The white water rafting trip at Ohiopyle State Park in Pennsylvania was fantastic! The Topping Clan was treated to the excitement of some pretty good rafting, the closeness of kin, and absolutely beautiful weather. Ohiopyle is about a 6 hour trip from Rochester and is located about ten miles north of the West Virginia-Pennsylvania border, and was well worth the trip. Here are some photos of us all running the rapids at Dimple Rock on our rafting trip with Laurel Highlands River Tours.


From left to right; Lance, Ian, Ryan, and Suzanne.


Johanna, Karen, Kyle, Kiera, and Gary.


Lance and Ryan. Ian and Suzanne have "hit the deck."


Cap'n Gary and crew in heavy whitewater, fighting to stay in the raft.


The kids and I (and of course Courage the dog) will be heading north this weekend to Parry Sound to attend to some unfinished business. We will be catching up on water testing this trip, and plan on performing tests this coming weekend and again early in the week after next just after the Canadian long-weekend holiday. The exact name of the holiday (officially known as "The Canadian Civic Holiday") varies from family to family, with such tags as “The Two-Four Weekend” (for 24 beers in a case) and the “Goddamn Long Weekend” common in the vernacular.

Suzanne, my mother, my sister, and my nephew Elijah will joining us at the cottage mid-week. Our mission is to continue on with the water testing that was so important to our father, and to spread some of his ashes in the place he loved. We plan on scattering some of his cremains in three Georgian Bay places revered by Pop; so called Mineral Island, a small uninhabited island near Sans Souci which Pop named for its wide array of diverse rock and mineral deposits; the South Channel in front of our cottage; and in the special gravesite Pop made for his faithful and beloved dog Shadrach, which Pop mourned over for quite some time after he died. We will then raise the flags at our cottage back to full mast.