Growing Up: Family Outings

Today finds me feeling good. So much so that the doctors removed me from my IV machine. As long as I drink enough, they will grant me my freedom from the device. I estimate I have just over a week left until I am out of here.

One of my friends commented on a post and reminded me of the outings we did when I was growing up. I thought it would make a great topic to write about. As I reflect on how I was raised, there are a great many things I count as blessings. Growing up with a close extended family is one of them...

A little background...

My Mom and Dad grew up near the tiny, rural community of Carpenter, SD (wiki). It happened that as my parents started a family, as did many of their cousins and friends that lived near by. So I grew up with a core group of families (Wick's, Opsahls, Ficks, and cousin Granns) with kids almost exactly the same age.

I have a lot of memories of growing up with this crew, many of which center on the camping an fishing trips we'd take together. The state parks near Lake Ponsitte and Lake Pelican were frequent camping locations. The area in eastern South Dakota had a lot of fishing options.

Camping was fairly typical; sleeping in tents and cooking over a campfire. Ok, I don't remember much cooking over campfires, but I do remember plenty of sandwiches, snacks and pans of bars.

Here are a few memories related to these outings.

• The Leeches:
  I don't remember many specific memories from when I was real little, but I do recall this one quite vividly. Not sure how old I was; probably around 8 or 9. Our group of families was looking for a place for the men to fish and us young'ns to play in the water. There was a small lake called Lake Dudley fairly close. We were all excited when we got there to find the water totally clear (unusual for SD in the summer) and we settled in for a good afternoon of swimming and fishing. Now, I should mention you probably never saw a sweeter bunch of kids then our crew. Evidently the leeches in the water agreed, because we were covered. I believe swimming was done for the day and we ended up fishing at Lake Byron.
• Bullheads:

  When fishing, of course the intent was to get nice sized walleye, perch or crappie for frying. As a kid, I recall having the most fun catching bullheads and bluegill. If you could get into them, you'd end with a bucket off bullheads to fry. It's been years since I've eaten a bullhead.

• Killing of Staums Dam:
  When I was around 12, the Game, Fish and Parks killed off all the fish in nearby Staums dam. I believe the effort was to kill off the junk fish and then repopulate with bass and better stock. I am not sure how they did it, but I believe chemicals were added that would essentially suffocate the fish, leaving them safe for eating. It became an event. I recall us collecting nearly 100 fish that day. I've got picture at home of this, I'll try to add some time.
  
• Water Skiing:
  As we got older, we thought we'd give water skiing a try. I think cousin Jeremy took to it the fastest, but over time, we all got the hang of it and fun was had by all.
  
• Sandworks
  Cousin Jeremy was generally the architect of the sand castles and related sand construction as we played on the beach between swimming sessions. He could spend hours constructing and building water ways...only to have his younger sister Teresa play the role of Godzilla and destroy his hard work. Whether he was done with it or not.
  
• Stop spitting out the window!
  OK, this one was later in life when my generation was of legal age to enjoy adult beverages. I don't want to provide specifics should someone become embarrassed, but those that were there know what happened. Ask me about it sometime and I may tell you the story.

I'll add more storys if anyone can help jog my memory. Since we're now in Sioux Falls, it will take more effort to provide these experiences for our kids as often as we did them when we were young. I hope we will all take the opportunity when we can.

Don't forget we're looking for others to join us in Mexico (More info).