Family Adventure

Last week we had it planned to go camping Thursday through Saturday at this place that Erik keeps talking about, Cliff Lake. So when Thursday dawned grey and wet, we figured we'd still go (we have a pop-up for goodness sake, what can rain do?!) and call it a family adventure. And I'm so glad we went.

We drove out I-90 to Superior and then followed a dirt road for about 20-30 minutes up the hillside. As we got higher and higher up the mountain the wildflowers got prettier and prettier, and the greenery lusher. It's amazing how in the middle of summer there can still be lush, beautiful areas like that. We got to the top and found the quaintest little camping area and a beautiful lake.

By this time it had stopped raining, although everything was still pretty wet. We popped up the camper and got situated while the kiddos played in the trees. Then Erik got his fishing stuff set up and we trekked around the lake to find a good spot to throw in a few lines. It took a couple tries, but we finally found an area with some room for the girls to play while we fished. It only took me a couple of casts and BOOM I caught a little brook trout. I was ecstatic! It was little, but Erik assured me they were the best eaters, so we kept at it. He caught a few more and then we had a long dry spell. I really wanted to catch more though, so we gave ourselves 10 more minutes before we had to pack up and head back to make dinner. Guess what? I caught the last fish! :-) It was exciting and so much fun fishing that little mountain lake. And guess what else? We cooked those fish in some butter and season-all in some aluminum foil over the fire and they tasted awesome!

The sun even came out for a while during our fishing and it felt wonderful. We were at Diamond Lake and I guess there is a little hike (a mile or so) up to another lake, Cliff Lake which is bigger and even more beautiful according to Erik. So when the sun came out Erik wanted to hike up there, but I wasn't sure how the girls would do so close to dinner, so we decided we'd go the next day and spend the day up there.

We had dinner and s'mores and sat around the fire, and as I watched my family interact, I felt this huge, warm feeling of peace and calm in my heart. It took me a moment to place, how could I feel so good and yet have tears threatening? I think it was contentment--I was so happy with where I was right there and then--spending great, fun time with my family in a beautiful place.

We woke in the morning to rain---pouring down rain. So we took our time in with making coffee and breakfast and lounging around the camper. But that doesn't last long with two kids--there just isn't that much room in the pop-up, so we got our act together and headed outside. The rain had stopped (mostly) but it was so grey and wet and sprinkling here and there, so we thought we'd wait around a bit. It wouldn't have been smart to hike--the girls clothes would've been wet within moments of starting to brush against all the brush (ha ha) and if we got out there with a rainstorm it would have gotten really cold, really fast. But we really wanted to get up to Cliff lake, so we waited. And waited. And waited. To make it worse, all the firewood was wet and so making a fire was pretty impossible.

After a bit we were all kind of cold and decided to eat lunch in the camper and maybe play a card game to wait a bit more. So we did, and it was a hoot playing Uno with the girls, but after about 5 rounds and the sky was still grey as ever, Erik and I decided to pack it up and head home. The girls were disappointed, and we were too, but they were much more whiny about it.

As we gathered our gear up, Kera said something really cute, like "goodbye kecret hideout" and I got that feeling again. As I felt my eyes tear up I smiled because I knew, even though our family adventure had been cut short, it was a good time and I was totally content with what we got because I have my family.