Ever since I was a little girl of 9 or 10, I remember heading to Rice Lake, Canada for an annual summer vacation. Now, I’m sure we missed years here and there, but it’s been a yearly trip that happened more often than not.
I have childhood memories of swinging over the water from ‘Monkey Island,’ spending time swimming and fishing, and of course, endless hours of scaling bluegill with a spoon. (There are scaler drums nowadays, which is handy.)
These trips often included aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and sometimes family friends. It was always quite the event with solid childhood memories made.
Now that I’m an adult with my own small family,. I get to carry on that tradition with my children.
Over the years, we have tried out numerous lakeside resorts surrounding Rice Lake. The word ‘resorts’ is a loose term and needs to be read with the understanding that most of these places are not luxurious. They are meant as fishing cabins that provide some of the comforts of home, directly on the lakeshore.
Our family has spent many years frequenting Sandy Bay Cottages, and this year we decided to head back and enjoy their accommodations once again during the first week of July. (The first week of July is ‘Dead Week’ for high school sports, so it’s a convenient time to go on vacation.)
Sandy Bay Cottages
Sandy Bay has about 10-12 rustic 2-bedroom cottages situated in somewhat of a semicircle around the water front and docks. They also have a house that sits directly at the water’s edge. The house is separated into a bottom half and top half that are rented out separately.
This year, like other years in the past, Dad and my sister and her husband, rented the bottom half of the house, while Brian and I, and the kids, stayed upstairs. Each section has a small living area, 3 bedrooms, and a compact kitchen and bathroom. The upstairs has it’s own entryway, separate from the bottom.
While the living quarters can become cramped with a family of five, the view from the balcony makes it all worthwhile.
The children spent some time in the Rec Room, but mostly they were either fishing or swimming.
Sandy Bay has a store/office with limited supplies. You may find some hamburger buns or a bottle of ketchup there, but you probably would have better luck driving into Hastings or Roseneath.
The owners are friendly and helpful. We never have any issues while staying at Sandy Bay.
Success on the Lake
While we didn’t have a great deal of success with bluegills this trip, we did have some nice catches.
Brian caught this 40 inch Northern Pike on either the second or third day of our seven day trip. (I was not on the boat at this time, but happily snoozing away in my bed.)
Brian and Kaleb had a routine of waking up around 5 A.M., each making a cup of coffee (I know, Kaleb is too young to drink coffee) and then heading out on the lake while water birds and other crazy fishermen are the only ones out and about. Kaleb may look like a Lovette, but him and his Dad are birds of the same feather when it comes to fishing, tech, and food.
Brian was not holding the fish himself because he doesn’t like to get ‘fishy.’ (It’s a little crazy that he married a girl that is fine wiping her worm hands on her jeans, then grabbing a Dorito out of the bag right after.)
Besides the pike pictured above (which the boys released back into the water after the pic), Kaleb caught a nice walleye and multiple bass. Brian and I also caught bass, crappie, and, of course, bluegill.
We didn’t come home with hundreds and hundreds of fillets as we have done in the past, but it was still a successful trip.
Who wants to clean all of those fish anyway?
Enjoying the Scenery
I enjoy the Canada trip for a few different reasons.
I’ve always enjoyed fishing, even when I was a little girl. It’s also nice to just get away from everything and spend quiet time reading and writing while everyone else is occupied with whatever they would like to do.
Mainly, however, I very much enjoy the scenery.
My favorite thing to do while in Canada for that week, is to take my boat, my poles, bait, and a book, and head out onto the water. There are little coves and uninhabited islands where you can anchor and just be by yourself for awhile.
It’s so beautiful there. I’m always just in awe of the beauty and in the fact that there are people that can wake up each morning, look out their kitchen window, and just see the lake.
It’s not all about the water. We have loads of it in Michigan.
It’s the sheer amount of wilderness that is found up and down the shoreline. It’s the egrets, the geese, the loons, eagles… everything.
There’s a little red cabin down on the north shore, a little ways from where we stay. It’s abandoned, and has been that way ever since I can remember. (Actual picture below.)
It is hard not to fantasize a bit about winning the lotto, finding the owner, buying the cabin, and running away from responsibilities to live a life on the water each day, fishing, writing, and reading.
I wonder what it says about me that I find more enjoyment looking at this neglected cabin, than I do gazing at the towering stone houses that can also be found on the lake.
This particular cabin has a Walden Pond feel to it.
It very much tugs at the introvert inside me.
Poutine and Peameal Bacon
Sometimes when you travel, you have a particular food or foods that you want to eat while visiting.
For me, in Canada, I want to eat poutine at least once, as well as peameal bacon.
Most people probably know, but poutine is basically a serving of fries with gravy and cheese curds mixed in. There’s nothing really amazing about it, however the dish is good and it’s one of those things I can’t get unless I’m in Canada. While it’s not something I would want to eat everyday, I do make sure that I buy some at a Chip Wagon while at Rice Lake.
Another food item that Brian and I always make sure to purchase on our yearly trip, is peameal bacon. Check out the linked article to read more, but peameal bacon is pork loin rolled in cornmeal. The cornmeal gives the meat a thin crust that adds a unique twist to the meat.
While on vacation, we always get some of the bacon to cook on the balcony at the cottage, as well as a couple of sections of meat to take home and freeze.
This year, Brian went back to the same meat market we have went to in the past, Ralph’s Butcher Shop in Norwood, Ontario. The gentleman at the counter remembered him.
“You came in here last year to get some meat from me,” he said to Brian as he rolled the meat in butcher paper.
“You can’t get this where you’re from, isn’t that right?”
“That was me,” Brian replied. (He’s a memorable type of guy.)
Ralph’s has a Facebook page, if you’d like to check them out. If you ever have a chance to wind your way through the Canadian hills to Norwood, Ontario, you should stop and pick up some peameal bacon.
I Hate Jet Skis
If there was one part of our family vacation that was a sore spot for me, it was the damn jet skis.
I don’t mean to swear, and I’m sorry for it, but believe you me, I’m holding myself back a little from unleashing all my frustration at just how much I hate jet skis.
I know they look fun. They appeal to people of all ages, and are actually very much desired by my teenage boys at the moment, but jet skis are obnoxious, loud, annoying machines that suck all of the peacefulness out of the air.
There’s nothing worse than trolling along, fishing the shoreline in the midst of beautiful scenery, just to be crowded by a swarm of jet skis that decide to come speeding next to your boat.
Why?! Why do they do that?
I refuse to believe that people who fish, and people that ride jet skis, are of the same population.
It’s understandable if they are zipping about midday, zooming all over the place, but why go out during the early morning hours and the evening hours when people are out fishing?
Better yet, if you are out there sharing the lake with fishermen, why drive so close to our fishing boats?
Frankly, it steams my top and pushes me to a boiling point.
Did I stand up, shake my fist, and yell “I’M FISHING OVER HERE?”
Possibly. More thank likely, yes. Multiple times.
It’s a huge lake with miles of shoreline.
All I want is to troll along, or better yet, anchor down and read my book, without my phone ringing, kids asking, ‘Mom, what are we eating,’ or someone else trying to talk to me. I also don’t want any jet skis barreling past me.
To sum this section up, I don’t care for jet skis. My boys better save up their own money if they are thinking about buying one because this is one of those instances where Mom is not going to help them.
Loading the Boats & Heading Home
Around day four or five of our seven day trip, the mood in the cabin turns a little sad.
No one wants to think about packing up and heading home, yet it’s inevitable.
We were scheduled to leave early Saturday morning, with almost all of the packing taking place on Friday. This year, just like last year, we decided to leave Friday evening to avoid much of the traffic on the seven to eight hour drive home.
With two cabins packing up, loading boats, and double checking everything to make sure items aren’t left behind, it’s a process.
We loaded our boat, then helped Dad load his pontoon, before we rolled out of the drive to begin our journey home.
The first part of the trip was uneventful. Lots of hills, some highways, and a couple stops to get Petro and snacks.
We left at 6:30 in the evening and things seemed to be going great. That is, until it wasn’t.
Around 9 P.M., my sister called to tell Brian that one of the tires on our boat trailer was flat. We were, of course, heading down Highway 401 at the time.
Brian immediately pulled off to the side, with Dad pulling over directly behind us, so that we could change to the spare.
Before I knew what was happening, both of my boys were jumping out as well to help.
You hear stories about people getting hurt or killed alongside of the road when repairing vehicles. I would not have let them out, but they were faster than me. (They usually are.)
As it so happens, both boys were helpful in locating the jack, unscrewing the spare from it’s location, and basically just assisting in the changing of the tire. Within 20 minutes, we were back on the road, but it was a long 20 minutes for me.
After the tire ordeal, we stopped at a truck stop to eat at a Wendy’s. We were not far from the Blue Water Bridge at this point and wanted to make sure that we ate something before we stopped off at the Duty Free shop before moving through border.
We arrived safe and sound around 3:30 A.M. Coolers were unpacked and everything else waited until morning.
It was a long trip, but an enjoyable one.
I’m looking forward to doing it all again next year.
Goals for Today:
- Feed My Hummingbirds (I sound like an old lady.)
- Pick Cucumbers From the Garden
- Watch Keegan Play 7on7 Football