One of my favorite places to visit in this world is Conneaut Lake, PA. There is nothing really outstanding about it, but I feel so at ease when I am there. It's just comfortable. Maybe it's because I grew up going there as a child and going back takes me back to that carefree state of life? All I know is that I just love spending time there :-)
My parents bought our place at Conneaut in 1993. From age 7 to probably about 11 I spent every weekend going there. My dad bought what he called a "fixer-uper" and each weekend would make additional updates. He redid everything in the home with his own two hands which is awesome and makes me all the more proud of it :-) I snapped this picture while fishing at the marina...I loved that you could see it's reflection in the water...
This weekend Patrick and I headed the hour and a half North to visit for my families annual vacation there. My parents stay the entire week, we just went for the weekend. This was our final trip together this summer and we had a special guest, Patrick's brother, James, join us for it.
When we got there on Saturday we headed right out to the water. I took the guys for a spin on the Sea-Doo and it was interesting to say the least. We were fine at first. As I drove us out I decided to pull out some of my long-known tricks. We had a blast with the spins and donuts but it wasn't so much fun when we couldn't get back on the machine haha! Every time we attempted, the boat would just fill with water and over the side we'd go! Patrick was so mad because he thought it was his fault (he was usually the last one trying to get on)...in his frustration he said "I'm walking back!" and he started swimming for shore. I then gave James the key and swam after him. After about a 10 minute swim we made it to shore while James was out having a blast solo on the Sea-Doo lol. Fortunately, James came back and we were able to get on while being able to push off the lake floor in the more shallow water. We read the Sea-Doo is only supposed to house 495 pounds per ride...Patrick weighs 250 and James is 180...a lady never tells her weight but I will disclose that I no longer weigh 65 pounds so we were just a tad over on the weight limit!!!
After dinner, watching the sunset, and hanging out for a bit we decided to do some night fishing off the boat in the marina. My nephew, Blayze, was the big fisherman for the night! He reeled in a baby catfish on his Spider Man rod - lol. This was his first big catch! I was so proud of the little man :-)
Right after, something pulled at my line. As I was reeling it in it swam under a neighboring boat and managed to sever my line. It got away! I did manage to catch this one though, which is far better then any fish...:-)
On Sunday I took Patrick and James to Pymatuning Lake to visit the "Spill Way". This was about 15 minutes away from Conneaut. For years people have brought their extra bread here to feed the fish. Well, those fish were no dummies...they now hang out there...HUNDREDS of them! There are just piles and piles of huge Carp wrestling each other for bread! It's really something else to see!
After seeing the "Spill Way" we found some live bait and headed home. My dad then took us all out on the boat. After a spin around the lake we parked it at the "Sand Bar" next to the Norbut/Orbovich boat. We spent hours there catching some rays, splashing around in the water and chatting. Heck, some of the guys even did some fishing...lol...I will update this post with more pictures when my mom gets home with her camera but basically Patrick, James and Joe caught some Blue Gill with some Cheese-It's and a t-shirt lol. The pictures are priceless so be sure to check back for them! I may not have gotten the fish but I did get this great snapshot of Blayze getting tossed in the water haha!
Before heading in, we had to get our annual "Zombie" drink from Silver Shores. They use 7 types of alcohol to make it and honestly, you can't taste one trace of it. It tastes like fruit juice, which allows people to suck them down quick...leading to it's fitting name lol! Aunt Rose, Aunt Donna and myself all enjoyed them and managed not to get too "Zombied Out" haha!
After dinner I was eager to give the fish some dinner...at the end of my fishing rod that is! See, I had to catch a fish. Every year I catch at least one and I wasn't about to see that statistic come to an end now...and fortunately it didn't, although it wasn't my favorite catch ever. I caught myself a medium sized Bowfin. This is probably the most hated (and most caught) fish in the lake. Bowfin are trash fish. They basically feed upon all the good game fish like Bass, Pike and Musky - and in turn overpopulate the lake.These suckers have teeth and aren't afraid to use them which also makes them kind of a scary catch. I've seen fishermen at the lake throw this fish in the woods instead of the water and even beat them to death because they are considered a poison to the lake. I don't have the heart to kill a fish so I did practice catch-and-release. Like I said, this wasn't my favorite catch of all time. The fish broke my favorite fishing pole and I look fat in the boast pic! But a catch is a catch and I will post my bragging rights...
or more pictures look back after this weekend. I want to post some more great shots that are on my mom's camera. It was so sad to leave the lake. I had an absolute blast! I just love going there and can't wait until the next time I can go back :-)
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