By Heidi Tiura
•
21 Jul, 2016
This is the briefest of newsletters because July is our busiest month and I am lucky if I get to half of my outside and office chores before hitting the river or lake with guests. Here are some important highlights: Bucktail access to put in or take out river craft is now limited to weekends only into September. Trinity River Restoration Project is increasing wetlands above us and will be changing the entrance road to the river. In the meantime, they're adding an alcove just above the Bucktail bridge so we can launch rafts on weekdays. The river's flow may preclude retrievals there, but the main run we do is from our place to Steel Bridge Road, so this works for us. La Grange Cafe in Weaverville is open again! New owners took over earlier this year and we just had a delightful dinner there. Our server was Casey, who was professional, efficient and friendly. Perfect combination. Call them at 530.623.5325 for reservations, or go to their Facebook page. Ignore the sites that say La Grange is closed. Our cabins are pretty solidly booked, but there are some openings. Your best shot is to call us for availability, or wait until the middle of August. The Miner's just got a beautiful new river porch railing with stainless steel horizontal wires below the handrail and custom-framed lattice at both ends. It's the same design as Alpen Glow's deck and it's fantastic. I'd love to put a photo of it in here, but my porch shots are all safely in a new phone I can't decipher and the river's calling; I am nothing if not subservient to the river gods. We are currently taking the Cowells--some of our favorite people--on yet another river trip, which will make 4 in as many days. A few times, I have taken a double kayak so our dogs can join us (they are way too good at guilt-tripping me with scowls as I grab my gear and promise we'll do something fun soon, just not right now). But on the trip when this picture was taken, one and then both dogs hopped on Steph's SUP and he then took on some exciting water. These conditions would be an enormous challenge for anyone on a SUP, but for a leg amputee who has many additional challenges balancing on a SUP and with dogs?! It is such an incredible sight that even as I took pictures, I was agog. They stayed up and dry throughout the run. Bisco and Scupper are experienced river kayakers, though, and their lake SUPs have taught them to respect the reduced stability of a SUP compared to a kayak. So when Steph bravely put them on his board and headed downriver, it was impressive to see how relaxed, yet poised, they were. See you up here! heidi, Steph and the gang