Road Trip: Day 8

Look whom we found hanging around outside the main door to the lake home! Wild neighbors they've got around here.

Another great day at Upper Eau Claire Lake!

After a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast, Hillary and I went out kayaking. I started to drag two kayaks to the water, but Hillary wanted to ride with me. She squeezed her little body into my kayak; consequently I could not feel my lower extremities for much of the ride . . . so relaxing! Actually it was some prime cuddle-'n'-kayak time for Daddy; and the water was calm and the sun not yet in blazing mode, so we had a peaceful voyage. We paddled out to the island in the middle of the lake and explored its coast, noticing the pretty rocks in the shallow water off the shore and spotting a turtle sunning itself on a rock in the water.

Then we did the same along the lake shore for a little while until we saw Suzanna, Abigail, and Susan's aunt Jake go kayaking toward the island. So we followed. We met up with them when they were headed back, so Hillary and I continued on to the side of the island off which the water stays shallow and wade-able for yards and yards and yards off the beach. We tied up the kayak and walked out into the lake, collecting pretty rocks and shells from the lake bottom; but we decided to throw them all back before taking a quick walk on the island and then paddling back to the dock.

After a dinner of dumplings with peas and sausage, the girls swam some more and went tubing again and did more water skiing (with the help of J.J. and Kelli in the water and Jon and Jake on the boat). To get our reddening Scandinavian girlies out of the sun for a while midafternoon, we took a "quiet time" break indoors to drink water, read, and relax--and then got to babysit Susan's first cousin once removed, Trae, while most of the adults made a trip to a local establishment for cocktails.

Anna swimming with the girls

"This is so-o-o-o fun!"

"You know wha' I'm sayin'?"

"Holy mackerel, water skiing can be painful!"

Hillary, Suzanna, Abigail, and Jake

Susan made taco meat for supper, and the spread included tacos in a bag, grilled hamburgers and bratwursts, corn on the cob, and fresh fruit. Jake and Kelli enlisted the girls' help in making banana boats for dessert: bananas covered in brown sugar, marshmallows, and chocolate chips, then wrapped in aluminum foil, then baked over a campfire. The evening drinks-and-conversation gathering on the deck featured at its center a rousing game of Scrabble (for which I served as judge in "Is that even a word?" or "Is that spelled correctly?" disputes--and as an aid for both Cassie and Todd when they wanted suggestions for high-scoring words) until it got too dark to see the tiles.

The banana boat chefs

We Mobergs did our showering this evening to facilitate our morning exit from the lake home and toward our own home. This place is such a lovely, restful setting that I think it's good for Patti and Frank that they bought it as far away from us as they did; otherwise we'd probably be on their doorstep every other weekend!