Back In A Kayak Again

6:43

It's just after 7:00 and I have been up since 6:45 and missed the sunrise.  It's a calm morning on the lake, and the martins are swooping and singing.  It's a pleasant 61º and it looks like a perfect morning for a paddle.  I paddled for 50 minutes, down to Sandy Bottom, back to the campground, and home. Not much to see, a couple of rafts of buffleheads, mallards, and disgusting turkey vultures, hanging along the Victoria Creek shore. 

Kayak Morning

Into The Sun

Buffleheads Still Hanging Around

We left our Hampton Inn Tuesday morning at 7:30 and had an easy drive to the lake. We were afraid we might meet major detours but we were pleasantly surprised to see that most of the roadwork kept at least two lanes open. As usual, we traded places and Evie probably drove longer than me.  We stopped at a couple of rest stops and were able to drive from Indiana to the Ohio/PA line before stopping for gas at Love's on the border.  We bought a chicken sandwich meal there, having eaten a bag lunch from our hotel.

Indiana Sunrise

Ohio Landscape

Yippee

We were surprised how far Pennsylvania and New York were behind in Spring green. Most of the trees were still in the budding stage, with a hint of green, more winter-like than spring. We arrived at the lake at 2:30, making great time.  It was surprisingly warm when we stepped out of the car, 74º, and we were excited to see that our dock was in and that our martin houses were busy were purple martins, their sounds filling the air, 

Our Purple Martin Gourds Are Full

We unpacked, were happy to see the house was in order, and quickly put things away.  We both were tired from our drive so we relaxed for an hour and I even took a brief nap.  I then did a bit of work, lugging our Adirondack chairs and tables out to the dock, getting it ready for happy hour.  And I got the lawnmower ready for Evie since the grass will need cutting.  We wanted to have our happy hour on the dock but once the sun hid behind the clouds, it cooled off so we ended up having our wine on the porch with a bowl of popcorn.

A Few Rooms Left

Earlier Evie had pulled the leftover Greek lemon chicken and rice out of the freezer, so she warmed it up in the microwave and we had dinner. It felt like we never left, as we lounged on our couches, once again watching our shows, Colbert, Home Town, and Jeopardy,  We went to bed early for us, tired from our trip but happy that we had finally been able to see our kids.