The Cove

Video and Photos: September 8, 2008

We've been on vacation this week, or "stay-cation" as Tony likes to call it. Other than a weekend trip up to Yakima to see Tony's sis Tammy and family we have just been hanging out around Central Oregon.

In keeping with our getting-the-most-out-of-our-summer goal we took a day trip to Lake Billy Chinook (aka The Cove for anyone who grew up around here.) I have fond memories of skipping school and hanging out at The Cove....oh, no, did I say skipping? I meant spending non-school hours at The Cove swimming and fishing and just being a typical (yet weird) teenager. Neither Tony or I had been to The Cove for a long time. We were excited to go, especially during the week when everyone would be in school (except for those naughty teenagers that skip!) and that would mean a pretty quiet afternoon lakeside. The one thing we didn't think about was that in late summer and fall there is the dreaded Algae Bloom. Just by the name most people can guess that this is not a good thing. I really had to play it off like it was no big deal so that Jonas would get in the water and play and have a good time. I, of course, did not get in the disgusting water but I acted like the green slime floating around everywhere was the coolest thing in the world. And we're not talking about some seaweed type leaves/plants bobbing around. This was serious slime that was absolutely thick in the water. Sick!


Click on this photo and you can see pretty well how horrifically green the water is.

That's a awfully little boy in a great big world. We really enjoyed the great scenery.


"Push me on the raft, Dad! Push me, push me!!"

We enjoyed some hotdogs for lunch. This is actually Jonas' second hotdog that he had for a "snack" when he got hungry a couple hours after lunch. Mmmm, beefy.