It’s late afternoon Friday, and we have successfully maneuvered the first week of school. How to celebrate? Let’s go to the lake!
Living in the northwest Valley means we have only a 30-minute commute to Lake Pleasant. That allows us the luxury of deciding to go on a whim. Evan went out to uncover our devoted Bayliner Jazz (affectionately named “Tubby” because it is not much bigger than a large tub!). We used to have a 19-footer that resembled a ’79 Nova in the water, only much less dependable. After having to be towed from vast corners of the lake by accommodating fisherman, we decided to get rid of that boat for a newer, albeit smaller, watercraft. Anyway, Tubby is the perfect craft for us. I busied myself by making an impromptu picnic dinner, the kids put on their swimsuits, we put a harness on Bonnie (our chihuahua) and we were off!
The lake was fairly empty on this evening, so after dropping the boat into the lake, Evan was able to park fairly close to the 10-lane boat ramp (our favorite launch location). We all piled in and headed off across the lake. Our favorite spot was closed for part of the year as an eagle nesting site, but now it is open so we trolled along through the passage that actually becomes the Agua Fria River at this point. We stopped in a little alcove shaded by a cliff wall, and ate our dinner. Solvay wanted to go swimming, so she hopped in and splashed about — much to the dismay of Bonnie, who thought she was in trouble. (Bonnie is not the biggest fan of water so she doesn’t understand why anyone would enter it willfully.) Evan offered to blow up the “bullet” — a torpedo shaped floating ride-on toy that holds two people. Solvay was excited about that and wanted to ride first.
After the bullet was inflated, Solvay climbed on and Evan carefully unraveled the cord as we picked up speed. When the cord was taut, he accelerated, to Solvay’s shrieks. She went back and forth between “thumbs up” (go faster) and “thumbs down” (slow down). Evan likes to weave back and forth so that the rider can get some air time as the bullet flies over the wake of the boat. After a while, Mylan decided that it was her turn, so she boarded with Solvay and they squealed together as they jumped the waves.
Bonnie needed a potty break (actually she was turning a little green and just wanted to place her paws on some dry land!) so we pulled up to a fairly level island and jumped out for a while. When Bonnie was ready, we boarded back in and Solvay decided she’d had enough so Mylan stayed on the bullet alone. As we started out, she was showing her boredom at the slow speed by pretending to check her watch and yawn. I told Evan, who picked up the speed and weaving combination, trying to throw her off. It didn’t work, but she did get a wild ride!
It was starting to get dark, so we headed back across the lake, passing the Scorpion Bay Marina. The is a fairly new marina to the lake and houses Dillon’s bar and restaurant along with restrooms, gas pumps and a convenience store. Sometimes when we are out on the lake we stop there for a treat. We ambled past heading back to the boat ramp and arrived just as the last rays of sun were turning the lake a beautiful shade of pink. We unloaded and Bonnie was happy to be on the dock! Evan retrieved the vehicle and we drove the boat back onto the trailer. After another stop to clean the boat off, pack up the gear, secure the boat to the trailer and deflate the bullet  we were back on the road and heading home. Another “pleasant” evening on the lake!
