Vacation, cont'd

Of course, the best part of my family's vacation isn't the location, per se. Rather, it is the fishing that the location offers. My family preceded me by two days. I, as a good cleric, assisted with Diocesan functions before leaving for vacation: Quo Vadis Days, priestly ordinations and Fr. Jeff Dobbs' First Mass of Thanksgiving. So, while my family left on Friday and arrived on Saturday, I left on Sunday (after the Mass of Thanksgiving) and arrived on Monday.

My planning for the trip wasn't the greatest. I ended up leaving later that I would have liked, as well. I didn't finally get off on the road until about 5:30 pm. I was about to pass through Brainerd and figured I would find a motel to pull into there around 10:40 at night, but ended up taking the highway bypass around Brainerd which didn't have any hotels on it. So I countinued on. That, however, only offered small towns without motels, or without open motels. So, I ended up sleeping in the car from 11:30 pm until 4:30 am in a Catholic Church parking lot!

Saturday was rain in Canada, so my family didn't go fishing at all. That's when they found this marvel:

as you can see, they're wearing their rain jackets.

They caught a couple fish on Sunday, but not too much of great mention. However, in great swarms and numbers, the Mayflies were out:

Thing with Mayflies is that they don't do much, that we could tell. They are simply present - everywhere. They're better than mosquitos or biting-flies/horseflies, though, which were scarcely present.

Having woken up so early in the morning (because of the cold), I arrived in Canada very early, as compared to what I told them to plan. So, they had had a big breakfast that day and were about to head out in the boats. I barely caught them (by about five minutes), and so I quickly ran and bought a fishing liscense, changed out of my clerics and went out fishing. That produced three of these (though only two were within the Rainy Lake slot-limit, this one included):

Now, there are a couple of things to note with this picture. Remember, I said I slept in my car, arrived, and headed almost immediately out to go fishing. Hence, the unshowered look, as well as the unshaven face. Of particular note, as well, is the fact that I'm not wearing clerics. This is only of note largely because of our brother Deacon Michael, or blogger "Mike." He repeatedly scoffs at the fact that since ordination, I have worn my clerics except for sleeping, physical recreation, showering, and a one-time stint of 1.5 hours while doing laundry. Yes, Deacon Mike, I wore "civies" continuously throughout the week, until the day we departed when I changed back into my clerics for the drive home.

All of the time at the resort was not spent fishing, of course. We did take the evenings to enjoy ourselves in other ways. I should clarify who "we" are: my dad, mom, brother, sister-in-law, nephew, niece and myself. A picture of all of us (except my mom who's taking the picture).

You can also see some of the activities that we did. My nephew and niece really enjoyed having me around. I enjoyed being around them, though they did tire me out a bit.

My nephew is the older of the two. They were both born in August, though he will turn five this August while she will turn three. Isn't she cute?Well, don't let appearances fool you; she can have quite the attitude at times!