trillium lake

Perfect mirror image of Mt. Hood and Trillium Lake.

 Spent the weekend at Trillium Lake with my mom, sister and brother-in-law (and our three dogs), and it was a trip full of "firsts" for many of us. It was my first trip to Trillium Lake, and it was a memorable one. Gus, my darling energetic dog, decided to take me very literally when I told him to "Go get that duck!". He jumped in and and like a guided missile he locked in on that duck and just kept swimming, and swimming and swimming... even after the duck took off and landed about half way down the lake. I tried to call him back, but at that point he either couldn't hear me, or was so dialed in he didn't care. So what started as me calmly calling, "Gus, come here." turned into me insanely shouting, "GGGGGUUUUUSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!", all to no avail. At that point it was time to take off running the trail around the lake until I caught up with him about a 1/4 mile away. By that point he was about 100 yards off shore, still dialed in on the stupid duck, and was obviously getting a little tired. I called his name, but instead of turning towards me he circled around and started to swim towards the other shore. I think I probably said something like, "Oh, F*&%! No! No! No!",  and then took my shoes and socks off and dove in. I honestly can't remember the last time I swan so fast, but I finally caught up to him, grabbed his collar and guided him back to shore. At that point I scolded him with a few choice words, and he looked very sorry. That is until I turned around to put my shoes back on and the little devil caught sight of the duck again and jumped right back in!!! He only made it about 30 yards until I caught up with him and dragged him back to shore with me... and this time I didn't let go of him until we got back to the campsite. Note to self, get Gus a life jacket.

Gus starting his marathon swim (see duck taking flight).

On a calmer note, this was my mom's first camping trip in Oregon (and her first camping trip in 18 years) and it was her first time kayaking, ever! it was so much fun to have her out there with us and she did a great job in the kayak.

Me and Mom on her maiden kayaking voyage.

Mom's first Oregon adventure, camping, kayaking, hiking... she did great!

Mom and me kayaking on Trillium Lake with Mt. Hood behind us.

It was also Bodhi's (Mer's 4 month old pup) first kayaking outing. Merrill got him a little life jacket so he'd be easy to retrieve if he went overboard, but he was cool as a cucumber out there!

Merrill takes Bodhi on his first ride in a kayak... he was so good!

And last but not least it was Spot's (my mom's dog) first camping trip. She loved being outside all day, and she did great in the tent, but come morning she still looked a little groggy... but adorable.

Spot is not so sure how she feel about this whole camping thing.