Sometimes it doesn't go as planned

This Saturday we headed out to the north/northwest to see if we could find a tourist spot a friend had described. The description was sketchy at best, a ferryboat, maybe a lake or island, some sort of castle... Directions were sketchy too: head on the "El. road" until you see the sign for "Eg--" and then turn left. The place is supposed to be 20 minutes away. What's to lose? We like to explore. Sometimes it pays off, as readers have seen from previous blog posts about fun stuff we've seen.

We load into our converted cargo van. Have I ever mentioned that getting into our van feels a little like being a circus sideshow? All the neighborhood kids (and sometimes adults) gather to watch the foreign family (a rare sight) get into the large white van with three small kids (another rare sight) and buckle three car seats (an extremely rare sight). We're off.

We find the sign for "Eg--" and drive through the middle of beautiful nowhere until we get to the town of "Eg--". It's a small town, no major stores, no women on the streets. And not sign of water much less a ferryboat. Matthew and Anna are asking, of course, "where's the ferryboat?" the whole time. We wind through the town, and up a steep hill, and around the corner, and--wow. The hill drops away on the other side down to a river. And apparently a ferry. We drive slowly down the road the switches back on it self to get to the bottom of the mountain, and we see the...

Ferryboats? Think rusty pontoon-style boats that are arguable not a whole lot bigger than some row boats I've seen. Some have metal benches and a thin metal railing, others have no railing but are furnished with plastic lawn chairs. Two kids are bailing water out of one that has "tours taken" painted on the side. There are maybe five or six boats altogether. Not inspiring.

The view, however is. The river winds though a canyon, and on the bend just above us is a castle, hewn out of the rock near the level of the river, clearly a ruin now, but once an impress work of human ingenuity. The sky and clouds and water are beautiful too.

Mike hops out and chats with some guys in uniform who are hanging out. They're friendly and seem trustworthy. In the end, we opt not to hire a boat to see the castle from the river. I'm trying to picture fun on a boat with three small kids (one newly walking)... no. We drive back up the hill and through the town, trying to explain to the kids why we didn't want to take a rusty boat out on a lonely river with three kids. In exchange we pull over at some random spot for them to get out and play in the grass. Random, I know, but at least they got out. But within about three minutes those beautiful cloud decide to shower on us. So we drive on.

And this is the highlight of the whole trip: still in the middle of nowhere Mike lets all the kids pile in the front seat and take turns "driving." Plus we see two horses and a donkey! Finally everyone gets buckled in and we drive back into the city for lunch at Burger King.