Rent a boat for a day-seemed like a perfect plan! Sunshine and 75 degrees-seemed like the perfect day! We packed a cooler, lunch, snacks, decks of cards to play, fishing poles--we were ready!

What we were not prepared for were the winds. Strong winds on the lakes led to choppy waters. We kept going, heading to Lake Tomahwak from Minocqua lake, just cruising around enjoying the scenery, the girls took turns driving with Chris (pictures) I even took a turn as Captain. But, Choppy on Lake Tomahawk soon meant waves that might have been more than 3 feet at times. I'm not exaggerating-the waves literally came over the front of the boat and rolled right back under our feet. It was a long and stressful ride back to Minocqua. Even the channel that connects the 2 lakes was rough-and it's a "slow no wake" zone!
Back on Minocqua lake, it was slightly calmer but still windy and choppy and some of us needed the bathroom. So we docked back at the hotel and took care of business. While we were in calm seas and tied securely to the dock, we enjoyed our lunch. The winds had settled down a bit, so we went out again. This time the other direction toward smaller, Kewaguesaga lake. Even here it was wavy, but we went to the far end and found a calm area where we could drop the anchor and set up for fishing.
We caught 8 fish in about 1-1 1/2 hours. Actually the girls were catching so fast Chris couldn't keep up with getting the fish off the hook, worm back on the hook, as soon as the line went in we'd get a bite!
Then, a gust of wind blew Abby's hat into the water and we couldn't get it. She was distraught. Total exhaustion and frustration and disappointment-she was done. And for whatever reason, the fish stopped biting. And then we realized that our boat was moving-despite the anchor, the winds were pushing us.
We took the boat over to where we had heard people usually park and swim off of boats. And saw another boat doing just that.
Again we dropped anchor and Chris and Abby jumped in (with life jackets). But the water was deep and cold, the boat started floating away, and so that plan was quickly scrapped as well.
We cruised around the lakes a little longer and finally went back to the hotel a bit early (415).

It was fun, but not at all the calm relaxing day on the boat we had planned. Certainly in the years to come this will be one of those stories that lives on and becomes a legend.

Once we were on land, I took the girls to the pool and Chris got showered and cleaned up. He went to get pizza for dinner while we cleaned up. We had delicious pizza dinner and then went down to the dock to watch the Water ski show that happens directly across the lake. We couldn't see a lot, but we enjoyed the Eagles soaring above us, clouds moving in the sunset, and surprisingly CALM waters on the lake. The winds were gone.
They girls decided they wanted to fish again so they each took a turn and caught a fish and then we came back for a few rounds on Uno before bed.

Chris and I had the local news on before bed, and the weather story of the day was: strong gusty winds. 30-45 miles per hour the weatherman said. Yes. We would agree. It was crazy!

We had planned a longer bike ride today, but I think we will save that for tomorrow. Instead I think we will have a "lazier" day today. I think we earned it!



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