Canada Vacation 2008

Two glorious weeks in Canada, out on the lake fishing, back at the cabin drinking and visiting with old friends is just the best vacation one could ask. This Blue Heron was our special visitor just about every morning, and Tyler even took to some "bird-watching". The "pirate ship" came into the bay on the last day we were there. Tyler and Paco enjoyed their time together too.

We didn't have quite the excitement that was had in 2006 (see Canada Vacation 2006), but our cabin neighbor Donny had his boat capsized by 4 big yachts that went through. He said it was like a 6' tidal wave and with his little boat, it just took it right over. Luckily there were some people fishing close by, and they got Donny and the boat pulled to shore. Donny lost the fishing pole that his father gave him right before he passed away last year and his tackle box, he was unharmed but extremely shook up. We too are glad he only lost some material things and not his life.

The fishing was not good at all. Trolling through the water was like dragging a rope. No bites or nibbles at all. We were lucky enough though to catch enough Walleye, Bass & Perch to have several fish frys with my mom & dad and friends Steve & Gloria.

Once again Tyler was barefoot and barechest for the whole 2 weeks. I don't think he even had his shoes in the cabin. He did meet a friend, 9 year old Anna, a cute blondie with which he built sandcastles with, went fishing off the "boat" while it was docked, and just played in general. It was nice for him to have someone to hang with for a week. He was quite bummed the day she went home, he moped around the whole day!!!

Owners of the Perfect Vue Resort, Larry & Joanne are great hosts. They let Tyler do lots of things he might not get to do like hit golf balls into the lake. Along with Gloria who got a small lesson in golfing from Larry, he hit most of the balls into the weeds alongside the lake!!!! Larry & Joanne also let Tyler hang out with them in their house and he even helped tend the store. My mom went over to the store to get some eggs and out comes Tyler and says, "what can I get for you?" Mom says, "eggs", so Tyler rings for Larry in the back room so he can come and ring up the sale. They said he was a joy to have around.

Tyler caught quite a few small perch off the pier ranging in size from 3" to 6". None big enough to keep and eat, but we caught enough for him to get his fill of perch throughout the 2 weeks. None the less, he had a fun time catching these little ones all by himself.

Gloria and I had made plans to have my dad take us out fishing so we could go on the lake where we wanted to go and to catch all the fish, so we could say na na na na naaaa na to the men. But we didn't do well at all. I think I caught a few but nothing impressive, so we had to go in with our heads hung low. We decided then that we would do a bit of socializing and with too much socializing, Gloria felt the need to dance...lol.

Saturday the 2nd was the annual Legends of Perfect Vue Fishing Derby. It's $20.00 per person to get in the derby, and they payout 3 place for the 4 heaviest fish from 14" - 22". First prize is usually around $700.00 on down to about $300.00 for 3rd place. And for the 2nd year in a row we were within ounces of winning 3rd place. Oh well, maybe next year. They cook hamburgers and hotdogs after the derby and there are tables upon tables upon tables of things (wine baskets, beer baskets, personal care baskets, tackle boxes, t-shirts...etc) and every name is put in the hat and everyone gets a prize. It is a well done Derby and one we look forward to every year.

Sunday the 3rd, I was invited by the locals to play Newfy Shoes. This is I am told, the National Game of Newfoundland. I thought it was just something the locals made up, cause it doesn't look like no National Game of Anywhere. There are two square milk crates with a 6" high piece of 4" diameter plastic pipe mounted inside. You toss heavy 2" diameter washers about a distance of 20' and try to get them in the pipe (5 points) or milk crate (3 points). It's kind of like horseshoes, easy huh?, nope, it's a LOT harder than it sounds.

It's $2.00 per person to enter and they draw for teams so there are no two ringers that are paired up, maybe by chance though. There were about 25 teams in this round of Newfy Shoes which came to about $50.00, winner take all. Of course I was a beginner at this, and I was paired up with another beginner that never did it before either. Tammy and I did okay though, we skunked our first opponents 12-0, it was great taking out a couple of locals (men no less...lol, talk about an ego buster). We went down to the last 3 teams, but got skunked ourselves in that last game. It was great fun, and I'll be making a set for myself and the drunks that I know (oh did I mention that the more you drink the harder it gets!!!). Thanks to locals Jack & Donna for inviting me to play along, it was at time I'll not soon forget.

For 2 weeks we had thunderstorms on and off, and one night it poured sooooo hard the roof leaked right in my bed. I was getting dripped on my butt while I slept, I thought I peed in the bed. You could sit and watch the thunderstorms come in from afar. It was kind of cool to watch. The weather probably only reached 80 degrees every day, with a few cooler days. It was wonderful weather for this time in Canada.

One of the last days, Tyler was out on the boat in the back cove of Mallory Bay and he had his big boy fishing pole and he was so excited he caught, hooked and reeled in a 3 pound Bass all by himself. It was quite a thrill for him.

It was the first trip to Canada that we took without Emily, but Paco came along and she met a few friends of her own. Steve & Gloria's new Bichon Frise puppy, Samuel Adams, was a playful if not sometimes downright pain in Paco's tail, companion and they played together quite a bit. Paco also got to play with Larry & Joanne's new Labradoodle puppy Irish who would come over to our cabin just about every morning for a romp with Paco. Paco's other companion (well not really) was this DSH cat that had two kittens about 8 weeks old. She was very protective over her babies and when Paco showed an interest in playing with them, momma cat decided to stalk and chase Paco around for a while. We watched in hysterical laughter Paco running with tail tucked between her legs and momma cat chasing her. It was way too funny.

I'm already looking forward to next years trip.