Boating Weekend

It's been a fun filled boating weekend. Well, mostly!

It started with Ron's brother, Wes and his wife Bev coming up from Barberton to go for a ride. Wes is enjoying a ride in his baby brother's boat!


While Bev and I relaxed on the back of the boat and caught up on all of the gossip in our lives. I tried to take a JoBeth special picture! She is the queen of self potraits! I did better than most here! And, yes, I still wear my life preserver. Wimp that I am!


This trip, we headed from the marina in Vermilion back to Lorain to see some familiar sights. Let me tell you something about familiar sights. They aren't so familiar from the other side! Even the power plant over at the foot of Oberlin didn't look the same. You'd think something that big should be easy to pick out. Not so from the lake.

I'm not exactly sure what this tower is, but it's across a channel from the lighthouse. I really don't remember seeing it from shore, but I just must not have paid attention. Anyway, this caught my eye out on the water.



This tower was at the end of a pier. The pier was filled with birds, wing to wing! I don't think I've ever seen so many birds in one place at the same time! I was waiting for the mass exodus over the boat for a head full of poop! But I guess I'm just a pessimist at heart. The birds stayed where they were and my hair stayed poop free!


Eh, I'm still learning how to use my camera properly. The birds didn't show up like I'd hoped. You gotta trust me, this was close to a gazillion birds!

Anyway, across this small channel to the lighthouse. From what I hear, this is one of the most photographed sights in Lorain. Let me tell you something, it's much prettier from land. Up close, you can see this poor landmark needs some love. Doing some research, there is a fundraiser under way to restore her to her former beauty.







As you can see, we went around the lighthouse. She's not terrible, but she's aged and weather worn; in need of some TLC. It was still great to get the up close look!

Then, I tried a few videos on my camera. Here's one with my head over the side like a dog's head in a car window! From the back, it's the only way to see what's going on!





And, then since I love how the flag looks flapping in the breeze, I took another video watching where we were!





Those two short videos and a hand full of photos and my memory card was full. So, that's the end of the pictures. That's a good thing though, because for the rest of the story, you really don't want photographic evidence. I am out of eye bleach to hand out to y'all.

Sunday we were finally going to go FISHING! I've been waiting for this, ever since Ron said he was buying a boat! I wasn't thrilled with the early morning start time, but I was in!

We actually met up with Larry and Linda at George's Bait Shop where we proceeded to pick up fishing licenses and a few odds and ends for the day. We also hit the Drug Mart in Vermilion to pick up some more odds and ends like sun block (too late since I got a bad burn Saturday!) and some Dramamine.

I did take a Dramamine before we got on the boat and I used the sun block on my face, neck and hands. Since I did have a burn, I wore a long sleeve t-shirt to cover my arms and some Capri's to cover my burned thighs. I thought I was being a smart boater!

We got on the boat and headed out. It was another picture perfect day with blue skies and calm waters. We headed out with the fish finder out into the lake. The guys picked out a spot that looked good to them and we dropped anchor.

Do you have any idea how much a boat MOVES when anchored? Holy crap! This boat was going up. And down. And up. And down. Ugh. I never expected, on such a calm day, that the boat would bob like it did. As soon the boat started bobbing, I am terrified. I guess I didn't know what to expect. I immediately broke out in a cold sweat that I attributed to being terrified. I couldn't breathe I was so hot, so I actually ripped my life preserver off and tossed it. Next I headed into the cabin as I heard if you are seasick, the best place to be is low in the boat. I sat in the galley with the fan directly on me, trying to cool off.

Well, as you can guess, within five minutes, I was chumming for perch. It hit so fast and so hard, I couldn't believe it. They guys barely got the minnows on the hooks and the hooks in the water and I was done. (Now aren't you glad there are no pictures with this part of the story??!) Ron saw I was ill and he immediately pulled up the anchor, took the lines out of the water and high tailed it into shore. I felt absolutely terrible for ruining every one's day. I wanted him to just drop me off on shore, I'd go home and the three of them could go back to fishing. But I guess they all called it a day.

I had my own car at the marina, so I turned on my a/c full blast and I headed home with a bucket on the seat next to me. Luckily I made it home in one piece.

I cranked the a/c down at home as well, ripped my clothes off and laid on the couch. I think Ron was home what seemed like ten minutes after me. I was asleep on the couch by noon and didn't move until Ron woke me up at 5:00. I slept hard!

I headed back to bed before 10:00 pm but I had the "I drank too much" feeling. As soon as I was down in the bed with my eyes closed, my world started to go up and down and up and down again. It was not a good night.

I was down for most of Monday as well, although I did make it to work. Every time I looked at my monitor, my world would start moving on me again. I have never been seasick or carsick before but I sure got it Sunday. I am finally starting to feel better, but it's taken me a few days! I have a whole new respect for the crews of Deadliest Catch. I know it's like comparing an acorn to a forest but this acorn sure couldn't take it.

Ron and Larry have both told me that next time I need to take the Dramamine sooner, as it didn't have enough time to take hold. The next time? For real???