A Day at the Lake

The guys and I went to Ruth Lake on Saturday. (The guys being: Toby, Toby’s brother and his dog, Tuff) It was a perfect day. Not too hot, not too cold but just right! We had to drive two and a half hours inland to escape the fog and dampness that shrouds the coastal town of Eureka. But it was totally worth it. There is something about the smell of the pine and bark and the water and the mountains that envelopes you and you immediately remember that this is what vacation smells like. We sped off in Toby’s Dad’s fishing boat to the family boat lease to enjoy a day at the Cove.

When we got to the Cove, Toby and his brother went right to work, limbing trees and clearing brush for the cabin that’s going to be built some day soon. Last year I spent a lot of time helping them clear brush and pulling up some old tubing that was stuck in the creek. But this year I got to laze around on the shore, read a book and take a nap because I’m pregnant. Everybody spoils the pregnant lady.

While we were there, we saw a bald eagle and two ospreys (commonly known as a fish hawk) fighting in the blue sky right over our heads. Apparently, bald eagles don’t catch their own fish to eat. They just steal it from ospreys. So two ospreys got tired of that pirating behavior and ganged up on the bald eagle. It was quite a ruckus. They dive bombed it and even plucked out some of the bald eagle’s feathers. One feather even floated down to us. I guess you can get put in jail for holding a feather of the national bird.

I also caught a fish! Just a little spotted blue gill but still it was fun. As Toby’s brother said, I caught the biggest fish, the littlest fish, the ugliest fish and the prettiest fish! In other words, I caught the only fish of the day. We got quite a few nibbles on our bait but nothing very exciting. It still made a perfect day more perfect. Then we let the fish go and Toby took a shot of me fishing and looking pregnant so someday I can tell my kid, “See there you were at the lake before you were born.” I love looking at old pictures of my mom when she was pregnant with me.

As the sun began to dip behind the tree covered mountains and the shadows crept across the lake, we pulled ourselves away and headed home. It’s always tough to leave the lake because it’s just so pretty there at sunset. But we can’t leave too late because it’s a good long drive to get back to town. One of these days we want to camp over night.