We survived our first family vacation! Fish Lake sits around 9,000 feet just 45 miles outside of Richfield. We knew it would be cold at nights, but as we drove into the canyon and saw snow we had to laugh. Summer vacation in the snow - what were we getting in to?
We stayed in a beautiful campground within walking distance of the shore of the lake. The campsite had flushing toilets and running water! It was so fun to see our name on the reserved sign I took a picture. We agonized over which site to reserve and it was nice to see we picked a good one. As we walked around Unit 9 seemed to be one of the better sites. We made a few new friends at the campground, including the retired couple who managed the place and the divorced old man who works for the school district so he can fish all summer. He offered to take Ryan out fishing on his boat, but unfortunately we had to get home for a few other committments Saturday morning.
We took our time getting to the Lake, stopping in Salina at the visitor information booth and then at the Wolves Den Diner for lunch. Ryan had the Wolf sandwich - two beef patties, bacon, and ham. You've gotta love small town mom and pop food. It was a little chilly (about 65 degrees), but Caden started out as a good camper while mom and dad set up the tent. Perched on his therm a rest padding he explored (and ate) the rocks.
Home, tent, home. Kiddo enjoyed exploring the tent. It didn't take him long to find his own kiddo level window. We got the tent for our wedding and have never used it. It got set up in the family room before we left just to make sure it would work. Its pretty good sized - 9.9x6 feet. It claims its a four man tent, but we were doing good to get the three of us in there.
We took Caden's car seat bundle and some extra blankets as a sleeping bag for him. Its fleece lined and plenty warm; we thought it would be so cute to see him sleep in a little kiddo sized bag. We were wrong. Caden hated being so constricted and ended up sleeping between us all night. He kicked and wiggled until he was sideways with both mom and dad half out of the covers. We opted not to stay the second night. I guess we're just not made out for co-sleeping with our baby. I'm not sure how some people do that every night. For the next trip the pack and play is a must.
Once camp was set up we wasted no time in getting down to business - fishing. We walked down to the lake shore and started casting. Caden and Momma lasted about 20 minutes, then went back to camp to feed Caden dinner and start the fire for the night. Kiddo liked the clicking of the reel and kept trying to grab it anytime the line got reeled in. Daddy fished for another hour and a half, working his way about a mile down the shore before returning to camp.
We thought Caden was down for the night, but he only lasted about 45 minutes in the sleeping bag before he woke up crying, so even though it was way past his bedtime he got to stay up with Daddy and watch the campfire. We had tinfoil dinners and roasted marshmallows. I highly recommend roasting the chocolate marshmallows. Ryan says it tates like hot chocolate; I say it tastes somewhat like s'mores without the graham crackers. Either way, they are good. As the night wore on and got colder, we pulled out Caden's bundle in an effort to keep him warm.
Friday morning Caden was back to being a happy camper and played contently while mom and dad had breakfast. He was the only one smiling and giggling that morning as mom and dad tried to wake up and start to function on what little sleep we had managed to eek out the night before. Ryan said it was the longest night of his life.
After having no success the night before, we decided to ask for advice at the tackle shop. After consulting the local expert Ryan bought some worms and we got back to fishing, this time near the dock by all the other shore fishermen. It was pretty crowded, no one was catching anything, and Caden needed a nap so we went on the self guided auto tour of the lake in hopes of lulling the baby to sleep in his carseat. The auto tour was a big disappointment, but Caden did fall asleep. At the last stop on the auto tour - Johnson Reservoir (about 2 miles from fish lake) - we saw these pelicans and pulled over to get a closer look.
We were amazed to see HUGE fish (30-40 inches long) following the birds around and quite a few fish jumping just off the shore. We parked the car and started fishing. It was quite a bit of fun since we were the only ones fishing on the whole reservoir adn the fish were jumping like crazy. They'd come right up to the shore and we could watch them swim around. The weather was warm with just a slight breeze that made the water lap against the rocks. We had a few nibbles, one that was hooked and got away, and another couple get hooked and break the line. After an hour we finally landed one and were so excited! The fish quit biting so we rushed back to the lodge/marina to figure out what type of fish we caught. Turns out it was a 16 inch long Utah Sucker fish - a trash fish not good for eating. The old man running the forest service information booth could hardly contain his chuckles as he explained no one fishes on Johnson Reservoir right now. All the fish are trash fish, so they planted Tiger Muskess to kill off the trash fish. The Muskees grow up to 40 inches and 35 pounds, but are virtually impossible to catch because they have razor sharp teeth that will break your line almost every time. So we fished in the wrong place, but we had fun doing it.
For our final campfire Ryan decided we needed to go out in style. He built a teepee fire that would make any scoutmaster proud. Caden was agape at the flames. We attempted to cook our fish for dinner, but everyone was right. Sucker fish taste funny. We roasted hot dogs instead, then packed up and came home.
All in all it was a great family vacation in a beautiful location. We hope to go back again sometime.
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