Our family had a boat when my sister and I were younger. It had been my uncle's boat, and in the years we had it, we'd had a blast on it. I learned to ski balancing on a wooden plank, traveled with the boat to many waterski camps with our church youth group, and greatly enjoyed just being out on the boat speeding across the water getting 'boat hair'. My parents sold their boat (or gave it back, I can't remember) sometime when I was a young teenager. Mike and I had joked about co-buying a boat with my parents and sharing it with them, although nothing serious ever came of it. But then one day I got a text message from my mom, sharing a picture of their new "toy".
Ok, so it's not exactly a new boat, but it is a nice boat. It's 25-years old already, but has hardly been used at all. Not to mention that it was pretty top-of-the-line when it was first purchased new, and it's a pretty fancy competition-style ski-boat that's still loads better than the boat we had when I was a kid.
Thanks to the invasive mussels that live in Southern California, though, the boat had to be quarantined for 30 days before they could even launch it on the water. Then they had to go to a local lake and have it fully inspected. Once it passes inspection, they place a lock on the boat, unlocking it when you launch and re-locking it when you leave. So, if you take your boat to any other lake where they don't have the same lock system, you have to go through inspection again. Must be some pretty bad mussels, I guess.
We went to the nearby Anderson Lake to try it out. My parents had already had it on the water, but this was our first chance to try it out. Also new since I was a kid is the law that all kids under 12 have to wear a life jacket at all times while on the boat. But at least they look cute in them.
And my dad was looking very stylish in his bright blue swim trunks, too.
The first one on the water was K. She was ready to jump right out in the innertube. Well, after we assured her that there were no piranhas, barracudas, or anything else that would bite her in the water (must be my kid).
My parents took it easy on the girls, which is probably a good idea since it would be nice to get them out on the water more than once in their lives. They did great riding out there!
Next it was C's turn - although she decided to go with the seated approach, instead of lying down.
After several minutes of telling the boat to go 'faster', she was still hanging on and looking like she was just lounging on the sofa back at home. He probably could have tossed her eventually, but it would have been much more difficult in this position. However, she did find out that this pose is only good while the water is still and calm (it was gorgeous that morning!). Sitting in the innertube in choppy water is quite uncomfortable, or even painful, as she discovered very quickly later that afternoon.
I had to shoot this video kneeling down on the floor with my head only above the rear of the boat enough to see her because otherwise the rope would have taken my head off.
C and K kept going back and forth, but A wasn't quite ready to give the tube a go just yet. Eventually, we made them give other people a chance, since it was apparent they could just keep riding the tube all day long. My mom got out there and showed them all that skiing at 65 is no big thing.
After she'd had a run, C decided she would try skiing as well. She tried over and over, but she just couldn't get up out of the water. She got really close a couple of times, though.
We stopped for lunch and a little break from all the action in a cove off the main lake. It was nice to just relax and drift for a little bit, even though the girls got antsy to go back out again. They took turns 'accidentally' falling off the back of the boat and pushing each other in, as it's technically illegal to go swimming in this lake.
After we'd had lunch, it was my dad's turn to give skiing a go. He tried the single ski, but with no back boot, he just couldn't make it happen. We all admired his persistence, but in the end, he had to admit defeat to the open-back ski. Thankfully, he's still got his old ski he used when I was a kid. He'll just need to add it to the boat's supply after we get back home.
And now that everyone had had a chance to get out of the boat, C and K took over again, deciding this time to try riding the tube together.
I love how one was saying to go faster and one was saying to go slower. How does that work?
After they'd had a couple of good runs, A finally decided that she was ready to try out the tube, although she made us promise not to go too fast, and we had to be easy on her.
Strolling along...
After A's mellow run, K and C tried one more run each on their own, but the water was so rough and they were really tired by this point, so as they were nearing the breaking point, I decided it was time to call it quits for the day. We had a great time, and are looking forward to our next chance to get out on the boat again!
And since we just can't seem to go anywhere without seeing something interesting, we saw this giant bug walking across the parking lot while we were waiting for them to pull the boat out of the water. It was a big enough bug that I actually saw it walking across my path while I was driving through the lot. It was definitely one of the biggest and freakiest bugs I've ever seen.
And after figuring out what it actually was, I'm glad it's such a docile bug - because otherwise we would have been in a world of hurt. The bright orange wings and blue/green-striped body probably should have tipped us off to stay away, but the thing was just so cool! This giant bug is actually a Tarantula Wasp (or sometimes called a Tarantula Hawk). They get to be 2" long, which is easily how big this thing was, and apparently have the second most painful sting of any bug in the entire world (next to the Bullet Ant, whatever that is). Their stingers can get to be a whopping 7mm long! Ouch!
Luckily for us, it wasn't interested in us, and we didn't give it any reason to attack. And thankfully we're not tarantulas, as their fate is a gruesome one courtesy of this beast.
(From Wikipedia)
"The female tarantula hawk captures, stings, and paralyzes the spider, then either drags her prey back into her own burrow or transports it to a specially prepared nest, where a single egg is laid on the spider’s abdomen, and the entrance is covered. When the wasp larva hatches, it creates a small hole in the spider's abdomen, then enters and feeds voraciously, avoiding vital organs for as long as possible to keep the spider alive. After several weeks, the larva pupates. Finally, the wasp becomes an adult, and emerges from the spider's abdomen to continue the life cycle."
As adults, they don't actually eat tarantulas, but instead subsist on plants and nectar. I don't think that'd make me feel much better if I was the tarantula, though.
Actual Date: May 30
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