Island Yurt Getaway

Guess where I've been? He he!  This was where we had lunch one day.  By late afternoon, the marina was packed with boats.  Just a warning, this post may be long, as you know I like to talk.

Hubby and I have been working on spending more nights together, we call "date nights."  They vary from a dinner out, to a candlelight dinner at home, to an outing of some sort.  Sometimes, it's a long bike ride, a trip to the orchard, or even renting a DVD to watch at home (with some yummy "snackages").  With 5 kiddos still living at home, we both feel it's so important to not let our time together wash by in our lives.  The younger girls moan and groan, but they'll get over it.  Besides, they get their "trips" and special times too.

We also like to take weekend dates away.  With expenses, emergency repairs, and general farm up-keeps, finances get squeezed tight.  Hence, the camper for inexpensive camping trips.  I was led to believe that we'd be camping in our camper (this past weekend), but it didn't happen.

Hubby pulled a huge surprise on me.  He's been working overtime for a few weeks, and not getting home until midnight.  Now, imagine getting up at 6:00am, driving for an hour to work, working until midnight, driving home an hour, only to do it all over again.

 (view from inside our lakeview yurt)

He booked us a Yurt on the lsland.  Due to finances, we have not been to the Island all summer.  It was the second to last weekend that the Yurts could be rented out too.  He worked very hard to pull this off.

 

 (down from our deck, just above the beach area)

The first day there, we had some issues - pulled over by the island police, found out my Mom was hospitalized, and we forgot our towels and washcloths.  As for the police, Hubby thought he'd be funny and take an unmarked trail.  However, he took the trail in our rented golf cart, and someone reported him.  He got off with a warning.  What a rebel.  Sigh....had noisy college aged neighbors in a tent right next to us.  They woke us up twice at 1:00am, with their partying.   

We walked around this quarry, and met other folks along the way.  One gentleman was fishing and caught a pretty good size catfish, while his wife was resting on the rocks, reading a book and relaxing.  We saw lots of bluegill in the quarry too.  Next time, we plan to bring our fishing gear.

We stopped for lunch at another location on day two, and had barbeque ribs.  Boy were they good.  Yesterday was the last day for this restaurant/bar to be open for the season.  In fact, one of our favorite places to eat at, had already closed the week before.  However, the weather was perfect.

By afternoon on the second day, we noticed there were three more tents to the right of us, about 20 college aged folks, and trunk loads of beer.  We shook our heads.  

This was our last night there.  We enjoyed the quiet time, and the lake.  Our noisy neighbors were no where in sight, and not even around after we had fallen asleep.  

 (evening)

However, at 11:30pm, the partying began.  This time, I went out and asked if they'd "keep it down" but that failed.  They threw fireworks into their fire rings, played loud music, hooted and hollered until about 3:00am.  We went home very tired, and on very little sleep.  According to the park office, there was a park ranger on duty until 3:00am.  I'm thinking he was elsewhere, or napping, or could have cared less.  

We did get to enjoy a beautiful sunrise before heading home.  Thankfully, it was before our pack of rats next door were out of their tents.  Needless to say, we reported our neighbors to the park office, and will also fill out our survey.  We paid dearly to stay there, and had just as much right to enjoy our stay as they did.  I can deal with kids drinking and having a good time, but I've never stayed at a campground where the campers did not respect the "quiet hour" that is designated to keep the park quiet at night.  They were very loud, and one night were walking on our deck while we were inside.  

One last photo.

I had to snap this photo, because it says everything about getting away and enjoying nature.  Especially, unplugging from the world.  This woman was sitting in her lawn chair, in the water, reading a book.  Secretly, I wanted to be down there too. That's going to be me, next trip.  And with Hubby right alongside.

All in all, we did have time at the lakeside, absorbing the beauty, spending time with nature, and relaxing.  Despite rotten neighbors, and forgotten towels (we dried off using my sweatshirt and one of Hubby's t-shirts, ha ha!), we did enjoy our time together.  Oh, and Mom is already feeling better and back home.

. . . until our next adventure.