Fishing at Conconully Lake

From May 13 to May 20, we went to Conconully Lake near Omak, WA with Teri's sister and brother-in-law, Kay and Lee.  We stay at Liar's Cove because we love the setting on the lake and the owners are the some of the nicest, most accomodating people you could ever meet.  We have gone there three times since 2008.  Kay and Lee have gone there off and on for probably 35 years.

Doesn't this look relaxing.  The guys were enjoying the first morning of fishing.  This picture was taken from the window in our trailer.

Pictures of the first fish caught.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife dumped some larger trout (about 3 lbs) in the lake.  It was fun to watch and the young man helping was another guest of the campground.  He was excited to help.

The campground is very well kept and has some fun decorations, too.

There was lots of wildlife to see.  The deer would sometimes come right down by the RV's.  There were lots of ducks, birds and deer.  We even saw several turkeys but didn't have the camera when we saw them.

There was a trail from the campground to a state park nearby.  The little chairs carved from stumps made me think of Goldilocks - Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear chairs.  The cabin was a replica of the one that stood on John Perkin's ranch at the head of Johnson Creek.  It was used as the first county courthouse.  An old Conconully schoolhouse stood for many years in the center of the present state park.  This bell rang in the morning and at noon and could be heard for miles around.

We took a day trip to Rufus Woods Lake.  The last time we were there several years ago we caught 7 nice triploids ranging from 2 - 7 lbs.  This year it was really slow and Lee was the only one that caught a fish.  It was a really nice 5 pounder though.

Bill caught the only bass and it was a nice one.  Kay caught the last fish for our limits on the last day.  Everyone was busy getting ready to leave so she hooked it and landed it by herself.  It was the nicest fish of the day, too.

We caught our limits on 3 days during our stay.  There were all sizes of trout and we had lots of fun catching them.

Bill and Lee get to do all the dirty work of cleaning the fish but there is a really nice fish-cleaning station to use.

We had a great trip.  Well, at least until the trip home.  We were almost at the top of Blewett Pass when Kay and Lee's trailer lost a bearing.  We were fortunate that a state trooper stopped shortly after the guys had taken the wheel off to see how bad it was because we didn't have cell service.  The trooper made arrangements for a tow truck.  Since Lee hauls his boat in the trailer, it had to be unloaded before their trailer could be towed.  We were late getting home but there wasn't an accident and we were all safe.

A Spring Day for the Other Sherwoods

We enjoy it when our family shares their pictures with us.

Courtney and Jason seem to be happy for the sunshine and Megan seems to be deciding what she wants to do.

Fun by the lake.

Merry being dramatic for a picture with Jason and Merry, a little more serious, while Megan has smiles.

Can't go home until Megan tries to catch a fish.

Courtney (with Jonah) and Jason seem to be taking time for reflection.   

Oh, what a  beautiful family. 

Spring Blooms in our Backyard

There are several varieties of lilacs in our yard and a snowball tree.  They all had lots of blossoms this spring.

We have really enjoyed this peony tree.  The blooms are very big - 7 1/2 to 9 inches.  They leaves are like a peony bush but the stalk is actually covered with bark.

The peony bush has really filled out since we transplanted it.  The annuals (marigolds and geraniums)  were just planted a few days before this picture.  We don't miss the slugs that we had on the west side because they would devour any marigolds that we planted (but we have rattlesnakes).  There is always a trade-off.

The lupine has lots of blooms and there are many more still to bloom.

Bill is busy planting the tomatoes.  Since this picture, everything has sprung up.  We have peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, walla walla sweet onions, yukon gold potatoes, red potatoes, zucchini, hubbard squash, lettuce, green beans, beets and carrots.

Girls Day Out

On the Saturday before Mother's Day, Courtney, Teri and Becky had a very fun Girls Day Out.  It was great to have a day just for ourselves.  Becky and Teri met Courtney in Spanaway and we started out with lunch at a Japanese restaurant, Sakura's, in Tacoma.

After lunch, we went to the Museum of Glass in downtown Tacoma.  None of us had been to the museum before so it was an amazing experience.

Since you can't take pictures in the gallery, our pictures of glass were taken of the outdoor displays.  This is one of the first displays you see by the entrance to the museum.

The demonstration in the hot shop was very, very interesting.  We watched the process for about an hour and were fascinated.  The hot shop team (the people who work with the glass) work with an artist to develop each piece.  An artist does an internship for about a week at the Glass Museum and they come from all over the world.  The artist  working with this team specialized in insects and their habitats.  We had no idea that so many people were involved in the process of creating one piece.

These pieces were different shapes but were depicting combs of a beehive.  What creativity using  just one main theme - combs of a beehive.

We took pictures of ourselves during the hot shop demonstration.

The glass displays were awesome.  It was fun to have pictures of us with the displays.

After the museum, we had to go to Starbucks.  We ended up on Pearl Street where we found this coffee shop.

We decided to get a pedicure and it was so much fun.  The goofy girls that I had with me made everyone in the shop laugh and wish they were with us on our Girls Day Out.  We also went to Tacoma Boys and had dinner together before ending our special and fun day together.