The Skagit River Visit

My youngest son Matthew came to visit me with his three children and my granddaughter Alexandra. They arrived on a hot summer day in August. My fiance had already left on his motorcycle trip with his friend the day before, leaving the house for the kids and I for two days and two nights.

The house was filled with the welcoming aroma of a turkey roast in the oven when they all arrived good and hungry. I fixed all the trimmings: mashed potatoes, corn, bread and gravy. They filled up on dinner and began to settle in. My granddaughter Alex had been here twice before, but it was the first time for all of the others. I live in the mountains right next to a wide river – the Skagit. They really loved the place and made themselves at home immediately.

They brought plenty of movies to watch and sketch pads to draw on. We bought a cheap chess game while they were here down at the local Red Apple, so they had plenty of entertainment...besides my computer.

They are really good kids and behaved themselves accordingly. Matt kicked back in the hot tub with them. He was ready for relaxation. He worked as a meat cutter in a very busy supermarket, and had planned this vacation in the mountains weeks ahead of time. It was a great way for him to celebrate his birthday also. He would be turning thirty four in a few days.

Kody, Karly and Alex are all teenagers. Kory the youngest is eleven years old. Kory stayed in the hot tub longer than the rest of the kids. He couldn't get enough of it. By ten o'clock the first night here, Kory was out like a light! The hot tub had put him to sleep. The rest of the kids stayed up until past midnight watching Indiana Jones.

Kory slept in until eleven o'clock the next morning. When he awoke he said “Boy, Grandma my Mom really needs to get a hot tub too!”

The next day we went down into the town of Concrete so they could see the old town. When they saw what was left of the old school house that had burned down Kody said “I bet that place is haunted.” Then we drove through town and they looked at all the real old buildings dating back to the early 1900's and all piped in with “Those buildings are haunted too!”

I had to laugh at their imaginations.

Matt wanted to go up above Concrete and see the Lower Baker Dam. So we drove up to the Dam, but the spillways weren't open, so they didn't get to see the water rushing over the Dam.

From there we headed on down to the Skagit River. The boys wanted to know if they could swim in the River. They said that they had swam in places of the Columbia River before. I told them “No, the River is too wide and swift with an undertow that makes it very dangerous to swim in.” I explained to them that parts of the Columbia River are like a lake and that is why they had done their swimming, and that it is not so with the Skagit River.

While we were at the River there were two men with dogs that were throwing sticks out into the River for the dogs to after and bring back to them. The older of the two men had thrown his stick out a little too far for his dog. The stick went out into the current and the dog after it. We stood there and watched as the dog drifted further and further out into the middle of the River, away from the smoother water toward shore. The old man was calling his dog loudly, but the dog could not fight the current as he desperately paddled the swift water.

Quickly, the dog's owner jumped into his pickup truck and raced off downstream from where we were. The younger man exclaimed that he was hoping the dog would be able to swim to smoother water downstream. By that time we were all wrapped up into the fate of the drifting dog. He was being carried much further away down the middle of the wide River until we could hardly see him. It was too much for Kody to watch so he turned and walked slowly back to his Dad's car.

Sadly, we all turned and walked, one by one back to the car.

The kids all wondered why no one bothered to rescue the dog. I tried to explain that the dog's owner may have had a cell phone to call someone to help rescue him. It seemed a bit of a feeble answer for them. Then I tried to reassure them that the dog would be able to go ashore somewhere downstream.

The possibility that the dog would tire and get pulled under the water 'haunted' all of us the rest of the day. Matt was somewhat upset that the kids had to witness such an ordeal. My only condolence was in thinking that somehow it was meant to be witnessed by them.

Sometimes a certain amount of fear goes along with respect, and that magnificent River demands respect.

We all limited our conversation about the dog the rest of the day. I promised to check into the fate of the dog for them. Something I may be able to do if I asked around.

We got on with our visit and slowly began cheering up again. The evening ended with chess games and another dip in the hot tub. Later, it was movie time again. Then all of us were ready to retire by eleven o'clock that night.

The next morning after breakfast Matt began loading up the car for the 150 mile trip back home. We said our goodbye's along with plenty of kisses and hugs.

I stood teary eyed, but smiling on the front deck and waved goodbye to them as the loaded car pulled away and rounded the corner at the end of my road.

~

Word Count: 1023