By Shelley Bennett
Lassen County is the perfect place to be on the 4th of July. With temps in the high 90’s this weekend, it’s easy to find a spot of shade and some water at any of our beautiful lakes or rivers and enjoy the day.
Nearby Chester, in Plumas Co, will host their annual 4th of July parade starting at 11:00. But get there early to secure a spot! In town, the gates at the Diamond Mt. Speedway will open at 4:00 if you want to catch the races. Fireworks will follow when it gets dark enough.
When I was younger we always went to the Templeton’s cabin, number 17, in Eagle’s Nest for the 4th.
The cabin is part of my family history, with tales from the Templeton boys of weekends spent collecting rocks, building the fireplace, deck, and patio, and furnishing it with cast offs from home. Some people might call it rustic, but there is electricity and running water and it was built with lots of love and hard work.
My mom and Aunt Georgia would plan the menu and assign dishes to the other attendees. Sometimes we would have fried chicken, other times it was burgers and hot dogs, but we always had to have onion dip. It was a family essential.
For my cousins and I, it was all about how soon we could get to the lake and get it in the water. Cousin Laura and I would scout the perfect sandy beach. It was usually a 10–15-minute walk from the cabin and we would carefully avoid the stinging nettles and sunning lizards as we made our way across the rocky shore.
My aunt Georgia always cautioned that we had to wait an hour after eating before swimming, so we would pick at the BBQ’d hamburgers and potato salad until we could convince an adult to accompany us.
Being the youngest, my dad would usually walk down with us. He was full of Eagle Lake lore and would tell us stories about catching grebes and witnessing a water snake give live birth. He is also the one who encouraged us to go hunting for snipes and look out for the Eagle Lake monster.
We didn’t have a boat or ski dos or fancy water toys, but we enjoyed every minute of splashing and swimming in the cool water. That is, until you got out and realized you had a leech on you! Ugh…those things are so gross.
One memorable 4th of July afternoon, my cousin Brent caught a water snake. It was pretty small and a little scared. He brought it back to the cabin where my dad assured Brent that the water snake would not bite him. Of course the snake latched on to Brent’s pointer finger, its jaws just barely wrapped around it, and Brent proceeded to swing his hand and arm around with the water snake attached.
Of course, that resulted in the rest of the cousins and aunts screaming and creating quite a ruckus. I don’t know what happened to the poor snake, but I do know that my dad has never lived that down.
We would end the day with icy cold slices of Watermelon and a plan to watch the fireworks together when we got back into town.
Whatever your plans, enjoy the 4th! Be safe and don’t touch the water snakes.
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