On The Lake

Are you ready to take a boat ride?  Would you like to have a tour of the lake?  My sweetheart and I have our life jackets on – we have one for you.  Joey is going, too.  He’s not thrilled to have his life jacket on, but he’s ready to go.Let’s get in the boat and get settled.  It’s not a very big boat but the seats are comfortable and we even have drink holders.  Would you like a soda, or a bottle of water? The top is on the boat today.  It gave a bit of shelter from the rain yesterday.  Today it will shade us from the sun.The water is shallow right here at the edge.  It’s not deep enough for my sweetheart to lower the motor into the lake so he will push off with the paddle and row until we’re into deeper water.We’re ‘under motor’ now and heading west.  There’s Diamond Peak in the distance.  It’s one of the inactive volcanoes in the Cascade Range. The wind has come up a bit.  You can see the waves it makes on the lake.  It’s blowing our hair – and it’s even messing with Joey’s hair.There are some homes and cabins scattered along the north shore of the lake.  It would be nice to own one so we could come here often.  Some of them are only accessible by boat.Oh, look!  One of them is for sale!There are several more lakefront homes but we won’t go close because people are outside enjoying this beautiful day on their decks and out on their docks.  Now we will round the end of the lake and pass another campground.  Then you will see the marina at the resort across the lake from our campground.  Just past the marina a train track can be seen at this opening in the terrain.  It’s the north-south line up and down the West Coast.  Amtrak comes through a couple of times a day, taking people to and from their destinations from Canada to the border of Mexico.  Freight trains travel through here several times a day.  We are high in the mountains here at the lake - at about five thousand feet elevation.  The trains are noisy because they have to go full-throttle as they climb through the Cascade Mountains.  Just ahead of them is a hard push to crest the summit of the pass before they start their descent into the valley below.  We can hear them from our campground on the other side of the lake.The wind is picking up and the water is getting pretty choppy so we're going to turn and head back across the lake to our campsite.  You can see the ski trails that cut through the woods on the mountain ahead of us.  Wouldn’t it be amazing to see it in the winter?  We don’t plan to be here next winter but the resort is open year round for people who enjoy summer and winter sports.  We will come back to the resort soon.  We need a few things from the little store so we'll drive around the lake next time.  It’s a pleasant place to visit.  The people are friendly and there's always something to see.
Did the fishermen catch more fish in the rain yesterday, you ask?  Yes, they did.  It was the best day so far!  They were fishing for Kokanee, a medium-size fish in the Salmon family.  It's delicious, especially when we wrap it in foil, season it with lemon pepper and top it with slices of fresh lemon.  Thank you for sharing our tour of the lake.  It was fun to have you along for the ride. Now, let’s head back – we have fish to fry!