May
26
2004
As some of you might know, I spent the long weekend in Algonquin Park. I had an excellent time, although it rained more than it shined. It is hard to relax and really let the stress out when you are being pelted by rain every time you step out into the open, and while we had a set up that would make the ancient Egyptians jealous, being warm is a prerequisite of being truly relaxed.
We left Saturday morning around 6:30am. I apparently was very difficult to wake up in the morning, most likely because I dont learn, and was drinking the night before. Not a big deal to me, but it was a big deal to those that had to deal with me in the morning. (Sorry girls.)
After getting my morning coffee, I was more awake and was really looking forward to the weekend. The drive up was nice; it went quick, which is surprising because I stayed awake for the whole thing. Difficult to do after three maybe four hours sleep.
We arrived in the park at exactly the time we said we would, 10:00am. The boat arrived, and without even getting to the campsite I found a way to hurt myself, by breaking an oar in my hand trying to push off from the shore. Nothing big, just a scrape, but I was worried it would be the sign of more to come.
After a 25 minute or so boat ride to camp, we arrived. Panzer, my best friends dog, made his presence known right off the bat. Hes freaking huge, but such a good dog. He ran into me, nearly throwing me for a loop, but I was as glad to see him as he was to see me.
The set up Seth and the gang made was awesome. Apparently they had quite a hard time getting it all set up, considering the boat they had in the first place broke down in the middle of the lake in the pouring rain, and Rob had to row about two hours back to shore. Not the way you want to start a weekend. Lucky for the girls and I, everything was set up before we arrived, and looking at it, I wasnt worried about getting wet.
Saturday night I tied one on, but that proved to be my downfall; I made the mistake of not bringing up enough beer. Sunday I suffered, but after being in the rain all weekend, all I wanted to do was sleep by then.
Anywho, Sunday we went fishing, why I have no idea because the lake is pretty much dead from Zebra Mussels, but Joni did catch one fish, probably the only fish in the lake. The big ass fish might have measured 5 inches, and 4 ounces, but heck, youll take what you can get. (Yes, we did catch and release.)
Moments after that, a huge snapping turtle dove at the boat as Seth would like to say, and nearly killed us all. Ive never seen a snapping turtle so huge, and I have had nightmares ever since. So if anyone out there knows any sort of therapy for this, let me know.
Sunday was a chill out day and night, and I just relaxed and tried to stay warm. We checked the time at one point, figuring it was around 6pm, but it was just shortly after 2pm. So, after keeping the fire going for a while and eating a ton of food, I hit the sack hard. All that fresh air was too much.
The Rock. I really should mention this. There was a rock by the shore that looked completely innocent. But once you stepped upon this creature, you were instantly sucked into the lake. It always looked dry, and even though it had a slope that only looked steep enough to make a ball roll, it made those that dared tempt it suffer. Three people on the weekend suffered injuries from The Rock. We were going to leave a warning sign, we but were too scared at what preventing The Rock from being fed would result in. Be warned.
So thats about it. There are a few things I missed, like the laughs we shared and the crazy stories we told, but what goes on the road stays on the road as they say.
Last thing: Quebec Gold is damn good for relaxing you.
For some pics of the trip, take a look here.