Plywood for the main floor is in place as well. The basement will be unfinished for now, but when we move into the house full time we plan to finish it with a den/game room, bedroom, bathroom, office and laundry room. Since I had to decide where the future bathroom and laundry room will be so that plumbing could be installed beneath the concrete slab, I drew up a floor plan for the basement. This irritated Randy. He didn't understand why I couldn't just say "Put the plumbing here and here (random locations) and we'll work around it later." Maybe, but that could have led to a bizarre layout for the entire floor. To decide where to position the toilet, sink, bathtub and washing machine, you have to determine not only where the bathroom and laundry room are going to be, but also their shape, size, where the doors will be, etc. And to figure that out, you have to put some thought into where all the other rooms are going to be. After a few minutes of considering this, I concluded that just drawing up a plan for the entire floor would be the simplest -- and probably fastest -- way to accomplish the task. (The floor plan is with the pictures below.)
It turned out to be a good thing because Scott went ahead and framed the windows and doors in the appropriate places. That should save some money later on. We walked around in the basement for awhile this weekend. The view is going to be really nice, even from there.
We also spent some time at Little River Falls. I want to start visiting the outdoor attractions in the area, both for myself and so we can tell people interested in staying at the cabin what there is to do. I know people kayak, rock climb, hike and swim in pools in the river. The parking lot next to the road into the neighborhood has been overflowing the past few times we've been there. But we usually go to our property, look around for about five minutes, then leave. We don't have much time during our trips, and we like to visit family in the area while we're there. I'm going to try to go somewhere new each time we visit the cabin, though.
At the falls, which is the starting point for Little River Canyon, the water level was way down and lots of people were walking over the exposed rocks and swimming in little pools created by depressions in the rock formations. Some people were swimming below the falls, too, and others were walking under the small stream of water -- about 10 feet wide -- that still spills over the drop-off. A volunteer park ranger is posted at a sign that gives information about the falls and canyon. He said there's actually more water now than there was most of the summer because the area got some rain late last week. The kids and I walked around above the falls. The water temperature was cool but not cold, and the designs in the rocks were interesting. Some looked like shell impressions. Since rainfall is so far below normal this year, many of those rocks probably haven't been visible in a long time.
Here are photos I took at the falls and at the cabin:
