Thunder and Lightning and Steak

June 8, 2019

Sunny today!!  Makes you want to get going and to enjoy the day.  Our plans are to go kayaking on Crimson Lake and it looked promising. 

It was my turn to make breakfast so I whipped up pancakes. The pancake mix we use is flour, which includes all of the ingredients, and you just need to add eggs and milk. I mixed all of the ingredients however, I took too long to heat the griddle and so the batter was rising before I could put them onto the griddle.  The result was the pancakes became quite thick however, they still tasted good and were quite filling.

So off to the lake we went and began a blissful paddle. Crimson Lake is quite shallow with a sandy bottom and it did not appear to have a lot of fish habitat.  We cruised along the shoreline, enjoying watching mother ducks and their ducklings, scooting through the reeds and cattails.  Lots of red winged black birds and meadowlarks let us know we were in their territory as loons floated out in their safety zone and called each other.  It was truly an idyllic time.  The west shore of the lake is lined with cabins and summer homes each with wharfs and the necessary recreational powerboats.

As we were circumnavigating the lake, we both noticed the big dark cloud that seemed to be coming our way.  Being the eternal optimist, I told Debbie, who was getting worried, that we were okay and safe.  Mother Nature must have heard me as she answered with a long rolling thunder that seemed to go on for half a minute.  We continued to paddle and the cloud continued to come closer.

A few more large thunderclaps increased the cadence of our paddle and we were still about a km from our destination.  A light drizzle started and suddenly the lightning began lighting the sky and Debbie threatened that she was going onshore if this lightning continued.  I assured her that we were almost there.

We came around the corner of the shoreline and saw our boat launch.  A couple of intrepid fishermen in a small skiff raced us to the boat launch and as we hauled out the kayaks, the heavens opened up and a hailstorm of biblical proportions crashed down on us!!  The ground turned icy white and the noise of the hail, hitting the water and the bushes made a loud hissing noise.  We stood under a small shelter and laughed at how the day changed in such a short few hours. The storm passed over us in about a half an hour with lightning and the hail turned to heavy rain.  I found it kind of awesome, but Debbie had another word for it. 

After loading the kayaks, we drove to Rocky Mountain House and replenished a propane tank as well as picked up a juicy steak and some smaller groceries.  Then off to Tim Horton’s to posts some more blog posts.  

Tomorrow it was time to move on so I broke down the campsite, as I barbequed the steak and Debbie readied the trailer for the start of the trip to Jasper.   We enjoyed a great supper and toasted the day.