Saturday, June 14, 2014

Moon or No Moon

Full moon camping/kayaking was in high gear (read about it here on my blog Define Normal) at beautiful Lake Alpine. I was so looking forward to kayaking on Friday the 13th, and this would be our first kayak outing of the season.

The previous night looked promising with the moon rising at 8:30pm. But due to the unexpected chilliness, we decided to put off paddling until the next night when the moon was to be officially FULL.
 
So on Friday, bundled up against the chill, we put the boats in at about 7:30 in the evening:
 
 
Natalie was off and paddling:
 
The lake was like glass. Such a difference from the fierce winds and white caps of the daytime:

 
We explored the length of the lake with fish jumping all around:

 
At some point, Natalie decided that she was afraid of seeing the granite boulders under the water. Now I kind of get this. It's a little creepy at first to see rocks underneath you, or an old tree stump lurking in the depths. I think it's like standing on something high and looking down; it gives your stomach the heebie-jeebies at first (well at least it does me who is not a fan of water in general, and deep water especially).
 
I encouraged her to not look down, but she had already wound herself up in a tizzy. I don't know why. Then I happened to mention it was Friday the 13th. Oh, why did I do that? This is my 11 year old, who has a wild imagination, why would I remind her of this fact?
 
Anyway, the fun of the trip was quickly waning at this point for Natalie, but I was still enjoying myself, and enjoying the scenery:
 
 The sun was setting, and 8:30 was fast approaching...certainly we'd see the moon soon:
 
But, alas, 8:30 came and went and my fellow kayakers were cold, and getting cranky and tired, and it was getting dark.
 
Where was my full moon?! I figured it would be somewhere around the same time as the previous night...but it stood me up!
 
No full moon kayaking for us! We ended up loading the boats and going back to camp. Even at 9:30 there was still no moon, so with the cold getting colder, we went to bed. Sometime later the moon did appear, but I missed it. Darn!
 
We still had a fabulous first kayak of the season, moon or no moon. We had the entire quiet lake to ourselves, and only mild hysteria from my child. It was ALL good!
 

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