Labor Day Weekend: Thunderstorms, Fishing, Moose and More

For as long as I can remember Labor Day in my family has been about one thing: fishing.  Since I was a wee child the lovely Uinta Mountains home to Teapot Lake has been my vacation location.  When I was eight I caught seven fish on one trip, something that I gladly bragged about to my second grade class.  I remember eating gummy bears and scrambled egg sandwiches on the lake, going out in the canoe with Dad, occasionally taking a nap in the shade of a tree.  This trip changed slightly a few years ago when Mom and Dad bought some property up Ogden Canyon.  It is in a place called Sourdough Ranch.  It's a simple place where you can't even build a cabin, but we've never been a family that looks for much luxury in our camping.  All we need is a tent, a sleeping bag, and of course a place to fish.  The lake at Sourdough is stocked with trout.  Some days we have the best luck and catch our limit within an hour.  Other days we can go all day and not catch a thing.  It's never really been about what we catch though.  It's about how much fun we can make it.


A few weekends ago we went up for the night and to our disappointment we realized we had forgotten our fishing poles.  My dear sister Melissa and I were ready to settle in and watch some Veronica Mars in the trailer (oh yeah and we have a trailer #trailertrash).  Mom on the other hand had another idea in mind.  While we had forgotten our poles we had brought our tackle boxes.  This was stocked with fishing line, bubbles, powerbait, liter, pretty much everything but a pole and a reel.  Now mom, being the smart go-getter decided a stick would do just dandy.  She taped safety pins onto the stick for the eyelets so the line could go through easily then said she would just pull the line in if she got a bite. Dad, Melissa, and I laughed as Mom headed to the lake with a face of determination.  After a few hours of good V-Mars we decided to check on her.  We walked over and saw that in fact she had caught a fish!  She said it was the same as any other to the fish  just a little more effort on her part.  Well now that she had caught a fish I was all ready to give this a try.  I told Melissa if I got a bite I would just give her the line and she could run with it, literally.  A half hour later I did get a bite and Melissa did run with it.  Best system ever.  Way more fun than if we had boring old poles.

Ok so now that you have an idea of this lovely place it is time to get to this weekend.  The biggest worry about this weekend was the rain.  The forcast had called for a chance of Thundershowers but if you think for a second that that was going to stop us you're crazy.  We met up at the property in the afternoon.  My sisters being the wise women that they are had already set up our tent and we were ready to head to the lake.  It was a little cloudy but we weren't too worried.  We got our lines in the water and of course mom got the first fish.  Every time we go fishing since the time I was a child mom has boasted and bragged that she would get the first fish.  This wouldn't be a problem except a lot of the time she DOES get the first fish.  We children role our eyes and get ready to hear about it till the end of the century.  A few minutes later Sarah also got a fish.  JR was fly fishing and while he didn't have much luck he did look cool.  Well Melissa and I were getting a little tired of not catching anything and it was beginning to rain.  We decided it would probably be in our best interest to go back to the trailer and watch a movie and play cards or something.  We ran back, me in my holey shoes and got pretty drenched.  We were only there for a bit until the rest of the family joined us.  But they called us when they were just outside to say that there was in fact a Moose and we should come see.  This is where I will pause.

Melissa's pic of the moose.  She's too close

 Now I have nothing against wild life.  I love it in fact.  I visit the zoo often and love spotting deer and elk and even moose, as long as I'm the appropriate distance from the animal.  They are just too unpredictable.  I mean one second it could be chilling and eating and the next it could be biting your head off.  You see there is a book called Hatchet.  In this book the young Brian finds himself stranded on an island and at one point is attacked by a moose.  When I read this as a young girl I laughed ( mostly because in the book they call the moose a cow and I assumed it was similar to the cows we have here today.  It's a funny image lol.)  When I asked Mom about it she told me about how Moose were extremely dangerous and territorial and I should never get close to one as it may kill me upon sighting and eat me for it's next meal (or something like that.  I forget).  So from that time on if I see a moose I get a tad nervous and run away like Simba ran away from the wildebeest in Lion King.  

Anyway so mom said there was a moose and we should come look.  I went outside and saw this moose from a distance.  Cool.  Ok.  I'm good.  I was done.  Everyone else however wanted to see how close they could get to the animal.  Why? What is the point of this.  I decided the trailer was a better place for me.  They spent some time taking pictures and looking at the creatures.  After some time they came back in one piece and assured me that the moose up there would not even worry about people.  Anyway so I figured the Moose adventures were over.

The team effort of catching a fish

Dad had to work that day and came up that night.  The rain had stopped so we decided to head back to the lake and try our luck again.  The sun was just setting.  It was a gorgeous night to fish.  We got our lines in the water and waited.  Finally I got a bite.  I reeled as fast as my little arms could bare and my pole was just bending.  I couldn't believe the fight this fish was giving me.  As I got it to shore and pulled it up it got off the hook!  I yelled for dad as the fish was stuck in the grasses.  He had a net on his vest and he jumped down and netted that fish.  Team effort.  That is the true meaning of fishing.

Well the night was coming to a close and we had some dinner.  Mom made pork chunks and fried rice. So amazing!  We watched part of a movie then decided to head the head before bed.  Melissa escorted me to the porto-potties so the moose wouldn't eat me (yes I am 21 and my sister still takes me to the bathroom).  Of course though with my luck something terrible would happen.  I was in there ya know in the words of Bachman-Turner Overdrive "Taking Care of Business" and Melissa says, "Uh Emily, there is a Moose out here."
"Where"
"Like right across the road"
"Seriously?!"
"Yeah."
So I got outta there pretty darn fast and without even looking quickly walked down the road then ran down the road.  Seriously, my luck.  I'm just glad I was in there first.  If Melissa had gone in and I'd seen the moose I would have just run away and left her stranded in the porto-potty.  I'm chivalrous like that.

We had some pillow talk between the girls ya know boys, Dawson's creek, NCIS, Castle, the usual and fell asleep.  About 3 AM the rain woke me up.  Then the thunder started.  I listened quietly figuring everyone else would be asleep.  I could hear the thunder getting closer and closer.  Now I could tell you what happened next but I really think it would be more appropriate for you to hear it.  Listen to the whole thing so you will understand.


 Yea so it turned out we were all awake especially after that one.  It was right above us.  We listened and talked and told scary stories.  Ok not as much told scary stories as I told one that freaked me out as a child and apparently an adult about a dog and a guy and licking and killing dogs.  My lovely sisters spend the rest of the time scaring me with this story.  I'm an easy target, even I can admit that.  Then we quoted great moments from movies and said punny things.

Me: JR just texted me, I think he's scared.
Melissa: Text him back "Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens"
Me: "The cone is silent!"
Mom text: "Just don't think about Poltergeist where that tree reached out and ate that little kid"
Sarah: Emily, if a moose comes and knocks on the door because it's cold and wet, we're giving it your bed.
Melissa: Ok next time there's lightning lets make funny faces at each other.
Mom text: the Wise man built his house upon a rock
Me text: well if the wise man built his house upon "iraq" why is there a war there.

There are a few of the good ones.  It was a good two hours before we fell asleep again.  However we woke up to blue skies.  We went fishing right off and I caught another fish no problem!  JR kept losing his line, Everyone was slipping in the mud, I dug butt muscles into legs (another great tradition), and we spent the morning cold but happy.  We had breakfast and finished watching our movie then watched a couple more.  I really forgot how much I loved the movie Galaxy Quest.  Also IQ.  Also Mask of Zorro.  It was a quiet nice morning.  Oh yeah and we gutted fish.


Now the only reason I helped was so I could post these pictures to prove to all the hot guys out there that I can gut my own fish.  Emily Landeen.  Call me ;)  It was a disgusting task but fun.  After the rest of the day of lounging and resting we left.  It rained on the way down and I was sure I was going to die but everything worked out fine.



Moments I left out:



When I jumped up from my nap in the trailer because I was sure a bee was attacking me.  Turns out I had a text message.
JR's best quote: I like my women like I like my moose, with a huge rack!
Melissa's inappropriate comment to me about being really good at baiting fish which I won't mention here.





It was a great weekend really.  I love the mountains (just line up already guys, I'm out doorsy) and fishing (single file please) and I really like thunderstorms (put to It's all Coming Back to Me Now by Celine Dion).  Not a huge moose fan.  I respect them and leave them alone.  I see nothing wrong with that.  Until next time peeps, Emily out!