Each year around the time of our anniversary we head out to one of our timeshare locations for a week of relaxation and fun. Our favorite location so far is a quiet, peaceful little private lake in the Piney Woods, only about 2 hours away. We generally invite Phillip and Russell for a few days. We play lots of cards (Rummy 500), grill more food than any normal human beings should eat, including "bronto burgers and mastodon", go hiking, listen to music, and spend time out on the lake.This year we only managed a Thursday night to Sunday morning trip. The trip was abreviated because I couldn't get the time off work, and we didn't want to use too much of Jeff's vacation time. He's going to need quite a bit of it in June for some reason! =) Fortunately Phillip and Russell were still able to come with us, despite short notice.
Poor Jeff was just about heart broken that we wouldn't have the full 7 days (he definitely needs to recharge each year) so we rented a canoe for the weekend to cheer him up. The property has "ghetto" canoes available, but has limited selection and rental times. My only complaint about bringing it was the vibrations after we reached 55 mph. It sounded like we had a jet boat engine on the top of our car. Jeff tried multiple times to fix it by adjusting straps in various locations, stuffing towels in seats, and yelling at it, but to no avail. Our ears were ringing by the time we got to our destination, and I think our little girl was traumatized by all the noise!
Friday morning we decided to take the canoe out on the lake, since we had already gone hiking, and my brothers wouldn't be arriving until that evening. Jeff was able (just barely) to get the 16', 81 lb canoe off the top of the car and back on almost all by himself. He's very determined sometimes. I assisted somewhat, but couldn't do too much for obvious reasons. We had a very pleasant couple of hours out on the lake enjoying the sun, the water, and the quiet. We were the only ones out there which may have been the result of the new sign posted on shore about alligators!
Phillip and Russell joined us Friday evening, went fishing with Jeff Saturday morning, helped us consume way too much food (hey we're on vacation!), and played some very competitive rounds of Rummy 500. We didn't hike as much as normal since Russell's foot was still healing from the "nail incident." I'm still laughing by the way!
Sunday Jeff and I stopped to go hiking at a State Park before heading home. We walked around the lake which took about two hours, partly because it's a long trail but mostly because I have no lung capacity at the moment. Of course Jeff waited until we had been walking in the heat for about an hour and a half before he insisted that he take a picture of me. As if I need any more help looking bad in a photo he had to wait until I was completely out of breath, as red in the face as possible and hair frizzy from the humidity! Thanks! Still, we had a wonderful time and look forward to next year when we can bring our little girl with us!
