history lessons, made for busy days. PHEW!

Did we really sit in the middle of Jennings Creek? Photos say we did😂!

By the end of Summer Camp 2025, the only thing we were sure of was that the memories would last forever---unlike the leftover snacks, which mysteriously disappeared after Day 2.

CampPaPaKK 2025: No schedule, No rules, All fun. Chaos, charm, and sheer joy. (The only thing more elusive than a schedule was a clean pair of socks.) 

Camp Highlights: 1. We measured days by how many Band-aids were used. 2. We discovered that PapaKK are now part camp directors, part snack wizards, and part sleep-deprived legends!

Following is a ginormous colossal  'photo dump' that partially shares a glimpse of the wild and crazy times. How many photos are too many photos??????????????? I wish I could say that the photo dump collection was loaded in an orderly fashion...hahahahaha.... it definitely resembles my temporary "scattered brained". 

 

ChatGPT shared the following: Grandparents quickly discover that their 10yr old grandchild is basically a walking iPad manual who knows more secret phone tricks than Apple itself. The 12-yr old is a full-time fashion consultant who rolls their eyes so hard it's practically an Olympic sport--apparently, socks with sandals are a "crime". And the 15-yr old? They're a world-class life coach, explaining deep philosophical truths like,"Just vibe, KK," while simultaneously teaching you how to make a TikTok that will "blow up"- which, spoiler alert, gets three likes, all from family.