July 4th weekend

July 4th weekend was a weekend we were not expecting. Randy emailed me at the beginning of the week and asked what I thought about them coming up for the holiday. Needless to say I’m sure that you have already figured out what my answer was. They arrived Thursday evening and we pretty much stayed around the campground. Friday we decided to go into the park and visit Old Faithful. The way into the park we were able to see 3 nice size bull elk and a large group of buffalo. As one would expect Old Faithful was once again faithful and we got to see here erupt. On the way back out we stopped and ate a picnic lunch before coming back to the campground. Randy and the boys wanted to go fishing so we baited up the hooks and walked down to the lake in front of the camper. Grandpa explained to the boys that sometimes fishing is slow and we might only catch one but it is always a nice keeper. Randy and Dylan were fishing and I decided to come into the camper to get something when all of a sudden I heard this yelling outside. Dylan had got one on his pole and was bringing it in. The munchkin ended up bring in a rainbow trout that measured 19 ½ inches. Needless to say grandpa’s day was made when he got it in.

The gentleman I have spoken of before named Wayne offered to let us use his boat so Randy, Connor, Dylan and I decided to go fishing later on in the evening. Now I failed to mentioned the boat we are using is about a 12ft fishing boat, not the bigger yachts that one can walk around on. The weather here can change in a heartbeat so after a small rain shower had passed the skies opened up and we had a fairly decent evening ahead of us( or so we thought). We head out in the boat and I was going to show everyone how we trolled with lures. The water was a little choppy but all in all not too bad. We headed to the larger part of the lake close to the shoreline and was not having much luck. Out of nowhere the skies started turning cloudy and the wind picked up a bit. We turned the boat around and started heading back to the campground when Randy “got one on”. By the time he reeled it in the wind had picked up considerably and the water started getting pretty rough. We pointed the boat to the shore line but needless to say the wind pretty much decided where our final destination was to be. We were greeted by some campers that looked at us like what in the world are we doing out here. I called back to the camper to let Cindy and April know that we were on land, not capsized out in the lake, and to come and pick up the boys. We were only about ½ mile from our campground ( by water) 2 miles by land. Randy and I being the macho men we are decided to wait it out and bring the boat back when the waves stopped looking like the Pacific Ocean. We finally got back on the water and headed to the campground, by then it was back to fishing and just enjoying an evening on the water with my son.





Saturday we took the boys into the Grizzly Center and enjoyed watching the bears and wolves there. We headed back to the camper and took up fishing some more but to have luck stay away from us in catching any. We then talked to Wayne and borrowed his boat once more. This time the water was fairly calm, clear skies, and little wind. The only thing missing on this trip out was Dylan, who decided that after the first adventure he would keep his feet anchored to solid ground. Out on the water Randy, Connor and Grandpa headed. We went to the part of the lake where Cindy and I had a successful trip before (well at least Cindy). I tried to explain to Connor that when trolling sometimes the going is pretty slow and then,” wham” you get a hit. Not too long into finding the hot spot did Connor get one on. The boy done a very fine job in bringing it in, Randy told him ”you hook it you bring it in”. Well he did and the result was a 18 ½ rainbow. There’s no greater joy then watching your grandson land a fish of this size. After putting the prize on the stringer Connor said he was ready for his 2nd one, and that’s just what he did. The next one he hauled in was a 17 ¼ rainbow. Now by this time I starting to feel kind of bad for Randy because Connor was kicking his butt in fishing ( gee,sounds kind of familiar with Cindy and I ). After the wind started picking up a little we decided we would turn around and make one more pass before calling it a day. Now there is nothing more a father wants than for his son to catch a nice size fish after driving 12 hours to get here. I began to think it wasn’t going to happen this time around. I had Randy let a little more line out and I sped the boat up a little to put the lure deeper into the water. Right after making these changes I look back and Randy has one on. The rod he was using was a small light weight so the fight was a little more than a stiffer rod. By the time he brings it in it's a nice rainbow 17inches. If there is anything that puts more of a smile on my face and a bigger tug on my heart than watching Cindy catch a nice one, it is watching my son and grandson bring one in on the same trip out. Way to go guys!!!

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and Sunday morning was the end of another “Making Our Dreams Come True”. Randy and family packed it up and headed back toward Denver leaving Grandpa & Grandma more memories to enjoy in the coming years.