It was beautiful weather, unlike the day before; it was very warm and the water was calm, so we decided to rent a boat and take it for a ride out on Lake McDonald. We all put lifejackets on, and Josh got some training on how to run the boat from an employee. The rental cost $25 per hour, so we went riding in it for just one hour.
Josh and Ammon sat in the back of the boat, Jonah and Micah were in the middle, and Kanyon and I were at the front.
Kanyon absolutely loved it! He was so happy to be on the boat!
Jonah and Micah were very uneasy and nervous and didn't enjoy the first half of the ride until we finally turned around and started heading back.
Ammon wasn't too happy either because he wanted to just sit in the car and read a book, but we made him come along. Josh had him drive the boat for part of the time, which he did like.
Josh and I both enjoyed it--it was very peaceful and relaxing and we were surrounded by such beauty.
The small boat went about 15mph, and the lake was about 15 miles long...so we only made it about halfway across the lake before turning around and heading back to the shore to make it back in one hour. It's a long lake, and there weren't a lot of people on it at the time, so it was very serene!
After we got back to shore, another employee helped us get out of the boat and onto the dock. The boys got out, and then it was my turn. I have terrible balance problems when my feet aren't on ground. The first time I tried to stand up, I just flopped back down. I was holding a backpack with food and drinks in it, and I put the backpack on my right arm and tried to step up again onto the dock with my left knee. This was a huge mistake--my left knee has had problems for about 6 months and is painful to move. With all the weight on the left knee, my whole body collapsed, and I toppled on top of the man that was helping me. My other leg fell off the dock, and in between the boat and the water. My backpack pulled my weight to one side, where my butt and pants finally landed and slid towards the water. There was a brace to hold the boat right where I landed on the dock, and it ripped the butt of my pants open. I was so humiliated. My legs were already sore from the long hike the day before, and my left knee was in pain, and my pants were ripped open, and the guy that was helping me was so taken aback that he remained flat on the dock for a minute. Everyone who witnessed it was either laughing or shocked into silence. It was awful. The man kept asking me if I was alright, and I kept saying that I was, but I just wanted to get out of there quick. I finally got on both feet, walked back to the shore, paid the employee, and got in the car. I just wanted to go home.
We drove back to Kalispell, got gas and ate lunch in our car, then drove around Flathead Lake to Polson, down to Missoula, and finally home to Salmon. It was another long 6-hour drive. I was pretty quiet on the drive--rethinking about what had happened on the dock, and then I slept since I was up so much the night before with Kanyon. The boys were searching for more license plates on the drive to complete their game--they stayed busy with that, but never got all 50.
I was so happy to be home again. It had been a good vacation overall--the boys stayed pretty good in the car for being in it such long lengths each day, we had seen and done a lot of cool things, we had saved money by bringing our own food & sleeping bags, and we had a lot of fun together.
We want to go back to Glacier Park again next year and finish seeing the north east side--visiting Many Glacier and going into the Canadian Waterton part of it, too. And I'm already looking forward to it!
No comments:
Post a Comment