Westminster Confessions

After Éva’s (and my) comment about wanting to go for a boat ride out to Camp, Grampy (Philip’s grandfather) indulged us and put one of the docks out this morning so that we could launch one of the boats. This afternoon we bundled up and Grampy took Éva and I out for an awesome cruise.

Grampy’s great-great-great-grandfather was the founder of Greenville. He has more stories to tell than a library could hold. With a captive audience in the boat he was at his best.

But first things first… we had to get lifejackets, a motor, and some gas and head down to “New Camp” where the boat was docked. Éva looked like a penguin.

Grampy coached life into the motor which had been dormant all winter. After a few minutes we were on our way. We had the privilege of being the first boat out on the water this year!

We headed out to some areas where we might see wildlife (and maybe a moose). We headed toward some of the creeks that feed the lake. The water was still and peaceful as we inched along looking for a moose.

Well, no moose today (the water was still too cold for them), but we did see a beaver! He surprised us with a huge splash right next to the boat. A kingfisher delighted us with his undulating flight pattern and amazing call. We saw part of an old beaver dam (look past the first sticks to the actual dam in the background of the photo).

Out on the main part of the lake we saw about ten pairs of loons. Grampy took us around the edge of the lake and gave us a detailed history of all the old camps. He interspersed the various descriptions with stories about some favorite experiences out on the water. He talked about trout, and flyfishing, and being surprised by moose, and generations of families who have enjoyed these same waters. We saw Elephant Mountain from various angles. Somewhere in here Éva fell asleep!

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On the way back to the dock we were thrilled to see a bald eagle soaring and then diving down toward the water and then sitting majestically in a tree. Sorry, no photo… I was too enthralled watching the eagle to take time to get the camera up to my eye! By this time Éva was getting a little tired and cold, so we headed back to the dock instead of after the eagle (we’ll save that for another day).

Ah, the joys of “crusin’” Maine-style. Thanks, Grampy. Thanks, God.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 22nd, 2006 at 8:46 pm and is filed under Generations (family stuff). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.