A Very Scary Night

During the summer, it is pretty much a Friday tradition for Eric to cut out early and head to the lake. Late in the day boating trips are so relaxing and the perfect way to end a busy week. We usually pull up on an island, the kids run and explore and Eric and I will relax, most like with an adult beverage(or 2). ;) So on this particular Friday, I just happened to invite my neighbor/friend. Her husband was not able to come, so it was just Valla and her three kids (ages 2, 6 & 12). The thing that I love about Valla is that she is a free-spirit and nothing (I mean NOTHING!) phases her. So, between us, there were three adults and six (6!) children. As we put the boat in the water, it was a beautiful, sunny day. Since it hasn't rained in ages, we never even checked the weather. Bad call. You see where this is going. We no sooner picked our island, anchored, and got situated, when we see clouds in the distance. It didn't look bad and we were not concerned. Then the thunder starts, but it was still so clear in some places that we thought it would pass over. After much debate, we decide to move a little closer to where we put in, just in case we had to make a run for it. So we move closer and stop in a cove to let the kids eat the wonderful picnic dinner that Valla brought for our whole family. As we are eating and food is laid out everywhere, Eric checks the weather on his blackberry and says we better head back. He is taking off as Valla and I are frantically trying to clean up anything that will fly. My drink spills on me, so now I smell like an alcoholic. Nice. Just as we are rounding the corner to where we put in, the sky in front is dark, ominous and lightening is striking. We look over where we came from and the sky is clear and sunny. We decided that we would be stuck in the storm trying to load the boat on the trailer and if we went back to where we were, we could wait out the storm. This was our fatal error. Eric punches it, Valla and I hang on to the little ones and we flew across the lake as fast as we could (This is a HUGE lake). Suddenly, the storm is all around us, there is no way out. The water on the lake was white capping and the lightening was unbelievable and non-stop. If you watch Deadliest Catch, just imagine the Bering Sea and that is what it was like. Straight in front of us was a beach so Eric pulls up on it and we fly off the boat. By the Grace of God, we just happened to land on a camping ground and there were bath houses up ahead where we could take cover. This is where the comedy of errors started. By now it is raining very heavy and we are being pelted by hail. To get to the bath houses, we had to run up a hill, through a campsite and past a PIT BULL(no kidding) who was freaking out from the storm. When we finally made it to the building, the pit bull had broke loose and was being chased by his owner. The dog was very obviously freaked out by the lightening, thunder, rain and hail and seemed to be running frantically and aimlessly. I don't know if they ever caught him. We really thought the rain would pass quickly and we would be on our way in no time. Wrong. This storm was here to stay. Since the men's room was the first door we came to, that is where we were, when a man comes in. We all step out so he can do his "business". Then we look down at the ground and there is a trail of blood. We quickly check all the kids and when we were sure no one was hurt, we realized it was the man in the bathroom. So Eric goes in to see if he needs help and the guy is so delirious from his loss of blood (or just anti-social) he just grunts and makes it clear that he doesn't want help. Weird. So Eric comes out and says he has a gash in his leg but doesn't want help. Eventually, the guys comes out and walks back to his camp site, dripping blood the whole way. He probably met up with the pit bull on the loose. Don't know what happened there, we were too busy making sure the kids stayed away from the trail of blood, but all the water was washing it all over the place. So we go in the girls' bathroom. By now, the kids are totally loopy and just want to go home. So do we, but lightening is everywhere and by land, we were a good 30-40 miles from where our cars were. I felt horrible to have gotten Valla and her kids in this predicament. But being the carefree person that she is, she was quite pleased with the "adventure" we are having. She actually said this was the most fun she has had in a long time! Gotta love her. Finally, a park ranger pulls up and says that even though it is lightening, it is 19 miles the opposite way we need to go, so we should be okay to head back. So we head down to the beach, to find our boat BEACHED sideways on the shore. After about 45 minutes of pushing, digging and accepting the help of some campers (I think they were the dog owners, but there was no dog in sight), we finally got the boat back in the water. By now it is dark and we had to get across the lake in the dark. No problem, the lightening was lighting up the lake for us. I actually pulled the boat on the trailer, in the dark!, which is huge because I have night blindness. By the time we were all safe in the car, it was 10:00, we got home at 11:00. I am sure my kids (and Valla's) will need some therapy after that!