Down Memory Lane: Boats and Lakes

I rode in a boat on a lake this weekend. It's been a while. It made me think of my history with boats and lakes.

I grew up on a lake: Kitsap Lake in Washington state.

The first boat I remember having was a little dinghy, a row boat that we like to paddle around in.
Then we had a 8-foot white boat with a little motor on it. It's the one we were playing on when we weren't supposed to and my little sister fell off and almost drowned.
One day someone delivered a very large box to our driveway. When Dad finally got home we opened it to find a new speedboat! It was about 15', green and white, nothing fancy, but it was the beginning of a water skiing life that lasted for years. We always joked that our boat came in a Cracker Jack box. I drove the boat a lot more than I skiied behind it.
Another boat sometimes joined us. Kennedy's flashy red speedboat came to use our lake and our dock, and we loved that.
For my 8th birthday I got some swim fins, and swam in them for hours. I didn't know I had them on too tight until I got out of the water and saw that I had worn away the skin on the front of my ankles. I had big wet scabs for weeks, and still have scars from it.

We visited other lakes too. We spent a couple of summers on Lake Wilderness where we stayed in a rustic cabin and there were other activities like paddleboats, tennis, horseback riding and a little store--and a pretty girl named April Flowers. Wildcat Lake was not far from our house and we had church and private parties there. We didn't much like mucky Island Lake, but enjoyed Horseshoe Lake, the lake at Girls' Camp, and other lakes and beaches around the sound and the ocean.
Once we went out on Puget Sound on Dr. Almond's yacht. Dad sent us because he didn't want to go; my very active father didn't think sitting around on a boat all day sounded like much fun. It was.

Ferry boats were a large part of our life in Washington, the part I miss the most. We rode from Bremerton to Seattle for football games, shopping, and special occasions including the World's Fair, the Torchlight parade, and watching fireworks over Elliot Bay. From Poulsbo we rode the Kingston-Edmunds ferry for work and to see Mom/Grandma, and the Bainbridge Island ferry to get to Seattle and to the temple. The ferry from Port Orchard was a different experience, as were the runs to Port Townsend, and the ferry to Canada.

Lake Washington in Seattle was where we watched hydroplane races and saw shows including dancing waters and diving from high platforms built over the lake. We crossed the floating bridge over it, enjoyed the zoo nearby, and saw the huge lake from UW's Husky Stadium.
Lake Mead near Boulder City was a favorite in Nevada. Near the magnificent Hoover Dam, it was where we swam, where I did a day trip on the Jolley's boat (friends of my parents), and it was part of the scenery at our last lunch with Grandma Beth.
There were other lakes and reservoirs and boats, but I can't always remember where they were or what they were called. I haven't yet been to Lake Powell.

My favorite boat rides were the two cruises we took, one to Mexico and one to the Caribbean.
One of the highlights of my life was to be pulled by a boat on a parasail over the ocean.


We call the house I grew up in The Lake House. For awhile we lived on the cliffs high over Liberty Bay, and delivered phone books to the Bainbridge Island Marina where some people live on their boats.

I don't think of myself as a water person, but all my life I've had experiences with water, with lakes and oceans and beaches. I have memories of swimming, waterskiing, creeks, ponds, tadpoles, fishing, aquariums, water parks, showboats, docks, seafood, seagulls, herons, ducks, otters, lily pads, frozen lakes, beaches, digging for clams, and, of course, Ivars.


In spite of the itching we endured from the duck mites, I like a lake--and other bodies of water (though I don't need to get in them).

And I like a boat that will take you away from the known shore to another world,
--a cool, windy world of azure peace.

Take me away... It's so refreshing.