Lake Nockamixon

Why hellloooo there. This time my absence was actually because I was doing something good for myself...a mini-vacation. My husband and I were celebrating our 8th anniversary on May 5th so we've had a little mini-vacation/fishing trip planned to Nockamixon State Park in Western Bucks County, PA. Truly only an 1 hr 14 minutes from our house, but you felt like you were much further away than that.

Back about 2 months ago, we were chatting about FINALLY going away to do something. The husband hates traveling, but he's compromising here so I only went a little ways away from home to break him in...LOL. I decided on picking something I knew would pick his interest like a fishing trip. So I went on the hunt for parks with cabins to rent and came across Nockamixon State Park. 1400 + acre "lunker" lake (as in big-ass fishing lake), secluded self-catering cabins, wildlife, a boat, and 3 days off from work...PERFECT. So we left on Sunday, May 2nd and headed off. I had this feeling the weather wasn't going to hold out and it didn't, but I wasn't goin to chance trying to re-book this as I would never get him out of the house again. I'm reasonable, but not stupid. We were going regardless.

We got up to the cabin around 2ish and it was right in the middle of the woods and 300ft from the edge of the lake.

You really can't beat the affordability of these cabins. I booked it right online and only cost about $200 for 4 days and 3 nights. Seriously, try booking the Hilton for less than that. You really don't get the same impact, you know what I mean?

Also, the Hub's bestest fishing buddy insisted (for weeks) that we take his boat instead of renting one at the marina. We finally gave in, but we are thankful because he probably saved us at least $500 for as much and long as we planned to fish everyday.

There was also a grill and fire pit out back. No TV, no civilization for a few miles, new places to eat and more fishing.I just had to get a picture of these wild dogwood trees. On such dreary, rainy days, the pure white blossoms dotted the foliage around the cabin.
That evening we had tickets for the Nightwish show at Crocodile Rock in Allentown, PA. Roland introduced me to them about 7 months ago and I fell hard for them. They are a Finnish/Swedish atmospheric metal band that sells out all over Europe and Asia. Sad that in the US, it's more of a club tour. They are excellent live. I took this video of one of two very Celtic-sounding songs on their latest CD. This is part of "Last of the Wilds". Funny thing is as soon as we rounded the corner we almost mowed down my favorite member of the band, the bassist, Marco when he darted out from the bus and right in front of our truck. Yeah, that would have been bad. I rather like Marco's voice.

So the next day was our first jaunt onto the lake. It was freakin' HUGE with lots of area to cover. We were really hoping to catch some Smallmouth. I understand they are fun to catch. Wish I knew, because I didn't catch jack crap. It was so rainy, the fishing was just poor. Roland did manage to pull out a few largemouth, weighed them, and then put them back in the water. (We are catch and release BTW). We don't believe in keeping anything.
Tuesday, our anniversary, we went back out on the lake and it rained again so out came the foul weather gear. Have I mentioned that I looked like the Morton Salt girl out there in my bright yellow slickers? Yeah, the fish could see me coming. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

We got back off the water and cleaned up for dinner. We decided to try Porterhourse Restaurant across from Peddler's Village. The food was pretty good. This is the view. I think it made the food taste better.

We also ran across a knitting/spinning shop I fell in love with at first site. Roland stopped the truck so I could check it out. He said, "I think I can at least drive you to a knitting shop after I've drug your ass across a lake for two days." Awww how sweet.

The haul? Just a few things, but I will certainly visit Twist again. I bought a beginner set of dyes to play with some undyed Corriedale roving I bought awhile back. I also believe in spinning local when I can. I walked past the commercial rovings and went right for the local stuff, some lovely chocolate brown alpaca from a local farm. It's about 4 oz. I can't wait to spin it. Even the husband kept petting it and commenting on the softness.

I also picked up 3 skeins of Cascade 220 in a chocolate brown to pair up with some Noro I gained in a yarn swap with another Raveler who wanted my blue-green I had in stash. I'm scheming. This is a good sign the mojo may be on the return.

So aside from lousy weather, we had a good time. There was no TV at night so out came the old board and card games. It was a good break from the boob tube. My only triumph for my bruised fishing ego was beating the master at chess. Of course, I only beat him 1 time in 9 games of Chinese Checkers....It was still time off from work!