Time with Dad

I consider myself a very lucky guy. Many of my friends have had to go through much of their adult life without the advice and companionship of their fathers. My Dad is doing very well at age 85. One of my fondest memories is the time he and I went snow skiing together when he was 80. He could still ski at a very good level and quite honestly, he wore me out. It was a great day that I will never forget.

On August 15, Mom and Dad came up to the Grand Lake area for a day trip. It is only a two hour drive from their place in Denver. I told my Dad to bring a change of clothes. I wanted to get him out in our Sea Eagle Kayak. I knew he would enjoy it. He tried to talk me out of it, but I would not accept no for an answer. We headed up to Monarch Lake, which is only about 10 miles from our campground. It is a beautiful drive right along Lake Granby. We stopped to take a look at an Osprey sitting on the nest.

It was a pretty calm day, so we unloaded the boat and carried it the short 50 yards to the waters edge. Mom and Kim set up lawn chairs and sat and enjoyed the nice afternoon. 

Dad got in the boat and instantly enjoyed being on the water. He liked the stability of the 420X and enjoyed paddling. I didn't get a great picture of Dad's face, but I am pretty sure he had a smile on it.

Monarch lake is very pretty with a few islands. We paddled all over the place.

We saw some geese and we decided to go take a closer look at them.

An afternoon storm was brewing, so we decided to head on in and put the boat away. It was an outing that I will remember for ever.

After getting back to the campground, Mom and Dad decided that they wanted to take us up to the Grand Lake Lodge for dinner. The Lodge is a very historical building with an amazing view of both Grand Lake and Shadow Mountain Reservoir. Here is a shot of our table by the window.

We had a great dinner with excellent food and service. It was a real treat for us because we rarely go out to dinner.

After dinner we walked around the lodge and then went out and sat on one of the swinging benches on the veranda.

It was a great day and we had a wonderful time. I will continue with the blog as I have time to write. We had some very exciting adventures in Rocky Mountain National Park over the next few days. I will write all about them in my coming entries.