Hey my peeps!  I've been away!  Wow - came home to a huge message center but I'm caught up now (sort of)

So, we went home to spend some time with my family.......  (those of you who are believers you might want to cross yourself now and get it over with...)  I'm going to tell you all about my trip so it's a bit long winded.... forgive me!!  

So, going home for us, is a 7 hour drive through a whooooole lotta nothingness!  The first 2 hours are nice - we go through a National Park and there is always a chance that we'll see some wild life.  After that........    boooooooring.... nothing but fields and then thick trees.  Something nice though - hubby stopped for me quite a few times along the way so I could take some pictures.  Without me even asking!!  I was very impressed and when I asked him how he knew he replied that it was obvious when I wanted to stop because either my head was swiveling around like on the Exorcist looking out the window, or the fact that I practically had my face pressed up against the window and was making puppy sounds.  He didn't like the foggy, slobbery windows I guess.......   Whatever.... IT WORKED!!  

So, 20 minutes into our trip he opened up a bottle of Pepsi.... and proceeded to drop it and spill it all down his legs and all over the floor.  So.. of course, I had to call him a dumb ass at least once    But the silver lining to this cloud was that his legs were all sticky and gross so while we were in the park he pulled over into a side road that goes straight to a deserted part of a boat launch to wash off and it was another nice little photo op for me!      

So the drive was fairly uneventful other than that.  We had 3 full days there and the first day it rained and was crappy, the second day we went to "The Caves" - which is basically not really caves, but rather a very deep crevice in a bank of rocks, and you can climb down into it and do a little mild rock climbing.  I haven't been there for years and it was so awesome!!   I've never gotten up the nerves to go the whole distance of it before and I'm so glad I finally did.  The rocks were so amazing and the moss and just the atmosphere in there was like another world - a little break from the insanity of life.  

Then we spent a day on the lake just knee boarding and swimming.  We dropped anchor in a nice little cove and swam to the private beach and picked driftwood and just had a nice time.  My mother even came out with us which is quite a feat in itself - she's not very adventurous and when she does agree to do something "fun" it is a nice surprise.     The only bad thing is that we got the itch there    bummr - but you know  - it was truly worth it.  Clear Water Lake is an amazing lake - one of the cleanest and clearest in the world.  It's cold, because it's spring fed but after you get in and numb up you hardly even notice it!      Hubby finally got a chance to try water skiing for the first time in 20 years and well..... he got up once... but started trying to hot dog it right away and wiped out majorly and wasn't able to get up again after that.  It was entertaining to say the least!!    Knee boarding didn't go much better.  His first time trying to get up he wiped out because his shorts weren't tied tight enough and ended up around his knees so he was trying to pull them up and get on the board and it was..... again..... entertaining.  VERY entertaining!!!  Luckily there wasn't anyone driving right behind us or they'd have gotten quite a show!!  

Then on our last day we went further North to a lake called Iskwasum Lake to do some fishing.  I hadn't slept hardly at all the night before and after getting up early and driving 2 hours on a very rough northern highway (with flood damage) I wasn't feeling at peak form.  We got on the boat and the movement of the water wasn't doing me any favours - but I didn't say anything about it because I didn't want to ruin the day for everyone.  However, once we actually got into the main part of the lake the sick feeling went away due to the fact that the scenery was just breath taking!  

The lake was very large and full of very small islands.  Like....   some of them were 30 feet across type of islands.  And each of them was just crazy thick with pine and spruce trees.  It was almost like something in a fantasy, it was so beautiful.  There were loons calling, and cranes sunning themselves and we were all alone.   Nobody but us and a few pickerel in the tank.  I took lots of pictures but I doubt any of them will do it justice!  

So as hubby was setting up the trolling engine, he knocked his fishing rod case into the water and instantly started freaking out because it's HEAVY.  It started to sink before we could come back around so he ripped off his hat , glasses and shirt and jumped in to save it!  That was the start of our fishing excursion.....  Then the trolling battery ran out.  Then after we'd been in the lake for a while (5 hours) and it was time to head back.... we got lost.  Yes.  Just us out on the lake, with hundreds of islands that all started to look the same and we're lost.  We went around and around for a while looking for the mouth of the river we had to travel down to get there when suddenly I had a thought.... (yes, it happens every now and again...)       I pulled out my camera and looked back at my pictures to the first ones I took to see if I could recognize an island.  Sure enough - it worked!!  The island had a funny tree that stuck out from the rest and using that we were able to find our way out!  Good thinking, eh??   Finally, I could say to my family "you see......??   Photography has it's uses!!"   

So, we came home with 5 fish - not many, but enough for a good meal so it was a success!!

So, basically that summed up our trip.  The next day we hit the road for home    We stopped at a few places for some shots but not as many times.  The sky was really boring at first then a big storm came up behind us and it was amazing.  Once again I was doing the exorcist thing but there weren't really as many good options for places to stop to get a good one and by now we were tired and just wanted to get home.  But hubby tried to get me a few good shots.  I've got to give him credit..... he did well!!  

Not only that - but not once did my mother tell me that I was fat, that I should be nicer to my hubby (yeah, right) or tell me to move back home!  BONUS!!  No guilt trip!     What more could a girl ask??

So, I will be entertaining you with trip photos for the next while!  I got to give my camera  really good work out and I'm starting to feel comfortable with the new girl.    I hope that you will see some pictures you like over the next while, as they will be a sort of commentary on what Nature has to offer in the wild areas of Northern Manitoba!   I even tried out the video capabilities of the new camera and I have to say that I was VERY impressed with the picture quality!!!

Thanks for reading all this, and  stick around long enough to enjoy the amazing features!!



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