Well, it’s been four years, but the Macy family finally got the boat out on the water again! And this time, it wasn’t just for one day either. We were able to get away for FIVE whole days! (Of course, only three of those were actually spent on the lake, but still…)
If we are going to be completely honest, some of us (okay, most of us) were a little skeptical about going so late in the season (and to a lake that we weren’t familiar with), but it ended up being a wonderful time. Here are some of the highlights.
Seeing Dad out there again was a definite highlight! His first run was a bit rough, but that was partly due to the fact that Josiah was learning how to tow him. After figuring out how much speed to give Dad, Josiah was doing great. Dad was up and looking good. But then Dad gave the thumbs down, and “little” sign (which, if you don’t know, means slow down a little). We relayed that to Josiah by saying “Down a little.” Well, the boat is pretty loud and Josiah only heard “Down”, so thinking that Dad was down, he backed off the speed almost entirely. As we watched, Dad started to sink lower and lower in the water as he frantically motioned for more speed. Josiah stepped on the gas, yanking Dad back out of the water, and somehow, Dad managed to stay up and ride it out. (If you are not familiar with waterskiing, you may not realize the difficulty of that, but I still can’t believe that Dad didn’t go down.) Let’s just say that we are all very impressed with our Dad!
The look on Dad’s face after a good run!
Another highlight was seeing multiple family members get to drive the boat. For some, it was their first time. We discovered that Susanna takes after our Mom and drives the boat like a sports car! (Which to be fair, it basically is a sports car on water.)
Everyone improved by leaps and bounds on single skis (sometimes quite literally)! But for me, the crashes were the real highlight! Unfortunately, we weren’t able to capture the best crashes on camera, but I will do my best to describe some of them. There was the one where Melissa fell sideways and then proceeded to tumble across the surface of the water for quite a while at a very rapid pace. It was rather surprising to see how long it took her to finally sink below the water. And then in contrast, you had Christiana. Somehow, she managed to incorporate ballet poses into most of her crashes. It was very graceful. (Because we don’t have photo evidence, she doesn’t believe us, but there were multiple witnesses.) Of course, Josiah and Daniel don’t believe in doing anything half way, so when they crashed, they crashed hard! I mean, really, really hard. I didn’t see it, but apparently Daniel skipped across the water during one crash. (And I don’t mean like “Skip to my Lou” skipping. We’re talking skipping a stone type skipping, only it was Daniel, not a stone.) I guess Josiah went into a splits position while crashing and he assured us that it was quite uncomfortable. (I’m not exactly sure how he managed that one, but crazy things happen when you are being pulled through the water at high speeds.) And then there was the time that while kneeboarding Daniel momentarily left his board and flew into the air. He quickly became reacquainted with his board as he crashed down on top of it. The bruise from that one began to take shape instantly. I think my favorite crash though, had to have been one of Josiah’s. I have never seen anything like it. One minute, he was up and looking good, and the next, well, he was still up and looking good, but his ski was no longer on his feet. It was gliding across the water to the left of him! It happened so fast that we didn’t get a picture, but once again, there were multiple witnesses and we all saw the same thing. There were a lot more crashes, but you get the picture. Everyone was comparing bruises each night.
Kneeboarding is also a lot of fun!
Apparently, it’s mandatory to keep your eyes tightly closed until after you get up on your knees!
You know that moment when you suddenly realize that you and your sister are not only matching, but are also sitting right next to each other? Well, you just have to embrace it!
Susanna’s first time experiencing getting gas at a marina. The cost was a bit shocking for her!
As for the campground and lake itself… Well, the lake was low since it was late in the season, but the water was perfect for waterskiing. It was like glass! And there were hardly any other boats on the lake (again, probably due to it being the end of October), so we practically had the lake to ourselves. Of course, with the water being so low, we had to walk a ways down to reach it, and we couldn’t keep an eye on the boat from our campsite. But it still worked out.
Seriously, look at that water!
This campsite had Mom’s and Dad’s tent, our “kitchen”, “dining room”, and “living room” (meaning it’s where we made food, ate food, and just hung out).
This campsite had the girls’ tent, Daniel’s tent, Josiah’s hammock, and only one tree. So, yeah, you can see why we hung out in the other campsite.
It was very cloudy the entire time we were there, but you can see some blue sky peeking through!
The campground wasn’t exactly my favorite, though. You see, I am used to camping with lots of trees, and well, this campground just didn’t have that. (A lack of shade can be a bit of a problem for someone who burns as easily as I do.) The bathrooms also could have been better, but then again, they could have been way worse. (Although, I think they may have won the award for worst quality toilet paper. I am not sure where they got that stuff, but I don’t think it even qualified as “single ply”.) Those really are rather minor complaints though. The biggest downside to the campground was that it seemed to attract the local party scene. Most of the campground completely disregarded the quiet hours rule and had no concept of sleeping at night. There was a large party of RVs that, as our neighbors said, were “drunk by six” and had a woman whose laugh could “cut glass”. That particular laugh continued for hours! (The last time I checked the clock, it was 1:00 am and the party was still going strong.) And then there was the campsite next to us on the north. They had the most fascinating conversations during the middle of the night. There was a very long one about Lord of the Rings, goblins, and the origins of racism. Or there was the one about autism and transgenderism. Unfortunately, those conversations were not only late at night, they were also loud, and the vocabulary was extremely limited. We did have a very nice camp host though, and our neighbors to the south of us were great! They were from Germany and were not only friendly, but also quiet and considerate. The ideal campground neighbor! We very much enjoyed meeting them.
We thought these were the oddest looking bear boxes we had ever seen. And then we opened one. First thought- “Shelves in the closet. Happy thought indeed.” (If you don’t know the reference, I pity you.) Apparently, they don’t have a bear problem, but they do have lots of squirrels! So, these aren’t actually bear boxes, they are squirrel… cupboards?
A huge plus for this lake was the fact that we had wonderful sunsets every night!
Our first night wasn’t a stunning sunset, but it was still pretty.
Our last night started out with lovely, but calm colors.
And ended with the sky on fire!
Susanna managed to capture photographic evidence of their bald eagle sighting! Meanwhile, back at camp, I was alternately fighting off squirrels, visiting with an adorable little bird that was hopping under my chair and around my feet, and watching a vulture circle overhead (not quite as majestic as an eagle, but hey, you’ve gotta take what you can get!)
We really could only comfortably have six people in the boat at a time (and sometimes that wasn’t so comfortable), which meant that there were usually at least three of us at the campsite. Although all of us love being in the boat (it’s honestly pretty awesome), we managed to enjoy our time at the campsite as well.
Playing games (I lost…)
Relaxing in the hammock
Looking at pictures from earlier in the day
I enjoyed doing some quick watercolors during my time at the campsite.
After getting banged up out on the lake all day, staring into a fire is surprisingly relaxing. (Okay, so maybe he was actually making dinner, but it sounds more like vacation to say he was relaxing.)
It’s not camping unless you make s’mores. And you can’t properly make s’mores without catching a few marshmallows on fire! Don’t worry, the burnt flavor is part of the experience!
One more quick story, just to prove how good our Dad really is. We encouraged Dad to take one last run before calling it a day. He was reluctant, but finally agreed. Daniel teased him about not forgetting to correctly buckle his life vest. Dad just rolled his eyes and brushed him off. Well, Dad got into the water, put his ski on, and yelled “Hit it!” He popped up right away! But something looked a little different than normal… There was a black strap flapping against his arm. He realized about the same time we did. Only two of the five buckles were actually fastened! Anyone else in our family would have let go of the rope and gracefully sunk down into the water before attempting to fasten the buckles (either that, or used it as another excuse to crash hard). But not our Dad! Nope, he just casually hooked his arm through the handle of the rope and went to work on securing his life vest. That was also the run where he narrowly missed skiing straight into a buoy! He swerved around it at the last minute. You know, he may be getting close to seventy, but it’s still a lot of fun watching Dad ski!
The moment he realized that only half of the buckles were done on his life vest.
No need to stop, just buckle on the go.
And here’s a few more pictures, just because I like them (do you have any idea how hard it is to narrow them down this much?)
It was a wonderful time together on the lake. We are all in agreement that we need to do it again without taking such a long break. Maybe this next spring!
Oh! Before I sign off, here’s one last highlight. I came away with only a minor sunburn! For those who tan without even trying, you won’t get it. But try to imagine what it’s like to get a third degree sunburn from the light reflecting off the water each time you are in the boat, and maybe you can somewhat understand my excitement. (Okay, so “third degree” might be a slight exaggeration, but still…) So yep, it was a good trip!
~Elisabeth~