Gimme Another Shot of Whiskeytown: July 2011

I figured while I was at it, I'd better post this. Remember the Whiskeytown Memories book that I made for Grandma & Grandpa years ago with stories and pictures compiled from all of you? (Those of you who'd give them to me, hehe.) Well here is the lil' intro essay/thought I wrote for them, summing up why this traditation is so important, and thanking Grandma and Grandpa for starting it. I think it sums it up pretty well. Let me know what you think...

"Why is it that a place set among some average hills and small mountains, among busy campers and loud, music-playing neighbors, can seem such a place of refuge and comfort? Why is it that some common pines and short Manzanitas repeatedly beat out the stately Redwoods and towering Sequoias of the Coast? How can a place that is really just a few dirt paths, some bear lockers, and a hose-washed bathroom feel like home? It doesn’t really seem to matter that Whiskeytown Lake may not seem to be the most beautiful place to everyone who sees it. It doesn’t matter that the woods are not flowering with rare foliage or that its trees do not attract international visitors. What seems to matter most to our family is that it is home. Whiskeytown is a tradition and place full of memories we’ve made together. Yet it is not just a place of memories for our immediate families, but of a large extended family; one that has become very close through all the time spent together. Our prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley, reminds us that “we existed as children of God before we were born into this world, so also shall we continue to live after death; and the treasured and satisfying relationships of mortality, the most beautiful and meaningful of which are found in the family, may continue in the world to come.” We have made a tradition out of building the relationships within that family, and in making them beautiful. Whiskeytown, in all its glory, is a place that we’ve made become special to us, for all the many things that have become a part of it.
A tradition becomes that needed sense of a constant in our lives, something whose fundamental values do not change. It is something that can always be counted on to happen, and thus gives itself over as being a type of rock to hold onto. We have all changed over the years. Some of our ideals, the sizes of our families, the number of campsites, the equipment we use, our inflating ages and deflating air mattresses, our desires and interests, even some of the traditions within “Whiskeytown” itself have changed. What has stayed the same is the love within our family, and the enjoyment we get out of making memories together. We as a family have been going to Whiskeytown for the past 39 years! Our parents have gone since they were kids; we kids have gone since we were born, and now some of our children are making the trip only days old. It has been that constant-- for 39 years a constant. It has provided a place for our families to grow and to see each other’s grow. It is not just about the boating trips out on the lake to ski, it is not close to being just about a chance to lie around in a hammock without work for a week. If that were the case, it would have deteriorated into individual family trips whenever we had time and enough vacation days long ago. Rather, Whiskeytown is that great place that our friends and neighbors have all heard about for years and know of to be ‘the greatest place’, a place of real special value. I don’t believe it is just about the fun or the fishing or the jogging trail or the beach or the boat. Those things could be done anywhere, at anytime. What really makes Whiskeytown so great, is that we go as a family, an entire family, and that as a family we have built memories in that place. It has been a constant place to build memories on for all of us, together; a little chunk of the world that feels like home for our entire extended family. That is why it is special.
I feel like Grandma and Grandpa Huntington have helped give us this legacy of real love for each other. They are as much to thank as anyone for helping keep this family so close, and the ties so real. This Christmas gift is one to thank them for helping us create so many memories, so that we can be a family that will stick together. We can be an eternal family. Let these memories be a small legacy of what Grandma and Grandpa have given to us, and let all future generations know of our love for them. Whiskeytown is kind of like home, because to this family, Whiskeytown means family time. And as President Gordon B. Hinckley reminds us, “the family…is a divine institution, the most important both in mortality and in eternity.” May we never forget that, and do all in our part to create and keep our family as one. "
--Tawna, 200...5? Maybe? haha

Okay, so here are just a few favorite pictures that I took from this year's Whiskeytown trip. I figured it was only about time that I share them all with you, since of course you have been waiting. ;) I got a lot of beautiful artistic shots, but will save those for facebook. Have to look there. These are more fun family ones, because, well, we are a fun family, and we like looking at ourselves. ;) Much love, and enjoy this small sampling!

(Had to have one shot of the lake.)