Freeman Family Reunion Day 2-- Hovenweep and Recapture Reservoir

We slept pretty well in our cute little cabin! I went running with Deana and Amber this morning. It was a challenging run with all the hills. We just went out the main road 2 miles and then came back. We all decided to just walk up the last hill and run it back in! Hahaha! The elevation is definitely an issue for me. It was a good run though and so fun to visit with Deana and Amber while we were running! We had to hurry when we got back to leave by 8am for the Hovenweep National Monument we were visiting today. It’s a large group to get moving that early and we had to eat breakfast, pack a lunch and make sure we had everything we needed for the afternoon at the lake. Hovenweep was super interesting! It dates back to the 1200’s and so many of the structures are still standing and intact! It was fun to hike around and see everything. I decided to go back to the Visitor’s Center because I didn’t have very good shoes, but Bill and the girls went and got to see a lot more of the ruins. They got some great pictures! We stayed there until about 11:30 and then headed to Jamie Lyman’s outpost. Jamie is the Caten’s daughter who lives in Blanding. They bought an old home and are fixing it up to move into to run an outpost or store there for all the visitors that come through this area. They want to eventually have camping and RV space and other things for people to do on their land. It was quite interesting! She and her husband have 10 kids and they are moving into a relatively small home that needs a lot of fixing up, and she said they are moving in about a week! It was quite hot, but her property was like a little oasis with green grass and lots of mature trees that provide a lot of shade. After we went there, we headed to Recapture Reservoir to cool off! It was a very hot day! Bill brought our huge float for the little kids to play on and many people brought kayaks and paddle boards, which we played on for the rest of the afternoon. There was a huge jumping rock out past the shore and all the teenagers enjoyed jumping off of it and doing flips. Katelyn did back flips off of it and they were trying to teach her to do a Gaynor, but she couldn’t quite get it. Jorgen Lowry is really good at all types of flips. I sat and watched them on a paddle board for a while. When we first got there I made friends with Catherine—Amber’s daughter. She is so cute! I asked her to go out with me because she had already been in and I needed someone to “help” me—hahaha! That’s all it took. We were best buddies for the rest of the day at the lake AND the rest of the reunion! Haha! Amber has cute kids! We played at the lake until about 4pm and then we headed back to camp. Bill and I, Rasmussen’s and Lowry’s were in charge of dinner. We had pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw and yummy sweet watermelon. I was in charge of that and I brought 3 huge ones that Megan and I had picked out and they were all so sweet! It took a while to cut them all up, but every last piece got eaten! It was a yummy dinner and tasted so good after a long, hot day! It rained hard that evening! The pavilion has a metal roof, so it was really loud! I got caught under it and couldn’t go get warmer clothing on because I didn’t want to get drenched even though our cabin was the closest one to the pavilion! I hunkered down under the pavilion with someone’s blanket until it stopped and then I went and got warmer clothes. People were roasting marshmallows with a little portable fire pit and others were watching movies. It was fun to visit with everyone under the pavilion each night!  Another FUN day!!!