Annual mountain trip

My family went on our annual long weekend trip to the mountains. We used to swap houses every year, but for the past three years, we've been going to the same house.

It has four bedrooms (master for my parents; two queen upstairs for me and Jeff, and my brother and sister-in-law; and one in the basement with twin beds for the kids) and three and a half bathrooms (full bath in the master, half-bath near the kitchen and living room, full bath upstairs and full bath in the basement). The big a-frame window is in the loft on the top floor. Our bedroom is up there. The wrap-around deck is on the main floor. And the bottom deck comes out from the basement. There are views from every window in the place.

The living room, dining room and kitchen are all open to each other. The half bath, storage closet and master bedroom are through the kitchen. We eat out one night and make all the other meals at the house. It is completely stocked with everything you could possibly need to cook with.

My parents' room has a door to a private deck.

This is mine and Jeff's room. We have a private balcony to the left of the bed.

This is my brother and sister-in-law's bedroom. That door leads to the bathroom that we share. Our room is across the hall. And they have a private balcony out from their room, too.

This is the kids' room. We move that rocking chair and set up a cot for Biscuit. There are two pull-out couches in different parts of the house, but he wants to be there with his cousins.

This is the basement. The pool table, foosball table and game table keep a bunch of us occupied all at the same time. Those sliding glass doors lead out to the lower deck.

We try to keep the kids entertained, so they won't spend too much time with their electronics. We play hide-and-seek. And I can tell you, you get a good workout when you're "it." You have to search three floors! 

And we play crazy games like "Pterodactyl." If you've never heard of it, don't worry. I hadn't either until last year. Our niece taught it to us. Everybody stands in a circle. Someone is picked to go first. Let's say it's my niece. She can decide whether she wants the game to go left or right. So let's say she turns to the person on her right. She then wraps her lips over her teeth and says, "Pterodactyl." If you show your teeth, you're out. If you ever want to reverse the direction, you turn to your neighbor, raise your arms like wings and make some kind of pre-historic bird caw — "Wockkkkk!" And then the game goes around the circle the other way. You keep playing until there's only one.

I never won because I would always laugh and show my teeth.

Now tell me the truth. When you read the part about wrapping your lips over your teeth and saying, "Pterodactyl," you tried it, didn't you?!

We spent a lot of time in these chairs. The porches are set up so that you can rock and be in the shade at all times of the day.

We cook out one night while we're there. And we usually drag some more chairs around and play guitar and sing in the evenings.

This is the view from the deck in the photo above. The house is more in the foothills than the actual mountains, but the view is pretty, and we don't have to travel those twisty, turny roads to get to the bigger mountains.

There's a '50s-style diner we go to every year. The food is really good, and the atmosphere is fun. Biscuit's burger and fries came in this '55 Cadillac.

And sometimes we get silly. And somehow, there was only photo proof this year of ME doing something silly.

This rooster sits on the edge of the deck. He's been there ever since we've been going.

I was hot. Very hot. But I had a snack and a drink. And I couldn't find hands enough to hold a snack, a drink and a fan. So I figured if they were just sticking out there anyway, they ought to be of use to me!

We always have a good time, and this year was no different.