Knowing that Jerry, Tricia and Chopper were still a couple of hours away and would be arriving in the dark, Miri and I got in the car and drove about 8 miles to get a good enough cell signal to call them. I wanted to make sure they had good directions to the cabin and give them tips to find the right turns. I might as well have told the tips to Chopper since they still missed a few, but anyway, they did eventually make it. After driving back we had plenty of time to play some board games before it was bedtime. We had fun with one of our favourites... Mastermind!
With a fire going in the wood stove, the place was nice and toasty. Once we started bedtime, our excitement level was so high that I wasn't sure how we'd get to sleep! Instead, to my amazement, Miri was out like a light! I then headed downstairs to wait on Jerry and Tricia.
After what seemed like, well... forever, Jerry finally came peeling up the drive way. It was 10:20 and Chopper came out of the backseat, shaking his head, and saying "Geez, those guys couldn't drive their way out of a doghouse."... At least I think that's what his "Woof Woof"s meant. No matter, they made it and after getting settled in, we enjoyed some time together until getting some shuteye at about mindnight.
The next morning we all woke up happy. Uh... well, most of us anyway. The fire was a little too good for those downstairs and Jerry had to open the widows to cool it off. However, after those chocolate chip pancakes, we were all smiles and ready for some Trout fishing at Mirror Lake.
After a short hike in, and getting our rigs all set up, we had our bait in the water and waited. We could see the trout swimming around everywhere. Finally Miri caught one! We got a picture of it and Miri then tossed it back in. A minute or two later, someone said "Wait. Are we going to keep some for lunch?". Miri's answer was "Yes!". It seems like the trout heard that because, after I had one get off the hook close to shore, there was no action for a while. If it wasn't for the fact that we could see them, we would have given up and thought that nothing was there!
Eventually, Miri had to go potty so she and I hiked out to drive to a nearby public restroom (at Blanchard Springs Caverns). During that time away Miri came up with her own song to sing to the Trout that we would catch. It had something to do with being sorry to the trout that we will "make them dead" and eat them. It was very cute and she is very understanding that we have to kill them to eat them. She knows that it is her choice to not to as well, and knows this for all meat too. She's a great little kid and says "sorry" to whatever animal it is and is truly thankful too. It amazes me.
At the start of our little hike back, we took a picture of a picturesque bridge and headed back to our fishing spot. It took a while longer, but finally I reeled in a Trout and put it in a bag. That gave use some confidence to continue to try. Eventually, with everyone at least bringing in one, we ended up with five keepers.
We found ourselves back at the cabin for a late trout lunch at about 2:00. Jerry cleaned a couple of the trout, then it was my turn. We pretty much figured out how to clean them... it's a little messy but pretty simple too.
Tricia cooked them to perfection on the electric griddle and they were fantastic. We'll definitly do that again sometime. Shortly after our Trout appitizer, we headed in to Mountain View to have dinner at a pizza place.
We made it back to the cabin with enough time for a couple rounds of Go Fish before bedtime. Miri was down at 8 and the rest of us were so tired from the active day that we were down by 8:30. :)
After breakfast the next morning we packed up, winterized the cabin, and headed south to the Little Red river where we camped a couple of weeks ago. It was a chance to see if we'd have more luck with the Trout there than we did when the river was high while camping. It was beautiful and serene with the low, slow moving river this time. We met up with Buck and his kids, Coby and Jake who are friends of Miri's from school. Over a couple of hours of fishing there, we saw plenty of Trout jumping but never got a single bite. It didn't really matter as we had a good time and grilled some hotdogs and marshmellows for lunch.
It was another great weekend. I'm hoping that we'll make it back to the cabin in December. Miri really wants to go down underground in the caverns next time too.
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