This is my first blog post in over a month and I’ve missed it terribly. Lots going on right now and I feel like life just took over and I haven’t had much worthy to share. Our rainy spring had much to do with it, no bike rides, no outdoor photo trips. If you know me, you’ll know I’ve always been one to speak only when it’s relevant, so you won’t find me posting anything unless I feel it’s relatively worthy.
This Memorial Weekend, we pulled the boat and camper out to Bruin Lake in Pinckney, to camp with family. This was the first time we’d taken both the boat and camper, and with the exception of a slight mishap with the prop and some inclement weather, it was super start to the 2011 season. Bruin Lake is a part of the Pinckney State Recreation area, out North Territorial Road, just north of Dexter. One of our favorite rides, head west on North Territorial and turn north on Hadley Rd. Hadley ends at Kaiser Rd. in Gregory, turn right and before it dead ends, the campground entrance is on the right. Not far at all from Hell.
We had on and off rain Friday, Saturday and Sunday, ending with a gorgeous clear sunny Memorial Monday, in perfect time for us all to pack up and leave. Of course. But, I was grateful the entire weekend for our camper, remembering all the times I woke up in rain soaked tent. Friday night we sat around the fire, being sprinkled on most of the evening. I was really looking forward to practicing night photography under the stars this weekend, and I caught several people walking with flashlights past our campsite.
Saturday morning was cloudy, though we did have a chance to take several spins around the lake in the boat. Again, practicing slower shutter speeds, I must have taken fifty or more shots of the wake. Streams are definitely easier. Taking a tripod on a boat pretty much defeats the purpose!
The air was getting chilly and we headed back for the ramp, to find more visitors at our campsite, family members who came out for the day. We grilled, talked, laughed, and took cover when the rain came once again. This weekend really snuck up on me and I hadn’t really prepared. I had several large umbrellas that weren’t doing much good at home in my closet. However, every time I took cover in our camper, I learned a bit more about Lightroom 3, uploading groups of photos at a time throughout the weekend.
Sunday came and we launched the boat again for another tour, this time taking my sister, niece and her friend. My sister navigated the lakes for us, showing where Bruin Lake connects with Patterson Lake and Halfmoon Lake. With all this rain, the water level was way up, and most all the docks we saw from the lakefront homes were almost completely submerged. Because of this there was one lake we were unable to access, the water level was up too high for our boat to pass under the bridge.
We returned the way we came, (with the help of my sister!) and let them off at the dock. I returned a few minutes later with a jacket, ready to go back out for a bit longer. Bill informed me, however, that we were done for the day. He hadn’t said anything at the time, but when he backed the boat away from the dock, he’d heard a bang, and the boat wasn’t running well at all. As we were discussing this, the boat started to float away from the dock. After several tries with the ropes, Bill hooked one of the posts and pulled us back closer. I jumped back out of the boat to get the trailer, raked my toes against the side, slipped on the dock and landed on my ass on no other but the partially submerged dock. Oh yes, jean shorts and all. I kept my obscenities to myself as Bill went for the trailer and I stood holding on to the ropes trying to position my soaked backside away from a group of kayakers who were putting in. Nice.
Upon pulling the boat out of the water, we found one prop blade folded over, and the trim tab missing. We figured the trim tab, positioned above the prop, had come loose, dropped down and hit the prop blade, bending the blade and tearing the trim tab off completely. After drying off, we returned later in the day to search for the missing piece, but were unable to find it. Ironically, we did find a diving mask floating close to shore, almost like an omen, but the water was still quite cold at this time of year, and neither of us opted to go diving for this piece.
Back at the campsite, we were putting the cover on the boat when a lady walks by and says, “Battening down the hatches, eh? Get ready for round two, it’s about two hours away!”
“What???”
“Yep, another storm..” 
Great. Cloudy, chilly, fine.. All I wanted was for it to stay dry, and here comes more rain and wind gusts of up to 80 mph, on day 3 of our trip. We finished rolling up the awning on the camper and putting everything away when DNR came by telling everyone to take cover in the bath houses.
We opted to stay put through the heavy rain, and luckily, that’s all it was. The storm passed, things somewhat dried out, the fire survived, and we put plastic table clothes over our folding chairs and salvaged the evening around the fire. After a while, we took a walk down to the dock and I got a shot of the storm as it left the area, and the sky actually cleared up for some decent night photography opportunity.
Soon the sky was filled with stars, so many more than we see at home, and we were only an hour away. Even with the rain, it was a fantastic Memorial Weekend, one we are sure to remember.
f5.0, 30 sec., ISO 1600
f5.0, 20 sec., ISO 1600