Lily Lake the 16th!

That's right - time #16!

Nothing was much different on this trip from all the others - we drove, unloaded, set up and HAD FUN!  In that order.  The drive is fun but the unloading and setting up, not so much.

The day we got there we first visited Kev and Shirley's new discovery, Granite Lake.  It looks like a decent enough place to camp but the road getting there is not for the timid.  It takes a SUV with plenty of clearance,  the road consists of a plethera of large rocks and gullies.  Driving speed ranges from 2 - 10 mph.  So we checked it out and then headed on to Lily Lake.

The loading and unloading is a daunting task and we're talking about switching the family camping tradition to something easier for the new family demographics.  Maybe next year we'll try Potholes. But in the meantime...

Camp went up without a hitch.  I'm sure wherever we end up it will always be that way, we cooperate pretty well.  Once camp was set up we just relaxed.  It was late in the day and the day wasn't very warm.

That evening, around the campfire Elise said her first family name - she pointed at Keith and said his name very clearly!  Rach was exasperated!  She said "No!  Auntie!  Auntie!"  Well, "Keith" is a whole lot easier to say.  Then the next morning when Keith stepped out of the tent it just scared Elise!  He was in black and had a "scary" hat and dark glasses on!  So he had to leave the hat off for a while, let the little girl recognize him again.  It's Keith - your FAVORITE uncle!

The next morning when we woke up we all spoke of our struggles to sleep that night, we were all cold.  Then Rach drove to the nearest restroom and when she returned, well after sunrise and after it began to warm up she announced that it was 38º!  AFTER it started to warm up!  We were all having sleeping problems because IT WAS LITERALLY FREEZING!  I know part of my problem was that a sleeping bag had fallen in the water and when we separated everything my sleeping bag got put in Kevin's tent by accident.  When I went to get something to sleep in I got a much thinner bag than I'm used to, but that was better than nothing! I ended up sleeping in 2 full layers of clothing!  I don't think any of us got more than 2 - 3 hours of sleep.  

Kevin noticed that the fog on the lake in the morning had small funnel cloud-looking formations.  Little whirlwinds would whip the fog into twisty shapes!  Then, while I was crossing the log for the bathroom I heard a strange bird and it flew past.  It was a pretty blueish-colored kingfisher!  I've never seen one of those there before!  During our visit Rick and I spotted quite a few salamanders in the lake, Keith saw something bright orange come to the surface quickly for air (another salamander?), the camp robbers came every morning instead of just Sunday like they always did in the past.  Rach decided it was the lack of human interference that caused the animals to be more numerous and curious.  OK, I'll buy that...

But the day warmed up and we did our usual - lay out on the lake and soak up the sun.  Kevin and the boys fished a lot, he brought his new rowboat with a small electric (very quiet!) motor and Keith stayed all day in the paddle boat.  Kevin caught a small fish and Joe caught one about 10 - 12" long!  Joe learned how to use the paddle boat and was our water taxi when we wanted to go to the car, he's getting SO big!

Evening came and our Friday workers started to arrive.  Rick got there about 7:30 and Dane and Chelsea were about an hour behind him, it was actually dark when they got there.  

That night was not as cold and we all went to bed fairly early.  Shirley was intent on being warm and donned her cute, pink, footsie jammies.  I think we were all jealous!  

Saturday was another delightful day of playing in the water, after the gang had fun feeding the camp robbers.  Rick started it, I think.  The boys eventually had crackers sitting on their heads to get the birds to take away gently.  That night was the warmest of all and I think most of us got a pretty good night's sleep.  

We had our usual Sunday morning breakfast made from anything left over that can be incorporated into a breakfast and began to pack up.  Since there are different people with different needs and abilities the loading job up the hill was more laborious than in the past.  Hence the decision to think about another family camping tradition.

But Lily Lake will still be a trip the most hearty and determined ones will do every year or two, at least I hope we will!