8/23/09 – Inland Lobster Feed
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I just returned from camping with the dive club. This weekend was the Inland Lobster Feed and was held at Gerle Creek Resevoir which is east of Sacramento about 2 hrs (driving an RV) in the El Dorado National Forest. In the past it was held at Negro Bar in Folsom. This is the first time I have attended this event. Not because I never wanted to go, but because there was always something going on that we couldn’t attend. In attendance with me on this trip was the usual suspects, Cayle & Holly, Sharon & Jimmie, Minh & Stacey, Marlyn and Steve. Some more members came up on Friday night and Saturday.
I arrived along with Cayle & Holly and Steve on Thursday evening just in time for the sun to go down and for us to eat and go to bed. Friday morning we all woke up and spent the afternoon doing whatever the heck we wanted to do. Me and Roxie headed to take a hike on the trail that goes around the lake towards the dam. This photo is what I first saw as I walked toward the lake. It was a beautiful day and only about 85 degrees with a breeze. If you click on the photo you will see the rest of the photos from the trip. The photos in sequence take you around the lake and of Roxie on the trail and swimming from one of the many spots around the lake. It was a nice 2 hr hike.
Upon returning to the main area of the park, Holly, Cayle & Steve were hanging out on the pier where Steve was fishing. Roxie and I stopped to visit and let Caesar and Roxie swim for the bumper. Most of the time Roxie was faster and beat Caesar to the bumper but occasionally, we would hold her back so Caesar could get it. Then Roxie would wait for him at the shorline so she could steal it from him once he got to her. Such a woman, letting the man do all the work and taking all the credit!
We then headed back to camp for some lunch and Roxie and I took a nap. After resting, we all headed back down to the lake to see about some swimming. The water was cold but tolerable. I wore my 3mm wetsuit so I was able to get in and stay in for a while. Everyone else was just in their swimsuits and didn’t stay in long… except Steve who actually snorkled for 15-20 minutes looking for some fish to catch (there weren’t any). What he actually caught was a pair of Fossil sunglasses! Way to go Steve!
Later in the evening everyone else arrived and we hung out at the fire. Looking up, we saw something we don’t often see in the valley, STARS! A few of us headed out to the lake to get an unobstructed view of the night sky with out a moon or city lights to drown out the beauty. The Milky Way was out, as well as all the other constelations. It was just beautiful. As I layed on the pier looking up, I saw one shooting star but as as hard as I tried, I couldn’t find a satelite :(.
The following morning the official event started and after a leisurely start of the day, several of us suited up and headed down to the lake to do some diving. This was my first dive in over a year and my first dive without Tate. Thanks to Marlyn and Cayle to helped me put my gear together and check me over and Steve and Penny who watched over me in the water, it was a great dive and I feel much more confident now. There wasn’t much to see down there, but for a lake the visibility was pretty good at about 10 ft… that is unless of course SOMEONE (that would be me) hit the bottom and stirred up all the silt making it impossible to see the giant crawdad that Steve wanted to get. I ended my dive early as I was getting cold. Normally in 58 degree water, I would be wearing my dry suit but since it was SO warm outside I wanted to actually get wet and cool off. I do have a 7 mm wet suit but it is such a pain in the butt to get on that I probably would have over heated and passed out before getting into the water. Plus, I feel like the Michelen Man when I put that thing on, which is why I switched to a dry suit to begin with.
Once everyone was done diving, we headed back to camp for a potluck lunch, watermelon eating contest (which I won!), crawdad races, and then we boiled them crawdads and ate ’em up! Since this was my first Inland Lobster Feed, it was also my first time eating crawdads. I liked it! Smotherd in butter it was like eating a mini lobster! Well I guess it WAS a mini lobster!
The rest of the evening was spent around the fire having a good time. The clouds had rolled in and we heard there was a chance of rain. At about 4:00am, the rain began. Of course it did. It wouldn’t be a Renee Viehmann camping trip if it doesn’t rain!
Sunday, it was time to go home and I think Roxie was ready:
Well, that’s all for now. Next up, whitewater rafting next weekend and DDS annual Labor Day weekend camping trip the following weekend. Oh and Roxie has a hunt test coming up the weekend after that. Keeping BUSY and having fun!
Looks like fun! Did Roxie get to snorkel too? Is that your RV? No wonder you go camping so often!
Roxie didn’t snorkle but she swam A LOT. In fact, during my dive, we surfaced briefly and somehow, Roxie recognized me from shore and swam out to see me. She swam around for a few minutes then headed back to shore to wait for me to come back.
And yes, that big RV is mine. It certainly makes it much easier to go camping. We LOVE it!