Girls Days 2014 - Riverton, Utah

Another annual Girls Days came and went, and as usual, it was so much fun! We all arrived Wednesday night (July 16th). That is always one of the most exciting parts...when we get to see the out-of-towners arrive.

April surprised us with some yummy dessert that we ate out on their back patio under some newly strung lights. It was such a fun setting to go over our weekend itinerary! It was just beautiful. (The only thing we could have done without was the mosquitoes! We kept rubbing our skin with dryer sheets, since April had basically been attacked the night before. During Girls Days she actually had a reaction so bad to the bites that she went to the doctor and had to pick up some medicine to keep from going to the ER! Poor April!)

Thursday was our “Outdoors Day”, and April really kept us busy. Our first stop was Lisa Falls up Little Cottonwood Canyon. It was the perfect hike for two pregnant ladies (Amy and I were both pregnant, due two weeks apart). It was about a quarter mile of easy dirt and rocks to hike that led to a small waterfall. Short and sweet...just how I like it. And it was beautiful! It was perfect.

After some pictures and time at the waterfall, we headed further up the canyon to Snowbird. We took the aerial tram up to the top for a gorgeous view of the canyon and the valley. We were feeling adventurous so we hiked down to the lift to take us back down the mountain. While waiting for the lift to open up, we even explored the tunnel that takes you to the other side of the mountain. It was a gorgeous afternoon with perfect temperatures.

Yummy dried mango from Trader Joes

After all of that hiking, we had definitely worked up an appetite. We stopped for lunch at Salt City Burger Co. It was so good. We spent a good amount of time there just chatting and relaxing.

Next on our list was going to be swimming at the Riverton Pool, but the remaining open pool time wasn’t worthwhile. So, instead, April showed us an awesome park in Daybreak. It had some very modern toys and gadgets that were so fun, even as adults, to play on. It also had a small stream going through it, so we waded our feet in there for awhile.

For dinner, we ate at Zupas...always a favorite.

Our next sightseeing adventure for our “Outdoor Day” was Black Ridge Reservoir in Herriman. It is an awesome man-made lake, complete with a sandy beach. It was awesome! We had a fun time putting our feet in the sand and walking around the reservoir. It is surrounded by some beautiful houses and has an awesome view of the valley.

By the time we got home, we were all quite beat! April did an awesome job of letting us get a taste of seemingly all viewpoints of Salt Lake. It was such a fun day. And, as she ended every day, we had a nice little devotional and small gift before bed. She really knows how to make Girls Days special.

Friday was “Pampering Day”! I always love these days! We started the day off with initiatories at the Jordan River Temple. I love that each year we have been able to include a temple visit. Such a special time to go somewhere so sacred with people that you love! Next up was the Pro Do Blow Dry Bar. We headed to Draper to be glammed up and have our hair done. It was fun to have them wash our hair and style it anyway we wanted. Man they make it seem so quick and easy. Wish it was like that every day. Such a fun experience. Once we were all dolled-up, we headed to lunch at Thai Siam. Yum!

The next stop for our Pampering Day was VNY Nails where we got pedicures (always a favorite activity for Girls Days). We didn’t have anywhere fancy to go that night, but we did get to meet up with the whole family for a fun BBQ at the Grubers! Amy’s family was in town, so they joined us, as well as George, Karl, Jason, and Charlie. Capri and Duke weren’t in town, but we did get to meet a very special visitor….Alli’s boyfriend, Rick! (Since then, they have actually gotten engaged and will be getting married here in Utah on December 29th! Can’t wait!) It was fun to be able to take an evening away from just the girls and share it with the entire family. We had a delicious dinner, and the neighborhood was even doing a bike parade that evening, so the kids got to decorate their bikes and ride them down the neighborhood for everyone to see. We also had a fun family photo shoot complete with props. After dessert, we had a great time playing the celebrity game. Ah, such a fun night...and the best part was we still had a full day of “girls-only” activities the next day.

BBQ Pics:

Saturday was “Tourist Day”. We started earlier in the morning this day and went to the Farmer’s Market in downtown Salt Lake. We had such a great time trying all of the samples, buying whatever suited our fancy, and nibbling on treats. We also looked around at Tony Caputo’s...such a cool market with lots of unique things. Even though we had already filled up on sweets at the Farmer’s Market, we still made room for a special treat at Bruges Waffles. We got two dessert waffles to share, and oh man were they delicious! We got a peaches and cream one and then a strawberry, chocolate, and cream one. They were amazing! I can’t wait to go back and take Jason.

Next up was visiting City Creek...and you can’t visit a mall for Girls Days without stopping at H&M. We had a fun time picking things out for us and the kiddos.

Next we headed to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building where we watched the Joseph Smith Movie. I was so glad that April thought to do that because it had been years since I had seen it!

It was especially fun to be in Salt Lake that Saturday because it just so happened to be the day of the 1,000 foot water slide! Music was pumping through the streets and people were everywhere. It was so exciting! The slide was huge, and of course we wanted to ride it! I guess they were having some challenges with the water flow, so they stopped selling tickets...but that didn’t stop us. We still put on our suits and jumped in from the middle of the slide. I guess I should clarify that by “we” I mean Alli and April. Nancy, Amy, and I had a great time watching them and all the rest of the people. There was hardly any crowd or slide control so sliding down, being pregnant, could have been dangerous. We had seen lots of people fall or being slammed into. Amy did find a chance to slide down when there was a break in sliders, and all was well. It was such a fun event! I am so glad we were there for it!

Before too long, we were exhausted and it was time to head home. We got to relax for a short time before our next big event...the RSL game at the Rio Tinto Stadium! Who would have thought the girls would be going to a soccer game for Girls Days! I am sure the men were very proud. We had a blast!

By the time we got home that night, we were so exhausted. We had such a fun-filled day and entire weekend! By early Sunday morning, everyone had departed.

I am one lucky girl to have such great in-laws! I LOVE them! And I love our Girls Days tradition! Thank you, April, for another AMAZING Girls Days!!

Arbon Boys Backpacking Trip

(Written by Jason)

It had been a very very long time since I had been backpacking.  Probably 13 or 14 years.  That was about to change, as Dave mentioned one Sunday that he wanted to take a "boys trip" and go hiking up to the High Uintas, in the Grandaddy Lakes region.

My first thoughts were that I was excited and I had always had an interest to go to the Uintas and hike and fish.  I did some preparing, by purchasing a new backpack, a pad, and some smaller items like cooking necessities, and some clothing goods, too.  I figured it would be worth it to get these items, since I had another backpacking trip planned later on in the summer to go fishing up in Canada. 

The plan was to leave Monday morning and then return Wednesday, so two nights and three days.  I looked up some information on the Grandaddy Basin, and it appeared it was popular, had good fishing, and was quite pretty.  I definitely was planning on taking some of my fishing gear. 

On Sunday, the day before we left, I went over to the Arbons and picked up some stuff that Dave had bought for everyone, including some great freeze dried meals, some 100 percent deet, and a mosquito net to go over my head - which I thought was overkill, but I'll share more about this later. 

Monday morning arrived, and I had packed my bag with as little gear as possible - trying to make it very light. After all, I hadn't done this kind of hiking for a long time.  The drive took around two and half hours, but we got lost on the way there. Luckily we were able to find the right road after a short detour.  We got to the trail head, had some lunch, and off we went.  The hiking didn't seem too bad, and after about an hour anything that did mildly hurt at first, didn't anymore.  Our first real rest was at a nice meadow, almost a marsh type looking area, and we quickly noticed that there were mosquitoes.

As we started to decend into the basin, we could see several lakes, but the biggest and most prominent was, of course, Grandaddy.  The area was beautiful. We first passed Grandaddy Lake on our left, then within two minutes we were passing Betsy Lake.  We decided to go further the first day, and camp at Fish Hatchery Lake.  I was beat by the time we got there, and everyone was, I think.  We were pretty exhausted, and my feet by this time were hurting.  We split up to find a campsite, and of course we each had a walki-talki... thanks to Bryan.  We finally found one that looked decent.  We set up camp: I had my own tent, Dave had his own tent, and then Tyson and Bryan shared a tent.  Bryan took a nap, and Dave, Tyson, and I went down to the lake for some fishing.  I was glad to see Tyson was at least interested in trying it out. I quickly discovered that Tyson was a bit of a "closet" fisherman, and would have been willing to stay fishing longer than I was.

We caught some great fish the first night.  We found out right away that the deet needed to not just go on our skin, but on our clothing as well since the mosquitoes were landing on our backs and could bite through our shirts.  The amount of mosquitoes was insane. The mosquito nets that went around our head were absolutely amazing, and a must have!  We each had our own freeze dried meal that night, and they were surprisingly good.  Tyson had some Jim Gaffigan and Bryan Reagan on his phone that we listened to that night as we ate some "space ice cream". 

I slept decently the first night, but not great. I did get a little spooked as apparently this place is bear crazy, and I heard some dear trotting around outside of our camp. 

The next day we set off with our day packs and decided to check out some lakes further down the trail.  We also took our fishing gear (I forgot to mention that I had originally given Tyson a rod and reel to carry up since he was interested).  We passed by Pine Island Lake and Lilly Pad Lake.  From there, we made the decision to go to Governor Dern - which was pretty far, but we wanted to check it out, so off we went.  It was definitely far, and had quite a decline to get there - which meant we had to climb it again.  The lake was really pretty, and even though the reports showed it to have only "OK" fishing, the fishing ended up being fantastic and we caught some awesome Brooke trout.  Only after an hour or so, we decided to make our way back.  We were spent by the time we got back to camp, and we all decided the best option was to pack up camp and make our way back towards Grandaddy Lake so on Wednesday our hike would be less.

Pine Island Lake

We ate a lunch, packed our stuff up, and relaxed for about 40 mintues. Then, off we went.  My feet were hurting pretty bad, but luckily some ibuprofin helped with the pain.  We hiked back towards Grandaddy Lake and once again split up to find a good camp site.  We found a spot, with about 2 hours left of light.  It was too close to the lake for us to make a campfire.  Tyson, Bryan and I set off towards the lake to get some more fishing in.  Bryan hadn't tried fishing yet, so it was time to get him a fish.  We started at a little pond next to our camp, that looked promising.  Tyson quickly got a big cutthroat on, likely the biggest of the trip.  It was awesome.  Forty yards away was Grandaddy.  We fished it and between the three of us, we caught probably 15 or so fish, and had another 10 or 15 on.  It was fast, fun fishing.

It was a fun night, we had some more good dinners, and a berry crisp/cobbler.  We had tried filtering water from the pond to fill our bottles, but it tasted absolutely awful - just like sulfur.  Grandaddy Lake water was a little better but not much.  I couldn't drink it.  So, I decided to wait until the next morning until we would cross a stream or spring.  

I slept better this night.  We woke pretty early, and I had some freeze dried berries and granola.  It was surprisingly good. The other morning I had an egg skillet that was also pretty decent.  

The trip was a lot of fun.  The hike back was pretty tiring, but it was crazy how many people we passed...at least 10 to 13 different parties. Meanwhile, thunder clouds were moving in, and we could already hear thunder.  Our timing for the trip was perfect, and it was shocking that we didn't deal with any bad weather.

It was relieving to get back to the truck, and the hike back seemed to go by pretty fast.  We were all exhausted.  Dave said he would treat us to a burger and shake in Heber. It sounded fantastic, and it was amazing to eat some "real" food again, that was freshly made.  The trip was fun, and I'd gladly do it again.  The fishing definitely made the trip extra fun. 

July - Part I

Are we really in November already? And am I still writing about July? AH!

July was busy and filled with fun things.

To celebrate Jaleah's birthday, that was back in June, we went to dinner at Wild Zucchini. This was my first time there, it being somewhat new...and I totally loved it! The selection of add-ins was awesome, the flavors were great, the portions were good-sized. Loved it! Can't wait to go again.

And who can forget about the 4th of July...I almost did since it was so long ago...but we had a very fun-filled holiday. We started the morning off at the Provo Parade with the Grubers, complete with tasty donuts (thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Gruber). After the parade, we went to Bridal Veil Falls and had a picnic at the park. The kiddos had a blast climbing the waterfall rocks and wading through the stream. That night, Jason, Charlie, and I had dinner at Cubby's (a newer favorite) before driving to my parents house. We ended up going to Jordan High School with them to watch the fireworks. Bryan was gone all day with his Explorers Team doing traffic control. I was super nervous about how Charlie would react with the loud fireworks and it being so late....but he was loving it! He basically just kept running back and forth and spinning in circles to the music that was playing with the fireworks. It was great.

Since my other siblings couldn't join in that night, we had another 4th of July celebration with them the next day. We had a yummy BBQ, played croquet, and then lit off our fireworks in front of the driveway.

Jason had another fun trip/adventure this month. My dad took all of the boys in the family on a backpacking trip in the Uintahs. Jason will have to tell you more about that, but while they were away, the girls got to have some quality time. Well, the girls plus Charlie. We slept over in Draper and spent the first gorgeous evening swimming at Lifetime. Charlie was loving running back and forth through some little fountains in the shallow end of the pool. We definitely need to get that boy a life jacket that he will let us put on him, because he is starting to charge for the deep end. When he wasn't running through the water, he was running around the pool. He always thinks he is being chased, so he runs away and just giggles so hard. It is cute, except for the danger of running and slipping into the pool. Yikes! After our swim, we picked up dinner at Zupas and took it home to eat on the back patio. The weather was just too perfect to pass up. After dinner, we watched an old Arbon classic, The Pink Panther (the Steve Martin edition).

The next day, Tuesday, Camry had to go to work so we had to continue the party without her. While my mom left for a class, Charlie and I went on a bike ride. I love riding around the neighborhood in Draper...the paths are flat, the houses are beautiful, and the yards are immaculate. When my mom got back, she treated me to some maternity shopping. I was searching for a maternity swimsuit, but had little luck. So, we left the mall with a cute top and summer dress instead. That evening I had a bridal shower for one of my good friends from the old Vivint days, Casey Brandt. My mom was nice enough to watch Charlie while I headed to Provo to attend the shower. Still can't believe Casey and Nick Strong got married! So awesome! The next day, Charlie and I headed back home and spent the afternoon at the Springville Splash Pad (that is a great one, too, by the way!), and awaited Daddy's return.

As mentioned in previous posts, Charlie and I practically had weekly play dates and spent a lot of time outside. One special outing was going to Kara's in-law's pool. They have a gorgeous house in Lindon with an amazing backyard. It was fun to let the kiddos splash around in the water in a private setting...no more splashing and spraying from bigger kids. It was a nice change of pace.

It was finally time for the World Cup Final! We were very excited, especially Jason. George and Nancy invited us over to celebrate the event. They treated us to dinner and then we watched the game in anticipation, cheering for Argentina. We really hoped that Messi could lead the team to victory, but after some disgusting flopping from Germany, we saw our dreams slipping further and further away. Regardless of our loss, we enjoyed the weeks we got to spend watching the World Cup.

And, as always, a look at my "precious" flowers in early July:

Flaming Gorge Fishing Trip

(Written by Jason)

I had heard multiple stories each year from Max about his annual trip to Flaming Gorge. This year, I was invited to go with Max and his friend, Mike Webb.  I was excited, and it was a place and style of fishing I hadn't done before.  Also, we were going to target the Kokanee salmon, a fish I've never caught!  

I was excited to go, and I knew it would be fun to go with Max and his friend.  I had fished multiple times with Webb up on the Provo.  In preparations, Max mentioned to me that Webb does all the food purchases as well as the cooking.  I was excited to hear this, because it reduced a lot of the stress of trying to decide what to get, and what cooking items would be needed.  Plus, Max mentioned that Webb was great at cooking. 

We got up pretty early on Thursday morning, and I headed over to Max's, and from there we went to Webb's.  We packed up the cars and the boat, and headed off.  It is about a three hour drive to Flaming Gorge.

The campground we stayed at was Sheep Creek. It had an awesome backdrop.  The campground was right next to a river, that ran along the base of steep, red cliffs and mountains. Upon arriving, we quickly set up camp, and then went in Max's jeep to cut some firewood for the trip.  Webb brought his chain saw, which is genius. Something, i'd never done in the past. 

After everything was set up, we quickly got out on the lake.  The style of fishing we'd be doing was trolling.  The whole set up for trolling for salmon is much different than what I'd done before.  We use big weights, pop gear, and little squids topped off with powerbait maggots and scent.  Max and Webb had been to the lake multiple times, so we took some time driving the boat and showing me some cool canyons and bays.  

The first day we caught quite a few fish, including rainbows and salmon. Towards the end, the wind picked up quickly.  We weren't in a big boat, so Webb decided we better get back as soon as possible.  Well, it was crazy!  The wind quickly made some decent waves, and we were headed right at the wind.  To say the least, Webb got completely soaked, while Max and I tried to hover under the windshield. 

Max and Webb had gone to a "conference" or a meeting about the ins and outs of fishing for salmon.  They had always wanted to catch a lot of Kokanee, but always had marginal luck.  This year, they were taking it seriously.  And I certainly benefited from their due diligence.  It was awesome catching salmon! They faught well, and you'd know pretty quickly if you had a salmon on because they would start jumping out of the water quickly.  We kept all the salmon we caught.

The first night, Webb made some amazing teriyaki chicken that had been marinating.  We cooked it over the fire.  He also made fried rice with eggs, ham, etc.  It was delicious!  We ate like kings that night. Oh, and we all slept in a big tent that Webb brought, and he also brought an extra cot for me.  I had never slept on a cot, but my first nights rest was pretty dang good.

Friday, we headed for the Green River.  I was very excited to fish the Green. I had heard so many stories, and knew the fishing was incredible.  It was about a 35 or 40 minute drive to the base of section A.  I was amazed right away at how clear the river was, and how you could see fish everywhere....and big fish.  We had pretty good lucky jigging for the browns and cutts in the river.  We all caught some good sized browns.  Biggest one was probably around 19 or 20 inches.  Because the fishing is good from shore, we didn't wear our waders.  At one section though, there is a little island in the river, and we wanted to fish from it.  We took off our shoes and socks and walked across.  I'm sure the many boats and rafts that passed us thought we were some interesting folk to be in bare feet on this island.  It was worth it though, because Max caught a great brown on his first or second cast.  We walked up a couple miles, and then made our way back.  Our timing was good, because it quickly started to rain once we got back to the car.  We ate lunch at one of the local fish shops/restaurants.  Lunch was great, and we were pretty tired.  At this point it was raining hard, so we decided to take the Flaming Gorge Dam tour.  I wasn't thrilled with the idea at first, but fishing in the rain isn't too fun.  The tour ended up being very fun and worth our time.  It was awesome to see the dam and hear some of the interesting facts about the dam.

That afternoon and evening we fished some more from the boat, and had pretty good luck once again.  First, we decided to go swimming from a spot that they had previously swam.  There were some small cliffs we could jump from.  The water was freezing, but it felt quite good.

Max and Webb were very excited to be having such great luck with the salmon fishing. We were getting to the point that we were starting to be in trouble as far as our fish limit goes.  We had just about caught our limit for the trip.  

Friday night we had some pretty gourmet quesadillas and salad.  It was very good, once again. Friday night, after going to bed, I woke up around 12:30 and did't feel good at all!  I figured I'd eaten too much and my stomach wasn't happy.  I got up, tried going to the bathroom (I had forgotten my headlamp, which was not cool) and then sat around what was left of the campfire for about 40 minutes.  My stomach finally settled down enough to where I could go back to sleep.  

Saturday morning, I still felt sick.  As we were getting ready to launch the boat, I made my way up to the harbor bathroom and figured I should try to throw up or go bathroom.  At this point, I knew a throw up was inevitable.  I went behind the bathroom, and with a little "coaxing", I quickly threw up quite a bit.  Aaaah, I instantly felt better, and within an hour or so I was feeling just fine. That was a relief. 

We fished for a few hours in the morning with marginal luck.  We headed back and had some great breakfast bacon sandwiches.  The wind picked up quite a bit, and so we were waiting it out.  Max and Webb decided to hike around on the hills behind our camp.  I decided to fish the river.  I caught a couple of fish, but expected more luck.  I had seen a big fish right next to our camp....a really big fish for how small the creek was. 

Later, we decided to head out one last time and fish the lake.  We had really good luck in the evening.  We all caught some more rainbows and salmon.  We headed back to the harbor though as wind picked up.

Sunday morning we packed up leisurely, had a good breakfast of pancakes and bacon, and then headed out.  The trip was very fun, and a definite change of pace from the type of fishing I was used to.  We had a cooler full of salmon fillets, and divvied them up once we got back to Webb's.  However, we gave Webb the majority, since Max and I aren't huge salmon/trout connoisseurs.  I was really glad they invited me on the tirp, and would love to do it again with them.

Grilling up the spoils at home

June - Part II

We have been so anxious to take Charlie on bike rides, but with our beach cruisers, it is hard to ride anywhere that isn’t flat. We live on a slight incline, so anywhere we go, we are getting quite the workout. Even more difficult is the heat! During the summer, we have had to wait until it cools down a bit in the evening to go on rides. With Charlie’s bedtime at 7:30 or 8:00 PM, it has still been decently hot while we ride, but definitely fun. One day we even drove our bikes up to Timpanogos trail and went for a little ride. It was beautiful and so much fun. Ever since our bike ride at Soldier Hollow, Charlie has been a little apprehensive to get in the bike seat...but once we get going, and he relaxes a bit, he enjoys it.

The World Cup in Brazil started! Jason was watching games every chance he got. For a soccer lover, the World Cup felt like Christmas! It was especially fun to be able to see some of the Brazilian culture (since that is where Jason served his mission).

At the end of June, Jason went on another fishing trip, this time with his brother, Max, and Max’s friend, Mike. I hope to get a summary from him soon on this trip to Flaming Gorge. Back at home, I got to spend some quality time with Charlie and spent time with our neighborhood friends. I spent the nights working on projects and indulging in "Say Yes to the Dress".

I can't remember if I mentioned this, but our friends, the Wingers, got a really nice smoker (they smoked for us earlier in June), and so that left us with their old barbecue grill. We were stoked! It isn't the prettiest grill you have ever seen (it is pretty old) and there were tons of hornets living in it, but we definitely put it to use right away. Suddenly, we were grilling weekly, and no longer needed to make the trek up the canyon (which was bittersweet, but so much easier). 

Boulders Fishing Trip

(Written by Jason)

This year’s Boulder trip was a bit of a fiasco.  We didn't have access to four wheelers, so we decided to take Trevor's Pathfinder.  Trevor and I decided to go up Thursday after work, and Chris was going to meet us the next afternoon.  

We packed everything up, and made our way to the trailhead.  We were a little skeptical the whole time of whether or not we would be able to make it up the trail in the Pathfinder, but figured with four wheel drive we would be ok. We had gone only about a mile when we actually needed to put it in four wheel drive and it WOULDN'T work! We were both a little incredulous at first.  We figured it was just the "4 wheel" drive indicator light that was not lighting up.  But, we quickly realized it was still in 2 wheel drive.  After lots of trouble shooting and even calling the Nissan dealership, it wasn't going to work. So, plan B?  We brainstormed for a while, and finally decided to have Chris pick up my work truck from my place and drive it down.

Trevor and I decided to drive around and look for other Boulder Mountain lakes that were more accessible.  After lots of driving, and even coming upon some other lakes, none seemed to be worthy of our time.  We finally decided to settle for the night at Lower Bowns.  We set up Treveor's tent, which we quickly realized was filled with garbage - it had last been used by the YW in his ward.  It was crazy how much crap they left in there, including a sock!?!?

The next morning we decided to fish Lower Bowns, until we met up with Chris.  The fishing was actually really good, and quite fast.  We were pleasantly surprised.

We met up with Chris around noon, packed up the truck with everything and got going.  The truck did pretty well most of the way, until we came to "the hill" which we knew would be the main challenge. Well, after three attempts...it was not going to happen.  The stupid truck didn't have enough power! We were beyond disappointed. Nobody had packed to actually hike in, so that was not an option.

Luckily, Trevor  made a quick call to his dad, and found out that their cabin at Fish Lake was vacant for the weekend. I had never been there, so even though not fishing the Boulders was very frustrating, at least I got to fish a new place.

Fish Lake was only around 35 minutes away. We got to Trevor's cabin, which was quite a bit nicer and roomier than I expected.  We opened it up (for the first time of the season), and then headed down to the lake to get our fishing on.  We quickly got into fish, but not a lot of size, which was ok.  Fish Lake is very pretty, and apparently very deep.  The lake holds some massive fish!

The next morning we went to a nearby reservoir called Koosharem, with hopes of catching some tigers.  Unfortunately, we didn't have much luck there, or at another nearby reservoir, either.  So, back to Fish Lake we went.  

We were in our float tubes and decided to kick our way to the opposite side of the lake, which was pretty far, but definitely doable.  We caught some decent-sized fish, but had to head back before too long because it was getting dark.  Trevor got back to the shore the quickest, and quickly made friends with a guy named CJ, who had just started fishing from shore.  By the time we got back to shore, CJ had rigged up a rod for Trevor and had taught him the ways of "Splaking". Apparently, locals will show up to this particular location at night with lanterns and also build fires to attract minnows to the shore.  The minnows attract the predatory splake, and supposedly really big ones.  We were all game to see what would happen.  So we stuck around for a quite a while.  The way he rigged up our rods was unique, and like something I hadn't seen before.  We all had several bites, and I had one almost to shore, but it broke the line as we tried to land it.  It was a really fun experience, and one I'd like to do again.

The trip ended up being a success, but we didn't catch quite as many fish as we had expected.  But, we had good food, good company, and an awesome cabin to sleep in...so, no complaints!