Making New Memories

We just returned home from a wonderful camping trip with my dad at Crescent Lake. Crescent Lake camping is a tradition for my family. My mom's family stayed in the little cabins at Crescent Lake for a couple of weeks every summer as she was growing up. We stayed in those same cabins a few times when I was a kid and then when I was around junior high age, my family started camping there every summer. The summer Reid and I started dating, he joined us for a weekend camping trip there. And since my kids were little, even when we were just visiting from Texas, we've been camping there with my parents.

It's not a very glamorous place to camp. It's very dusty, and the only restrooms are outhouses. No showers. But the air smells wonderfully of pine trees, and the water is crystal clear. You can see the bottom of the lake quite a ways out. The camp sites are surrounded by trees, making them a little more private and cozy. And the beaches are somewhat sandy, if a little rocky. Crescent Lake holds many special and fun memories for me.

There was the time Mom got up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, and in her pj's with a flashlight lost her way in the woods. She wandered around for about 20 minutes in the dark before she finally found her way back to our campsite, which was the one not far from the outhouse.

One year there was a thunderstorm and the wind rose up and made the water rough enough to make white cap waves. We'd left our raft down at the beach, so my older brother Mark and I went down to bring it up to camp. I don't know why, but we decided it would be easier to row it back to the shore below our campsite instead of walking it back. Probably because of the wind. Anyway, it was quite an exciting adventure in my eyes, rowing through the rough waters, listening to the thunder in the distance and hoping we didn't get struck by lightning! :)

And there were all those early mornings out on the water. My dad, brothers and I would get up early and head out in the boat, because that's when the water was smooth like glass. We'd all take our turns water skiing, then head back for breakfast, which always included a nice warm campfire and hot chocolate to warm us up.

One time I let my dad talk me into trying to barefoot water ski so I could be cool like him and my brothers. :) Just as I stood up I crashed, slamming my face so hard into the water that it snapped my goggles in half where the nose bridge was, knocked the wind out of me and caused my legs to fly backward up over my head. Needless to say, I didn't try that again. :)

And there was the year I had my birthday party there, with a bunch of friends, Reid included. We took a picnic lunch, and my family and friends went for a day of boating, skiing and fun in the sun. Dad loved(s) to give people the ride of their lives on an inner tube. Reid and I had been dating just a few weeks. I told Dad to be nice to me on my tube ride. But of course he couldn't resist the 'circle of death', which creates mountainous waves, and usually accomplishes Dad's main goal, which is to flip or bounce the rider off the tube. So there I was screaming at him to stop, all the while hearing his laughter. :) After nearly drowning me (not really) he pulled me in, I gave him a huge glare, and he told Reid "Oops, guess that was a little much." And they snickered under their breath as I moodily climbed into the boat.

And of course there are the stories of the Crescent Lake monster, who comes out of the water and wanders the campground in the middle of the night looking for little children to devour. Yes, that would be my dad's story for kiddos. Nowadays, my kids just roll their eyes and say "Grampa!"

This was the first year camping at Crescent Lake without Mom. Her presence was definitely missed, but we had a great time anyway, and we talked and laughed about memories of Mom at Crescent Lake. We kept it simple, maybe a little too simple, without all the extra snacks, sweets and side dishes for meals. Mom was always good at planning all that stuff. But we did alright. We carried on some old traditions, like Crescent Lake monster stories, "baths" in the middle of the lake off the side of the boat, playing games, reading books, and boating. And we solidified some new traditions like dutch oven Mountain Man breakfast, banana boats, a visit from from my Uncle Stew for a day, a little road trip to Davis lake for some fly fishing, and wake boarding for the kids.

We have a new thunderstorm memory to pass down through the years. During the middle of the day on Tuesday, a storm came up. We had walked over to the resort store, about 1/4 of a mile away from our camp site, when it started to sprinkle. By the time we got back, we were soaked. It was pouring rain and was beginning to hail. The lightning was flashing and thunder clapping. We dove into our tent, and were stuck there for two hours while the storm raged. :) We read books, colored, tried to nap and played a game. Lightning flashed only a 1/2 mile away. Rosalie put it best in her journal... "It is exciting and scary." ;)

And so the Crescent Lake memories will continue, old ones mingled with new ones, some with the echoes of Mom's laughter in them, some from my childhood, some as a mommy, and maybe someday some as a gramma. Wouldn't that be something. And always may the legend of the Crescent Lake monster live on.