Sunday, August 17, 2008

Home again...

It seems that no matter how much a vacation is anticipated and how long one week away from home seems like an eternity of anticipation...a week is just not enough. Yes, we have been and gone on our vacation already and I'm sad.

The weather was absolutely wonderful...mid to upper 70's all week with only a little bit of rain and a lake that is much bigger than I thought it would be. The cabin was spacious and exactly what we've been searching for and the fishing wasn't super spectacular but it was decent. There's a little lagoon thingy and a decent beach for the kids to enjoy and the distance from town to the cabin was perfect. So, after a week of mulling it over, Pat and I have decided that this is the one that we'll return to year after year from now on. You see, I've been looking for that perfect place that suits our family for many years. We've tried distant places and we've tried ones practically out our back door but they just didn't feel right.

So, enough about the cabin...the vacation. What a beautiful lake. We weren't able to explore all of it due to it's size but it was literally right out our door just off the patio. Our son truly took advantage of the unlimited fishing opportunities he had all week and caught himself northern, bass, perch, sunnies and bullheads. He fished pretty much every waking minute taking long enough to eat and go to the bathroom.

Our daughters lounged around a lot on the patio reading, staring at the lake or just napping. They too enjoyed some fishing and were graced with some sizeable fish. Our oldest had her boyfriend up for a day and him, Pat and our daughter went out fishing at 6:00am. the best part of that is that her boyfriend has never really fished before he met our daughter and they only just recently bought fishing poles. The boyfriend hooked onto a 2 pound northern and a rather large bass which he lost. Needless to say, he has the itch and has grown to love fishing.

Me? Well, I caught a couple of decent northern...a 2 1/2 pounder and a 3 pounder and then there was the 'pig' as we have all called him. I lost him but that northern was large....he gave me a great fight, Pat and I got him to the boat and he had dragged out so much line that he was deep down in the water. By the time I was able to finally reel him in, the fish had shaken the hook out of it's mouth and is still swimming in that lake laughing at me....I lost a brand new lure, another spinner bait and about 3 others were destroyed by northerns...those nasty cusses but man are they fun to fight. Overall, my fishing excursions were satisfying.

Pat too had a good week fishing. He got to enjoy many more outtings as he is the captain of the rather small fishing boat..I refuse to drive that thing. He latched onto a northern that must have been close to 5-6 pounds and then others that ranged in weight from 2-4 pounds. We did catch some bass but not much to brag about. All the same, they were fun to fight. Ahhhh, fishing..such a relaxing thing to do with a little excitement thrown in every now and then.

So, for excitement.....our son spent much of his time fishing in this little lagoon....it was choked with lily pads and looked disgustingly mucky. He of course didn't care, he was catching sunfish left and right. So on the day the grandparents came to visit he was again fishing and I hear...oh, he fell in. I turned to look and theres our boy covered in mud and weeds and his pole was like a big weed it was so full of yuck. Turns out though that our son didn't fall in...he was trying to walk to the other side of the foot bridge; in the water. He stepped in, took a couple more steps and sunk in up to his ears in muck. Thankfully I didn't see this happen because I was freaked out enough with the 'what if' factor. While it's funny to think about now, that could have proved to be something a little more serious. He could have sunk in over his head in that muck...oh, I'm just a massive 'freak out' person.....

More excitement.....Pat and I were coming in from a 4 hour fishing outting on our last morning there. I waved to the kids as we passed in front of the cabin, made faces, etc and just as we were coming in to the turn to get into the lagoon I was shocked to see a speed boat come flying past the tip of the boat, probably about 10-15 feet off of where I was sitting. Following was a water skiier.....this idiot had come in between us and the shore...the shore was about 40 feet off the bow of our boat. Can you say Holy S***???? Again, that freak out what if scenario is still playing through my head....Pat and I could have been hit, that skier could have been outside of the wake and could have hit the side of our boat, our kids could have seen a horrible thing happen to their parents. Our cabin was that close to the water btw....I told Pat today that if I would have been driving our boat that day I would have went right to that dock and pitched a holy fit. Irresponsible boater alert...NEVER pass another boater on the INSIDE...always go around. If Pat had turned our boat a few seconds sooner, there's no telling what may have been that morning and I'm just grateful that we are all safe.

So the vacation was a great success and one that I really wasn't ready to give up just yet. Waking up at 5:00 in the morning for the first three mornings was glorious...the water was like glass, the sun had yet to wake and the birds just coming to life....what more can a person ask while drinking a hot cup of coffee and breathing in the fresh air of a crisp dewy morning.

No comments: