15 TTA folks spent the weekend at Hiwassee/Ocoee State Park. We camped at Group camp 6, with a few ladies at another campsite and one at another park. I didn't get there until Friday evening after work. just in time to see everyone arriving at the boat ramp after a float on the Hiwassee River. The water was flowing fast and the first ones at the ramp stood out in the water to catch any that couldn't get stopped. Everyone made it in safe. We had a wonderful dinner at camp with everyone's
contributions, with Miss Garnett's brown sugar chess pie, and Marcia's huckleberry crumb cake for dessert. Yummy! We had a real nice campfire until the thunderstorm rained it out.
Saturday started nice and clear for the Ocoee raft trip. Someone else will have to tell that story because I went hiking with Joan, Jane and Debbie on the Oswald Dome Trail. It was cool under the canopy of trees. We had some nice views, and had our lunch at the towers in the shade with birds singing and bees buzzing. Saw some nice late summer flowers too. On the way back the temperature was rising so it felt good when we got a little wet from a thunder shower. At the parking area there
were some nice classic cars in the parking lot with a group having lunch at the pavilion.
We returned to camp and I jumped in the river to cool off. The current is too swift when the water gets released from the dam, but lots of folks were floating down the river, some on innertubes, some with PFDs, some just floating by.
Some of us went to the Visitors Center to see a snake presentation. Some of us were brave enough to touch the slimy scary things, and some of us weren’t that brave……Anyway there was a corn snake, a king snake, and a rat snake that was big enough to eat the annoying little girl that didn’t want to sit down and be quiet. Not that we wanted that to happen or anything.
Saturday evening we had dinner in Etowah at a nice Mexican restaurant. They had plenty of room for our big group and fed us really well. Back at camp we had another nice campfire. Watched the stars put on a show and had a good time getting to know some new friends and reconnecting with some old friends.
Sunday we were supposed to paddle 13 miles on the Ocoee, but the forecast put a damper on that so most folks headed for home. Joan, Marianne and I went to Parksville Lake to paddle until the storms rolled in. We put in at the Parksville boat ramp. It got warm out there on the lake so we found a good spot on the bank for lunch and a swim. We followed the lake shore and explored the inlets. We found a real nice church camp and thought it would be a nice place for a future TTA Annual meeting if we could have the meeting during warm weather. There's a boat ramp, dock, pontoons, canoes, and a big industrial kitchen, a big pavilion for outdoor dining. Something to think about.....
We beat the rain back to the boat ramp; we only got sprinkled on while loading the kayaks. We had a rude guy in the parking lot asking us to get out of his way so he could get his boat out of the water. We were in the process of loading a kayak into a vehicle, not dawdling, we got there first. Evidently some boaters do not think kayaks are boats deserving a spot on the ramp???
Joan had to get back home, so Marianne and I stopped at the Gondolier for a late lunch/early supper. Good pizza.
Great weekend of fun with great people.
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