Well, my long weekend was full and exciting. I had a wonderful few days off.

Saturday was spent at Matt’s cousin’s wedding and then reception in Conneaut Lake, PA. I had never been there, the lake was beautiful. There were so many boats out, it was a great day for it. I wish I had taken pictures, I don’t know what I was thinking.

We decided to go out on the river Sunday and camp overnight. We didn’t plan on this until Saturday, which made it a bit more rushed than normal when we were packing and getting ready to go, but I think we did pretty well, except Matt forgot the sleeping bags. Good thing I had brought myself a blanket. Sunday we went to church (Matt runs the sound board), stopped by Walmart to grab a few things, and headed out.

We took the canoe out and Matt’s parents took their boat out from Emlenton and we met them at the camp site. We got set up and the boys went fishing for riffle runners. Evie and I stayed around the fire for a while and just relaxed, and then went for a walk down the island. There’s something to be said for having an entire island to yourself and enjoying the outdoors. When we got back, we all went up river on the boat and Matt and Mark did some fishing as we floated back down.

Then it was time to make dinner. Camping for us does not mean you have to eat hot dogs or cold cuts, though they do make it along sometimes. We had shrimp cocktails, salad, stir fry, chicken, sourdough bread, and chocolate or strawberry shortcake rolls.

The moon was almost full, and the fire was mesmerizing. I forgot how noisy those bugs are out there while you are trying to sleep. I went to bed fairly early, so did Evie, but Matt and his dad stayed up till around midnight.

Monday was not as nice a day as Sunday had been, it rained a bit in the morning, but the canopy made by the sycamores on the island provided plenty of shelter. Matt’s mom and dad left shortly after breakfast (once again it was a feast). We stayed behind and Matt caught some more riffle runners. He let me try, but I didn’t do very well. Those little fish are hard to catch!

We floated leisurely down the Allegheny and fished on the way. Matt wanted to make it into a contest. He ended up catching 4 and I caught 3. But he lost my last little minnow before I got to use it. Oh well.

It drizzled a little on the way down, but nothing too much. We stopped along the river to have shore lunch – not as extravagant as our other meals, but just what we needed.

When we finally got back to Emlenton, I couldn’t wait to get home, and get cleaned up, but i do wish it had lasted a little longer.