You thought I wouldn't finish my trip report, didn't you?

Uh. Right. So it's been a little longer than anticipated, but here I am, ready to finish the report... if only I could still remember the trip. When last you saw our daring hero, we had just escaped the fearsome clutches of the Bushkill Falls Special Weapons and Tactics Unit.

So we went home & I made Cuban Sandwiches for everyone (ham + roasted pork + cheese + pickle slices + stoneground mustard, pressed like a panini), then we put the kids to bed, then decided Sunday night was Game Night. It should be said in advance, I like new games. I play lots of games, and would love to have the time to play more. Nothing too out there, but not a lot made by Parker Brothers or Milton Bradley. So, I had brought Carcassone (+Inns & Taverns, for you Board Game Geeks out there keeping score) and Once Upon a Time. We've had Carcassone for a while and enjoy it a lot, and I gave a copy of it to a nephew for Christmas - we played one round of that, and I won due to superior farm strategy, and the lucky fact that my wife didn't draw the 'cathedral' tile to tack onto my out-of-control metropolis.

The real attraction for me was Once Upon a Time. I had also given this game at Christmas, to a younger neice, but I had never played it myself until I bought it a couple weeks ago. For those of you too disinterested to visit the link above, I offer the following synopsis: You make up a fairy tale with the cards you are dealt, but sometimes other players can take over the story and make it their fairy tale, and the winner is the person who makes the story end the way they want it too. It's different than other card and board games in that there's not much strategy or analytical skill involved. Instead, it's all about creatively telling your story. It appeals to me on a couple of levels - as an [avid] player of Roleplaying Games, I've had a lot of experience making up stories, particularly those in the fairy tale/fantasy genre. I've gotten to be pretty good at it, and this is a quick outlet for that interest. Furtheremore, playing the game serves in a way to generate a psuedorandom story, and that's a lot of fun for me. I could probably amuse myself for hours just playing with the cards by myself, playing with combinations and permutations and making up quick little stories. So, that game's a hit with me. We played a couple rounds of it while in PA, and I think everyone liked it. It's certainly better than Nanofictionary, which we took on our last weekend away and which was only mildly entertaining.

Monday I finally went fishing. I'm basically new to fly fishing, and I'll never be hardcore about it, but I have enjoyed the times I've done it (which would be this trip and one other time in 2003). My grandfather recently gave me one of his good fly rods - a custom made Russ Peak fiberglass rod, which is apparently a big deal) and I was anxious to try it out. My brother in law had done a little intel gathering at the local fly shop on Saturday, and we decided to go to Hidden Lake (luckily, you can just follow the signs). We fished around a bit at the dam end without much luck - I did land my only fish of the day - a stunning 4" crappy. Not exactly the enormous trout we were hoping for. Fishing at the other end of the lake after lunch wasn't much better, although my Bro-in-law caught some stunners like the one in the picture - look by his knee and you'll see it. I made him let me take that photo so he can post it on the fly-fishing forums he frequents to show them the 'hot action'.

Monday night was 'girls night out' for my sister and my wife (who used to room together at college, which is how my wife and I met). So, like, the minute we got back from fishing they were out the door and we had all three kids, which should have been fine, but we were tired from fishing and we both were on the verge of nodding off. Luckily, at least one of us stayed awake enough to order some greasy Pizza Hut pizzas! After the kids went to bed, we played some Playstation but were both tired enough to hit the sack before the girls got back.

The fish just weren't biting on Monday - they weren't eating bugs off the surface, and I guess because the weather had turned a little chillier, no bugs were hatching, which meant trout didn't believe our flys were real. Or at least, so goes the theory. Nevertheless, we got up at 5AM Tuesday to hit Bushkill Creek at dawn with the hope of doing better in a stream than we had done on the lake. It was gorgeous to be there fly fishing as the sun came up, but we didn't get a single nibble that morning (tried the lake again for a little while too - again, nothing). So, we went back to the condo, where I made really yummy breakfast burritos with potatoes, eggs, cheese, and a little red enchilada sauce, plus Penzey's Southwest Seasoning (Because, uh, I'm a nerd about my spices too). So at least those were good. We putzed around and got packed up, then headed out around 3 (and forgot a bunch of stuff, most of which my sister was sharp enough to find). Got home around 9 totally exhausted. So now you know.

Hopefully my next fly fishing experience will be a little more... productive than this one turned out to be. I had fun though, and I think it could be the kind of thing I could occasionally enjoy for years to come.